PoppyRabbit
Warren Scout
Hello Everyone!
I am a new rabbit owner and would like some help with Poppy my new bundle of fluff.
Although i have done a lot of research and both my fiance and i have degrees in Zoology and Animal Behaviour & Management i would like to see how my rabbit habitat fares and where i could make improvements.
I was told my rabbit is a 4 month old Netherland Dwarf Doe and i got her on 1/4/15 from a local petshop (normally i would re-home but i fell in love despite seeing/holding dozens of bunnies in other shops etc.).
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She has a Ferplast Rabbit 100 indoor cage (which i hope to upgrade to a two-tier one in 4 months or so) which I thoroughly cleaned out with soapy water and rinsed in Beaphor Deep Clean (but i kept one of the big thick tubes so it still smelt like home to her).
She is on sawdust for now (i am allergic so i will have to change this soon) with ripped up kitchen roll as bedding in her hide.
She comes out and has the run of my craft room every day for 2-3 hours (i have bunny-proofed it).
She has 3 litter boxes (plastic cat ones) around the room which have wood pellets in (sawdust went everywhere and hay was just being wasted when i used that) and she is very good at using them, with just the odd batch of poo on the laminate. She also has a litter box in her cage which she mainly just sits in and pees anywhere else!
She was being fed rabbit muesli and whole carrots/cabbage leaves and had horrid yellow hay which she didn't seem to eat or like at all. Im slowly changing her food to Supreme Science Selective Junior and have gotten her some meadow hay which is a lot greener with longer strands.
I have been feeding her 25g a day of muesli/pellets (trying to wean her off muesli slowly) and a big handful of veggies (such as spinach, watercress, red babyleaf, rocket, bit of celery and pak choy). She eats most of it in the first hour and come the next morning there isn't a scrap left.
Shes had a bit of carrot and apple as treats and ive also given her Woodlands Apple and Pansy Hearts (only 1 so far) and Burgess Excel Salad Snacks Banana & Papaya (only about 1/8 of the pack).
She doesn't seem to eat her cecotrophes very much, leaving them every other day but i was told this was ok as it means she is already getting all her nutrients in her diet.
Initially she liked being held on my chest with her head tucked under my chin but now she will scrabble onto my shoulder and run down my back and jump to the floor instead. So now i lay on the floor and let her come up to me and climb on me, sometimes she licks my hair or face and snuffles round me.
She also demands attention by sitting under my chair, nibbling my shoes and nudging me when i am on the computer and she is quite happy to sit on the floor and be fawned over and given kisses.
I tried to weigh her earlier (and what a task that was) and she comes out at around 1200g which makes me think she isn't 4 months old at all.
She hasn't had any shots or been spayed (as far as the pet shop lady knew) and i have yet to take her to the vet (that comes in the next week or so). But she has no little visitors (fleas/ticks/mites etc.) though she does need her nails clipping a tiny bit.
But mainly she seems to be a happy little bunny from what i can tell.
Is there anything which is majorly wrong with this picture or anything i can do to help her settle in more thoroughly?
Thanks!
I am a new rabbit owner and would like some help with Poppy my new bundle of fluff.
Although i have done a lot of research and both my fiance and i have degrees in Zoology and Animal Behaviour & Management i would like to see how my rabbit habitat fares and where i could make improvements.
I was told my rabbit is a 4 month old Netherland Dwarf Doe and i got her on 1/4/15 from a local petshop (normally i would re-home but i fell in love despite seeing/holding dozens of bunnies in other shops etc.).
She has a Ferplast Rabbit 100 indoor cage (which i hope to upgrade to a two-tier one in 4 months or so) which I thoroughly cleaned out with soapy water and rinsed in Beaphor Deep Clean (but i kept one of the big thick tubes so it still smelt like home to her).
She is on sawdust for now (i am allergic so i will have to change this soon) with ripped up kitchen roll as bedding in her hide.
She comes out and has the run of my craft room every day for 2-3 hours (i have bunny-proofed it).
She has 3 litter boxes (plastic cat ones) around the room which have wood pellets in (sawdust went everywhere and hay was just being wasted when i used that) and she is very good at using them, with just the odd batch of poo on the laminate. She also has a litter box in her cage which she mainly just sits in and pees anywhere else!
She was being fed rabbit muesli and whole carrots/cabbage leaves and had horrid yellow hay which she didn't seem to eat or like at all. Im slowly changing her food to Supreme Science Selective Junior and have gotten her some meadow hay which is a lot greener with longer strands.
I have been feeding her 25g a day of muesli/pellets (trying to wean her off muesli slowly) and a big handful of veggies (such as spinach, watercress, red babyleaf, rocket, bit of celery and pak choy). She eats most of it in the first hour and come the next morning there isn't a scrap left.
Shes had a bit of carrot and apple as treats and ive also given her Woodlands Apple and Pansy Hearts (only 1 so far) and Burgess Excel Salad Snacks Banana & Papaya (only about 1/8 of the pack).
She doesn't seem to eat her cecotrophes very much, leaving them every other day but i was told this was ok as it means she is already getting all her nutrients in her diet.
Initially she liked being held on my chest with her head tucked under my chin but now she will scrabble onto my shoulder and run down my back and jump to the floor instead. So now i lay on the floor and let her come up to me and climb on me, sometimes she licks my hair or face and snuffles round me.
She also demands attention by sitting under my chair, nibbling my shoes and nudging me when i am on the computer and she is quite happy to sit on the floor and be fawned over and given kisses.
I tried to weigh her earlier (and what a task that was) and she comes out at around 1200g which makes me think she isn't 4 months old at all.
She hasn't had any shots or been spayed (as far as the pet shop lady knew) and i have yet to take her to the vet (that comes in the next week or so). But she has no little visitors (fleas/ticks/mites etc.) though she does need her nails clipping a tiny bit.
But mainly she seems to be a happy little bunny from what i can tell.
Is there anything which is majorly wrong with this picture or anything i can do to help her settle in more thoroughly?
Thanks!