Haymonster
New Kit
Hello!
I'm pretty new to rabbits, and I'm starting to feel like I really need some help/support from people who know what they're doing!
Our first rabbit hopped into our lives about six months ago. We came home one evening to find a rabbit eating the dandelions in our front yard. He was very friendly, so we figured he must have been a pet. We caught him (very easily!) and, figuring that we would only have him a short while while we looked for his owners, put him in a cage in the backyard.
We put signs up around the local area, including at the local shops, primary school and vet, but no one claimed him. After about a week we brought him inside because it was raining very heavily and threatening to storm. No one ever claimed him and he's lived inside as a house rabbit ever since. My partner named him Dobby, because he's a free rabbit.
Dobby has been a perfect house rabbit. He uses the litter tray almost perfectly (about 2-3 poos miss everyday, but it's so few that it's not a problem), doesn't chew any furniture and charms us daily with his good looks.
Four days ago we adopted a spayed female to be friends with Dobby. Her name at the rabbit rescue was Easter, but we're considering changing it to Winky. She's a fine boned mini rex, who is slightly underweight. She has a voracious appetite, though, so she should put on weight fairly well.
Dobby and Easter/Winky seem to be getting on quite well. There has been no fighting. There has also been no humping. The rescue seemed quite surprised by this at their initial introduction, and had to check that Dobby was in fact a male. At first Easter/Winky seemed quite frightened by Dobby, and would constantly run away from him. She still runs away from him most of the time, but she definitely seems more used to him now. She also runs away from us (the humans), but I'm hoping that she'll be more confident when she's settled in more. According to the rescue, she loves head pats and ear scratches.
She also seems to miss the litter tray every single time. We let the rabbits have a small room as their home base, and the floor is covered with her poos. We have floorboards (rather than carpet) so it's definitely cleanable, but it's frustrating nonetheless. I've put down towels and fleece blankets to make the cleaning easier, but it's getting to be very labour intensive! Apparently she used a litter tray at the rescue, so she can use one.
Any advice re: litter training or helping Dobby and Easter/Winky to bond would be very much appreciated!
Here is a picture of Easter/Winky, from the rescue that we adopted her:
My apologies if this post is too long!
I'm pretty new to rabbits, and I'm starting to feel like I really need some help/support from people who know what they're doing!
Our first rabbit hopped into our lives about six months ago. We came home one evening to find a rabbit eating the dandelions in our front yard. He was very friendly, so we figured he must have been a pet. We caught him (very easily!) and, figuring that we would only have him a short while while we looked for his owners, put him in a cage in the backyard.
We put signs up around the local area, including at the local shops, primary school and vet, but no one claimed him. After about a week we brought him inside because it was raining very heavily and threatening to storm. No one ever claimed him and he's lived inside as a house rabbit ever since. My partner named him Dobby, because he's a free rabbit.
Dobby has been a perfect house rabbit. He uses the litter tray almost perfectly (about 2-3 poos miss everyday, but it's so few that it's not a problem), doesn't chew any furniture and charms us daily with his good looks.
Four days ago we adopted a spayed female to be friends with Dobby. Her name at the rabbit rescue was Easter, but we're considering changing it to Winky. She's a fine boned mini rex, who is slightly underweight. She has a voracious appetite, though, so she should put on weight fairly well.
Dobby and Easter/Winky seem to be getting on quite well. There has been no fighting. There has also been no humping. The rescue seemed quite surprised by this at their initial introduction, and had to check that Dobby was in fact a male. At first Easter/Winky seemed quite frightened by Dobby, and would constantly run away from him. She still runs away from him most of the time, but she definitely seems more used to him now. She also runs away from us (the humans), but I'm hoping that she'll be more confident when she's settled in more. According to the rescue, she loves head pats and ear scratches.
She also seems to miss the litter tray every single time. We let the rabbits have a small room as their home base, and the floor is covered with her poos. We have floorboards (rather than carpet) so it's definitely cleanable, but it's frustrating nonetheless. I've put down towels and fleece blankets to make the cleaning easier, but it's getting to be very labour intensive! Apparently she used a litter tray at the rescue, so she can use one.
Any advice re: litter training or helping Dobby and Easter/Winky to bond would be very much appreciated!
Here is a picture of Easter/Winky, from the rescue that we adopted her:
My apologies if this post is too long!