Everything I need for indoor rabbits?

Hello! I will soon be adopting my first pair of rabbits. They are Alaska rabbits, so they are medium-large with thick shiny black fur. I haven't had rabbits of my own before, so I need to start from scratch, and I am trying to make a list of everything I will need for them to be happy before I bring them home. I would also appreciate suggestions for cheap places to get supplies from please. The rabbits will be living in a fenced-off corner of my living room under the staircase, with free run of the room when I am at home (I work from home three weeks in four).

So far I have got on my list of things I will probably need:
- Puppy pen to fence off living area
- Litter tray
- Rabbit litter (what sort?)
- Old carpet to line their corner
- Water bottle
- Something to put hay in
- Cardboard boxes for them to hide in and chew
- Cable tidies to stop them chewing cables - are this sort okay? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Tex-Spiral-Binding-BLACK-Cable/dp/B003CL6MVA

Food:
- Hay
- vegetables (I have a leaflet with which ones are poisonous)
- Rabbit pellets, same brand as the shelter uses - not sure which yet

Are there other things I have not thought of yet?
Thank you!

AlaskaPair said:

Hello! I will soon be adopting my first pair of rabbits. They are Alaska rabbits, so they are medium-large with thick shiny black fur. I haven't had rabbits of my own before, so I need to start from scratch, and I am trying to make a list of everything I will need for them to be happy before I bring them home. I would also appreciate suggestions for cheap places to get supplies from please. The rabbits will be living in a fenced-off corner of my living room under the staircase, with free run of the room when I am at home (I work from home three weeks in four).

So far I have got on my list of things I will probably need:
- Puppy pen to fence off living area
- Litter tray
- Rabbit litter (what sort?)
- Old carpet to line their corner
- Water bottle
- Something to put hay in
- Cardboard boxes for them to hide in and chew
- Cable tidies to stop them chewing cables - are this sort okay? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Tex-Spiral-Binding-BLACK-Cable/dp/B003CL6MVA

Food:
- Hay
- vegetables (I have a leaflet with which ones are poisonous)
- Rabbit pellets, same brand as the shelter uses - not sure which yet

Are there other things I have not thought of yet?
Thank you!

Click to expand...

Some tips:

-Underbed storage boxes make the best litter trays, because they're big enough for 2 bums and nice and deep. They also don't crack as easily if you're as clumsy as me!
-Rabbit litter needs to be non clumping and not clay based. No shavings or sawdust. Any paper based non clumping litter is fine, but just make sure they don't eat it to begin with. In the longer term there are horse -beddings which are suitable... megazorb and fitch are the most popular and work out very cheap.
-Carpet may be dug up and weed on, so lino may be a better option as it's so easy to wipe clean. However many bunnies are fine with soft furnishings.
-http://www.johnhopewell.co.uk/default.asp?template=productdetail.page.xml&productid=22 These are the best bottles I've found - the flow is good, they don't drip and leak, and they're nice and big.
-Many people just pop the hay in the litter tray providing it's big enough, as bunnies like to poo and eat at the same time. If you do get a hay rack it'd be best to position it above the litter tray.
-Aldi banana boxes seem to be the best cardboard boxes that I've found! I patch up the hole on top with another bit of cardboard. Most bunnies will love all boxes though!
-Bunnies also love tunnels, so any rabbit/cat tunnels on amazon etc would be great.
-A lot of hay is rubbish. Try to get really green hay with lovely long strands. I'm not sure where you are but some smaller pet shops might do nice stuff. A lot of people (including me) buy big bales of hay from horse supply shops nearby (and you can also get their pellet food and horse bedding there too). The bales of hay have given the best quality I've found, and at about £6 a bale are dead cheap. Alternative hay places are http://www.hayforpets.co.uk/products.html and http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/ but I've found they're a lot more expensive. It all depends on how fussy your bunnies are, how easily you can get a bale and whether money is something that you need to be careful with!
-Make sure you introduce vegetables slowly. If they're babies then even more slowly! Herbs are usually a very safe place to start, as many bunnies with dodgy tummies will still tolerate herbs.
-It may be worth transferring pellets from what the rescue uses depending on whether they're a good brand or not. http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp - most people on here use excel, science selective or fibafirst... or a combination of the 3! It's not a huge worry though as it should only make up a small amount of their diet, and it's something that can be done at a much later date rather than having to do it now. You also have to do it slowly so it's best to wait with that one.
-Many commercially available rabbit treats are not suitable for them. Avoid any dairy or seeds. Any of the ones branded at rabbits by rosewood/boredom breakers are usually safe: http://www.rosewoodpet.com/catalogue/range.aspx?gid=42311&pg=K9Wjb+J/7L/SVViQIuIzhvHWlFOfUdNE. Fenugreek crunchies are a firm favourite with almost all rabbits!

yaretzi said:

Some tips:

-Underbed storage boxes make the best litter trays, because they're big enough for 2 bums and nice and deep. They also don't crack as easily if you're as clumsy as me!
-Rabbit litter needs to be non clumping and not clay based. No shavings or sawdust. Any paper based non clumping litter is fine, but just make sure they don't eat it to begin with. In the longer term there are horse -beddings which are suitable... megazorb and fitch are the most popular and work out very cheap.
-Carpet may be dug up and weed on, so lino may be a better option as it's so easy to wipe clean. However many bunnies are fine with soft furnishings.
-http://www.johnhopewell.co.uk/default.asp?template=productdetail.page.xml&productid=22 These are the best bottles I've found - the flow is good, they don't drip and leak, and they're nice and big.
-Many people just pop the hay in the litter tray providing it's big enough, as bunnies like to poo and eat at the same time. If you do get a hay rack it'd be best to position it above the litter tray.
-Aldi banana boxes seem to be the best cardboard boxes that I've found! I patch up the hole on top with another bit of cardboard. Most bunnies will love all boxes though!
-Bunnies also love tunnels, so any rabbit/cat tunnels on amazon etc would be great.
-A lot of hay is rubbish. Try to get really green hay with lovely long strands. I'm not sure where you are but some smaller pet shops might do nice stuff. A lot of people (including me) buy big bales of hay from horse supply shops nearby (and you can also get their pellet food and horse bedding there too). The bales of hay have given the best quality I've found, and at about £6 a bale are dead cheap. Alternative hay places are http://www.hayforpets.co.uk/products.html and http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/ but I've found they're a lot more expensive. It all depends on how fussy your bunnies are, how easily you can get a bale and whether money is something that you need to be careful with!
-Make sure you introduce vegetables slowly. If they're babies then even more slowly! Herbs are usually a very safe place to start, as many bunnies with dodgy tummies will still tolerate herbs.
-It may be worth transferring pellets from what the rescue uses depending on whether they're a good brand or not. http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp - most people on here use excel, science selective or fibafirst... or a combination of the 3!
-Many commercially available rabbit treats are not suitable for them. Avoid any dairy or seeds. Any of the ones branded at rabbits by rosewood/boredom breakers are usually safe: http://www.rosewoodpet.com/catalogue/range.aspx?gid=42311&pg=K9Wjb+J/7L/SVViQIuIzhvHWlFOfUdNE. Fenugreek crunchies are a firm favourite with almost all rabbits!

Click to expand...

Agree with all of this

Hope you'll upload some photos when you get your bunnies
Enjoy them, they're great

Thanks very much indeed?

How long does it take rabbits to get through a bale of hay? Could I store hay in the garage? I don't drive, so the expensive bit of getting hay by the bale would be the delivery costs.

AlaskaPair said:

Thanks very much indeed?

How long does it take rabbits to get through a bale of hay? Could I store hay in the garage? I don't drive, so the expensive bit of getting hay by the bale would be the delivery costs.

Click to expand...

These are the bales of hay I've bought since December 2013 so it should give you a bit of an idea:
1. 23rd December (this one would've lasted longer but I ended up chucking half because it was rubbish!)
2. 28th February
3. 3rd March
4. 28th May
5. 2nd July
6. 20th August
7. 2nd November

Many places will deliver for a fee, especially if you're a regular customer or order multiple things from them. Readigrass is also a thing I get from horse suppliers - they do a small animal version in pet shops and I'm sure you'll come across it but they also do giant 15kg sacks for about £10-15 which work out much more cost effective. So I'm sure a horse supplier would happily deliver a couple of different bits for you for a fee.

If you're in the midlands then I find justforpets do a good meadow hay in big clear bags for about £4-5. It's really nice hay and has a big handle for carrying so that might be an option!

Thanks for the advice! How big a carrier will I need to bring them both home in? They won't be in it long, the rescue is just down the road, and so is the vet if we need to take them there.

I'd add something to hide it to your list - it can just be a cardboard box, but some sort of cover will help them feel much more relaxed. They may hide a bit at first but that's ok and they'll feel braver about exploring with somewhere to run back to.

It might be worth asking the rescue about hay if they are local, some sell supplies and if they buy bales they might sell you half bales or bagged hay at good prices.

I agree with everything yaretzi says too. Especially about the lino, my two will eat carpet plus lino is easier to clean while they are getting used to using the litter tray. I just use newspaper topped with hay in an underbed storage box for a litter tray. Chew mats are a favourite with my two, willow balls and those wooden stick tunnels. Also a treat ball to feed their pellets is a good idea as it's more fun! I have a bowl for water that attaches to the bars of their enclosure so they can't spill it. I had a bottle at first but they barely drank from it.

Rabbit proofing wise one thing I didn't realise at first was rabbits can get under really low things, like my TV stand for example.