Pet Bunnies

[happygirl]

Does anyone have a pet bunny? tell me the good and bad, Do they ever get to where you can hold them and play with them like you do cats?

 

[goofystitchfan]

When I was young (high school) we had a pet bunny. We got him when he was a few months old from a litter that my sisters rabbit had. He was kept in a cage during sleeping hours and was allowed run of the house. Bunny was litter box trained (just like a cat), went up and down stairs, snuggled in bed with us and was such a big part of our family. He did chew thru wires however. Most of the time, we did not know this until we went to turn the lamp on and it just didn't work. He lived til he was about 6 years old. I hope this helps.

 

[happygirl]

When I was young (high school) we had a pet bunny. We got him when he was a few months old from a litter that my sisters rabbit had. He was kept in a cage during sleeping hours and was allowed run of the house. Bunny was litter box trained (just like a cat), went up and down stairs, snuggled in bed with us and was such a big part of our family. He did chew thru wires however. Most of the time, we did not know this until we went to turn the lamp on and it just didn't work. He lived til he was about 6 years old. I hope this helps.

Thanks I have heard they are bad at chewing

 

[jjant72]

I had a bunny...but we BBQ'd it. In the words of Alton Brown it was "good eats".

 

[happygirl]

I had a bunny...but we BBQ'd it. In the words of Alton Brown it was "good eats".

 

[monkeyboy]

I enjoy the playboy bunnies

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We have one.

She snorts at us a bit. But my children do not handle her often. However, they do take her outside and out of her cage occasionally. If she had been handled more, even at this point, she would be socialized.

We don't allow run of the house. When she has run of the room, she terrorizes the cats. (she chases them and they so do not appreciate that)

She is a sweet bunny when she wants to be.

I believe there is something that can be done about the chewing. But I don't recall. I think if they have things that they can chew, it might not be as much of an issue. But we don't give free range, so I am not sure. The chewing is instinctive though. Something with their teeth. There are a few fellow bunny lovers on here that would no much better.

A smaller bunny may be more suitable to holding. Our bunny is a hybrid of a dwarf and a lop eared, so she is big and a bit difficult to hold due to her build. Dwarfs, IMHO--are much easier in that regard. Lop ears are cute--but whoa are they HUGE!

Contrary to most of what we researched, we transported our bunny from Florida to Virginia and I was suprised that she did extremely well. But typically, it can get questionable on travel with bunny rabbits from everything we have read and learned. I guess we got lucky as I don't think that she should have done so well. It was a two day trip and we did not do any test runs prior. Just loaded her up and went. She is like the energizer bunny. Keeps on going, no matter what.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

All rabbits have different personalities. Some are friendlier and others would rather keep to themselves. They're not necessarily inexpensive pets. Spaying/neutering is imperative for their health and improves their behavior (chewing, spraying, litterbox habits). They're also a long-term commitment. When properly cared for and kept indoors, rabbits can live from 10-15 years. I have an 8-year old bunny that I took to the vet a few weeks ago. Before I told the vet his age, he said, "This guy looks to be about 4-years old." When I told him he had just turned 8, he was shocked! He said bunny looked so young and healthy that he never would have guessed he was 8. I chalk it up to good care and the best varieties of food and hay.

I would not recommend getting a baby or buying a rabbit from a pet store. Instead, find a reputable rescue agency and adopt a slightly older one (6 months and up). The shelter personnel and volunteers will be able to help you choose one that has the personality you're looking for. It will also be checked by a vet and possibly already spayed/neutered. Plus, if you're getting a bunny for the first time, you'll need a very knowledgeable person to talk to you about housing, litterbox training, appropriate food, etc.

The House Rabbit Society has chapters all over the country. Their website also has some good information about keeping pet rabbits: www.rabbit.org.
My favorite rescue agency is in California, but their website also has some good information about taking care of rabbits: www.saveabunny.com.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We have one.

She snorts at us a bit. But my children do not handle her often. However, they do take her outside and out of her cage occasionally. If she had been handled more, even at this point, she would be socialized.

We don't allow run of the house. When she has run of the room, she terrorizes the cats. (she chases them and they so do not appreciate that)

She is a sweet bunny when she wants to be.

I believe there is something that can be done about the chewing. But I don't recall. I think if they have things that they can chew, it might not be as much of an issue. But we don't give free range, so I am not sure. The chewing is instinctive though. Something with their teeth. There are a few fellow bunny lovers on here that would no much better.A smaller bunny may be more suitable to holding. Our bunny is a hybrid of a dwarf and a lop eared, so she is big and a bit difficult to hold due to her build. Dwarfs, IMHO--are much easier in that regard. Lop ears are cute--but whoa are they HUGE!

Contrary to most of what we researched, we transported our bunny from Florida to Virginia and I was suprised that she did extremely well. But typically, it can get questionable on travel with bunny rabbits from everything we have read and learned. I guess we got lucky as I don't think that she should have done so well. It was a two day trip and we did not do any test runs prior. Just loaded her up and went. She is like the energizer bunny. Keeps on going, no matter what.

I can address the chewing. Rabbits are classified as lagomorphs which means their teeth are constantly growing (as opposed to rodents whose teeth don't grow). They need to chew to keep their teeth filed down to a safe level. Giving them safe wooden chew toys can help. Also, they should have an unlimited supply of Timothy hay which helps them grind down their teeth. It's important not to leave them unattended in a room that's not bunny-proof.

In terms of dwarfs, it's true that they're smaller and some people prefer a smaller-sized rabbit. However, dwarf rabbits tend to be the most defensive breed because of their small size. Rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain and are constantly looking out for predators (even pet rabbits are on alert). The smaller ones know they're the biggest targets because predators perceive them as being weaker. As a result, they tend to not be as friendly and easy-going as bigger bunnies. For first-time bunny owners, most experts will usually recommend a bigger, more mellow bunny. If you don't understand bunny behavior, it's easy to mistake natural defensiveness for a bunny being rude or unfriendly. You can build trust with these little defensive guys, but it takes more time and patience than some people are willing to commit. Some people don't tend to want the standard BWB (big white bunny), but they can be the best pets for inexperienced bunny people.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I can address the chewing. Rabbits are classified as lagomorphs which means their teeth are constantly growing (as opposed to rodents whose teeth don't grow). They need to chew to keep their teeth filed down to a safe level. Giving them safe wooden chew toys can help. Also, they should have an unlimited supply of Timothy hay which helps them grind down their teeth. It's important not to leave them unattended in a room that's not bunny-proof.

In terms of dwarfs, it's true that they're smaller and some people prefer a smaller-sized rabbit. However, dwarf rabbits tend to be the most defensive breed because of their small size. Rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain and are constantly looking out for predators (even pet rabbits are on alert). The smaller ones know they're the biggest targets because predators perceive them as being weaker. As a result, they tend to not be as friendly and easy-going as bigger bunnies. For first-time bunny owners, most experts will usually recommend a bigger, more mellow bunny. If you don't understand bunny behavior, it's easy to mistake natural defensiveness for a bunny being rude or unfriendly. You can build trust with these little defensive guys, but it takes more time and patience than some people are willing to commit. Some people don't tend to want the standard BWB (big white bunny), but they can be the best pets for inexperienced bunny people.

Maybe that is what our mixed breed is showing--more of her dwarf side, hence all her snorting at us. She actually sounds like a pig oinking sometimes.

 

[minkydog]

All rabbits have different personalities. Some are friendlier and others would rather keep to themselves. They're not necessarily inexpensive pets. Spaying/neutering is imperative for their health and improves their behavior (chewing, spraying, litterbox habits). They're also a long-term commitment. When properly cared for and kept indoors, rabbits can live from 10-15 years. I have an 8-year old bunny that I took to the vet a few weeks ago. Before I told the vet his age, he said, "This guy looks to be about 4-years old." When I told him he had just turned 8, he was shocked! He said bunny looked so young and healthy that he never would have guessed he was 8. I chalk it up to good care and the best varieties of food and hay.

I would not recommend getting a baby or buying a rabbit from a pet store. Instead, find a reputable rescue agency and adopt a slightly older one (6 months and up). The shelter personnel and volunteers will be able to help you choose one that has the personality you're looking for. It will also be checked by a vet and possibly already spayed/neutered. Plus, if you're getting a bunny for the first time, you'll need a very knowledgeable person to talk to you about housing, litterbox training, appropriate food, etc.

The House Rabbit Society has chapters all over the country. Their website also has some good information about keeping pet rabbits: www.rabbit.org.
My favorite rescue agency is in California, but their website also has some good information about taking care of rabbits: www.saveabunny.com.

Congratulations on your 8yo bun! That's a real testament to how well you have cared for him. I wanted to reiterate your suggestion to contact a rescue group. I work with a bunny rescue and we have many beautiful, sweet bunnies of every size and temperment. We work with people to help them learn about bunnies before they take one home and then we help them find a good match for their family. Bunnies are not a one-size-fits-all pet and they do require some special handling.

About the chewing, OP--bunnies chew. A lot. All day/all night. You have to find a way to protect your cords or you're going to be very frustrated with your bun. At the rescue house we give our bunnies sticks trimmed from fruit trees that have not been treated with any chemicals. We also put medium size cardboard boxes in their pens. If you cut a door on it, your bun will happily hop in and out of the hidey-box and will "decorate" it with strips of cardboard that he tears off the edges. We call that "knitting."

 

[minkydog]

Maybe that is what our mixed breed is showing--more of her dwarf side, hence all her snorting at us. She actually sounds like a pig oinking sometimes.

We had a dwarf Himalayan several years ago, weighed less than 3-lbs. Cute and sweet. But he could "talk" to you. He had all sorts of sounds, thumps, stomps, and growls. We only let him run loose in the evenings and we didn't have any other pets at the time. We'd sit on the floor and Phoenix would hop from lap to lap. He never exhibited bad behaviors either.

 

[luv2sew]

My DD pet bunny is a lop eared Holland Dwarf and she is very protective of how SHE arranges her cage. If we go in there first thing in the morning to pick up her housekeeping she will proceed to dart toward our hands and grunt. I don't think she's being nasty she just puts her cage in an order she wants it and does not like it changed.

She also needs alot of cage cleaning. I have read somewhere that the lops are not as good at being litter trained as the others and that I would say is true. We do not give her run of the house at all times. She gets left out for a run each night for about 3 hours in the room and hallway that the family sits in to watch tv at night and is always being played with and watched so she does not get a chance to chew up things. She does not want to be picked up but will on her terms come over to sit with us.

She scratches the bottom of the cage alot and we have not had her spayed yet so we're hoping the scratching will settle down a bit when that is done.

One thing I would caution about is you really need to watch the temperature in the house...our bunny had to be hospitalized for 2 nights due to being too overheated and she got stressed and stopped pooping. I guess she got too hot and didn't drink enough to keep her insides working. Anyway it was an expensive lesson we learned.

 

[happygirl]

Thanks everyone

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

My DD has a pet bunny, we got it when it was a baby. We were told it would be a dwarf... definitely not!!! She does hold the bunny alot. there are times when he doesn't want to be held and lighlty nips, but that is far and few between. He doesn't have run of the house as we have a lab. the dog knows the rabbit is not food and leaves it alone, I still don't want to take chances and come home from work and find a mess KWIM! It does occasionally pee on the carpeting. However DD absolutely loves her bunny and he does snuggle with her when she is watching TV on the couch.

Good luck!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My DD pet bunny is a lop eared Holland Dwarf and she is very protective of how SHE arranges her cage. If we go in there first thing in the morning to pick up her housekeeping she will proceed to dart toward our hands and grunt. I don't think she's being nasty she just puts her cage in an order she wants it and does not like it changed.

She also needs alot of cage cleaning. I have read somewhere that the lops are not as good at being litter trained as the others and that I would say is true. We do not give her run of the house at all times. She gets left out for a run each night for about 3 hours in the room and hallway that the family sits in to watch tv at night and is always being played with and watched so she does not get a chance to chew up things. She does not want to be picked up but will on her terms come over to sit with us.

She scratches the bottom of the cage alot and we have not had her spayed yet so we're hoping the scratching will settle down a bit when that is done.

One thing I would caution about is you really need to watch the temperature in the house...our bunny had to be hospitalized for 2 nights due to being too overheated and she got stressed and stopped pooping. I guess she got too hot and didn't drink enough to keep her insides working. Anyway it was an expensive lesson we learned.

This is a common behavior in females, although some males can have it too. It's called being "cage protective." Since bunnies are so low on the food chain, they have a a breeding instinct (we've all heard the term "multiplying like rabbits"). Females have an instinct to protect their nests at all times as if they were protecting a litter. Even spayed females can have this instinct. They want to keep their things just so and can get pretty ticked off if someone reaches in and messes with their stuff. My sweet little girl can be quite cage protective at times. She likes to attack the food scoop and sometimes the food gets dumped on her head! I don't reach in to get her litterbox or clean her cage unless I've taken her out. She thinks the little broom is public enemy #1 and snarls at it if I try to sweep. I call her a boxing kangaroo because she stands on her hind legs and beats at it with her front paws. When I take her out of the cage, she hangs around to see what I'm doing to her home and she pokes at my legs while I'm cleaning. She's a very nice girl as long as you're not messing with her stuff!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This is a common behavior in females, although some males can have it too. It's called being "cage protective." Since bunnies are so low on the food chain, they have a a breeding instinct (we've all heard the term "multiplying like rabbits"). Females have an instinct to protect their nests at all times as if they were protecting a litter. Even spayed females can have this instinct. They want to keep their things just so and can get pretty ticked off if someone reaches in and messes with their stuff. My sweet little girl can be quite cage protective at times. She likes to attack the food scoop and sometimes the food gets dumped on her head! I don't reach in to get her litterbox or clean her cage unless I've taken her out. She thinks the little broom is public enemy #1 and snarls at it if I try to sweep. I call her a boxing kangaroo because she stands on her hind legs and beats at it with her front paws. When I take her out of the cage, she hangs around to see what I'm doing to her home and she pokes at my legs while I'm cleaning. She's a very nice girl as long as you're not messing with her stuff!

Interesting!

I had wondered if it was a socializing issue. Our bunny snorts at us mostly when we try to access her cage. She could be starving and seh will lunge for us.

Dumping food doesn't work as she has a grated cage--so her food will be inaccessble to her.

I end up using the litter scoop to block her so the food scoop can get to her bowl. It is frustrating.

I am so pleased that you posted this and share it with dd10. We thought she was "misbehaving". But I guess it is just instinctive.

Any tips would be appreciative. We really really really do not like to be nipped.


She has another bizarre habit. She will use her litter box, but I swear she intentionally stands on the corner to pee out of her cage. We end up having to put up some metal thing to keep the pee in the cage and it is why she has a grated cage. She does many things in her litterbox--but peeing is not one of them.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Interesting!

I had wondered if it was a socializing issue. Our bunny snorts at us mostly when we try to access her cage. She could be starving and seh will lunge for us.

Dumping food doesn't work as she has a grated cage--so her food will be inaccessble to her.

I end up using the litter scoop to block her so the food scoop can get to her bowl. It is frustrating.

I am so pleased that you posted this and share it with dd10. We thought she was "misbehaving". But I guess it is just instinctive.

Any tips would be appreciative. We really really really do not like to be nipped.


She has another bizarre habit. She will use her litter box, but I swear she intentionally stands on the corner to pee out of her cage. We end up having to put up some metal thing to keep the pee in the cage and it is why she has a grated cage. She does many things in her litterbox--but peeing is not one of them.[/QUOTE]

My two little boy bunnies used to sit in the litterbox but the pee would end up outside on the floor. I got them a high-back litterbox that fits in the corner of the cage. Now the pee hits the back high back but stays in the litterbox. Sometimes they just have bad aim!

As for your cage protective nipper, all you can do is respect her boundaries and try not to get nipped. If I have to reach into Ashley's cage to get her food bowl or something, I just hold her down by her shoulders so she can't lunge at me. I know I can't break her of her cage protectiveness, so I've just learned to go with it. She's really a sweetie and loves to be held and snuggled. She's just possessive of her space!

 

[PatsGirl]

Worst mistake I ever made. We got two lion-head bunnies a few years ago, had them fixed, spent a fortune building them their own two-story condo and devoted many hours to socializing them with no luck. One peed outside the cage all the time (from inside), one bit anytime you tried to pet it and overall they were just so much work...took at least 45 minutes to clean the cage, walls, and floor around it. We finally gave them away...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yes---we do have the high back. She stands on an entrance corner to pee in the spot that doesn't have a box.

Interesting!

I had wondered if it was a socializing issue. Our bunny snorts at us mostly when we try to access her cage. She could be starving and seh will lunge for us.

Dumping food doesn't work as she has a grated cage--so her food will be inaccessble to her.

I end up using the litter scoop to block her so the food scoop can get to her bowl. It is frustrating.

I am so pleased that you posted this and share it with dd10. We thought she was "misbehaving". But I guess it is just instinctive.

Any tips would be appreciative. We really really really do not like to be nipped.


She has another bizarre habit. She will use her litter box, but I swear she intentionally stands on the corner to pee out of her cage. We end up having to put up some metal thing to keep the pee in the cage and it is why she has a grated cage. She does many things in her litterbox--but peeing is not one of them.[/QUOTE]

My two little boy bunnies used to sit in the litterbox but the pee would end up outside on the floor. I got them a high-back litterbox that fits in the corner of the cage. Now the pee hits the back high back but stays in the litterbox. Sometimes they just have bad aim!

As for your cage protective nipper, all you can do is respect her boundaries and try not to get nipped. If I have to reach into Ashley's cage to get her food bowl or something, I just hold her down by her shoulders so she can't lunge at me. I know I can't break her of her cage protectiveness, so I've just learned to go with it. She's really a sweetie and loves to be held and snuggled. She's just possessive of her space!