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Post by Dezzi on May 24, 2008 17:14:02 GMT -4
Well my best friend has two rabbits. Now that the weather has warmed up, she put them both outside. One is a male, the other one is an "it" (according to her, I have no idea how to sex rabbits) Now she thinks the "it" is actually a female and may be pregnant. (it's pulling out its fur and nesting) I said that if it was, I would convince my parents to let me get one. Then yesterday a girl I work with asked me if I wanted a rabbit. Apparently her boyfriend had two females that got out with a male, and now he has 16 babies to get rid of. So here's my dilemma (other than the parental convincing)
1) No clue about rabbit care (easily learned) 2) Cost 3) Accommodations. I have to have it away from my dogs, which means upstairs in my room. I've cleared space because I'm making shelving to put the hams cages on, but how big would the rabbit cage have to be? I'll measure the space later. 4) Who's and how many? If I could, I would try to get one from each of them, get them fixed, and keep them together. I'd be worried that I'm getting myself in way over my head, as I've never had one at all. If I can only get one I'd take it from my best friend. And if I had only one and it was going to be inside, would I still need to get it fixed?
That's all I can think of for right now. I will probably have a million more questions in the future. When I get home from work later tonight I will try to get some serious reading done, and see what I can find.
Oh, and yes, I have been trying to get them to spay/neuter their pets. Maybe now they will finally decide to listen to me.
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Post by ladyjosephine on May 24, 2008 20:02:57 GMT -4
I would go for a boy and a girl, keep them seperate until you have the boy neutered If you want just one, I would go for a boy..They are more layed back. I never had any problems with 'regular' boys inside, so If you only get one I would go for a boy.. No need to Neuter, only If he starts marking it's territory you might want to do this, It smells reeeeally bad My rabbit doesn't 'cost' that much...In euro's it's about 15 euro per month..That's for Hay/Straw/bedding/food/Veggies, Hay is very important they need it every day! Some rabbit also eat straw, but mostly they use it for bedding. twice a year Bram get's vaccinated against 2 deadly diseases(Myxomatosis & VHS) I get It done in the local petstore, costs about 15 euro. Don't know if they do that on your side of the world..But over here it's very important. For the cage, how much time wil the rabbit spend out side it's cage and how big is the rabbit going to be? I think that's Important. Bram(my own) walks in the garden all day(when I'm home) so his cage is nog that big( 120x50x50 cm) And he's not that big because it's a Dwarf so he doesn't need as much space like for instance A Vienna white or a Flemish giant
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Post by Andrea on May 24, 2008 20:21:50 GMT -4
Ack.... just what the world needs more inbred bunnies As for bunny care for yourself, rabbits are a 10 year commitment. I find they are better in pairs as they are very social little critters. Having said that I have PitStop who just loves me and thinks other rabbits are the enemy, and he's lived happily with rabbits before. There are no vaccinations here in Canada for rabbits, but spaying/neutering is very important, One; it helps keep the hormones down (no biting/spraying/lunging), it makes it easier to litter train them and most importantly bring the reproduction cancer rate down to 0. Male or female... I love them both. Some males can be more laid back, but that doesn't mean they won't be trouble LOL If you get them young it's easy to keep same sex pairs. I have a same sex male pair and they are very affectionet to one another. My other pairs are all male & female, but I know many people who keep both. When Ebony was still alive she came to me with Mittens another female. Mittens now has a boyfriend (who's like half her age! lol) Do lots of reading, ask lots of questions and if you can go out and meet some house rabbits. I think rabbits are the most amazing pet and I won't live without one now, but then again there not for everyone. Good Luck
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 24, 2008 20:53:48 GMT -4
>> I have no idea how to sex rabbits) << HOW TO RIGHT HERE>> her boyfriend had two females that got out with a male, and now he has 16 babies to get rid of. >> Be sure they always have some hay for roughage. How big? Big enough for the rabbit to stretch all the way out full length, but still with more room especially for a litter pan, which they use. That's minimum. >> if I had only one and it was going to be inside, would I still need to get it fixed? << It would be best to avoid the possibility of long term related health issues, especially for the female. Yes, read more, and get back to us. read some old Rabbit threads around here too.
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Post by Dezzi on May 25, 2008 1:44:21 GMT -4
Thank you all for the information. I'm doing some reading at the moment, and will post more questions as I can come up with them!
EDIT: came up with questions! Is it better for their cages to be on the ground or raised? I am putting the hams cages on the shelving, would it be okay to have a rabbit cage on the floor?
I know I have to keep the dogs and bun separate (especially with my dogs) but how then can I let the bun out to run around? I don't think I can bunny-proof my room, would the bathroom with everything off the floor be big enough for a romp?
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Post by Andrea on May 25, 2008 14:35:21 GMT -4
Rabbits live best in a ground level home with an front opening so they can walk out of their cage on their own. The cages with openings on the top are not great because 1) You have to reach 'down' to get the rabbit out, most rabbit are afraid (aahh! eagle guna eat me!) and don't like to be picked up anyways, 2) they can't come and go as they please, letting you know whether or not they want to go back in their home including when they need to use the litter box.
I used to let my rabbits have play time upstairs, have the whole area but with so many rabbits everyone started marking my house (yuck) so now upstairs is dedicated to PitStop only as he doesn't have any 'accidents'. The other bunnies have downstairs where if they pee on something it's ok and easy to clean. Having a large rabbit proof space is essential to keeping a rabbit. They need time to stretch their legs everyday, especially if they live in a smaller cage.
My smallest rabbit cage is about 3.5x3.5 feet and two (and a bit) levels up. My largest are 4x6 with three level condos inside. Depending on the rabbits size the bigger they are the bigger the house needs to be. Which is hard when you get a rabbit from a baby, you can't always be sure just how big they are going to get. Examples are my Spencer & Suzy-Q, both came to me as babies, I was told Mini Rex X Angoras. They are now the biggest bunnies in my home! Definitely not 'mini' rexes LOL
Though my dog is awesome with my other animals, I still take precautions. In the basement where the bunnies all have free run during their play time, I have a NIC cube fence all the way around the perimeter. This keeps the dog out and stops her from eating bunny poops, and it keeps the bunnies from going anywhere they are not supposed to. It only needs to be 2 NIC's high. I use the NIC panels to make fences everywhere, anything I want protected from little bunny mouths has a fence around it. It works great!
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 25, 2008 19:49:01 GMT -4
>> stops her from eating bunny poops << Yummm. I assume yours all use litter pans. My problem with Poppy was that when let out anywhere all he wanted to do is vanish--hide. Sometimes for days.
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Post by Dezzi on May 26, 2008 11:30:07 GMT -4
Poppy would vanish for days? O.o How?
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 26, 2008 18:01:10 GMT -4
Hide under stuff or in boxes or behind furniture. Oddly, he never pooped where he should not have!
That was why I stopped letting him run loose. Wonder why he acts scared; he has been nothing but loved since I got him as a bunny.
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Post by Dezzi on May 26, 2008 21:26:15 GMT -4
>>Wonder why he acts scared<< He probably no longer feels the safety of his small bunny home and therefore must hide... maybe you have big scary feet? Ha ha that made me think of how bunnies have big feet, then I pictured that big mascot from that Cadbury commercial chasing after Poppy, with you trying to tame it...
Found a vet in town today that spays/neuters rabbits! I was picking Tucker up (he got neutered today) and asked if they did. Its about $130 for the neuter, and $150 for the spay. (well, that's about what it would be after taxes. Tucker was $440, but he had to get vaccines and such done as well, more about him in another thread) And for only $11 you can get them a tattoo... (how come mine's costing me like $80 and it's way smaller?) Now just to find a vet that will do my hams teeth and we're all set!
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 26, 2008 21:36:25 GMT -4
> maybe you have big scary feet<<
Yes.
>> you can get them a tattoo <<
A butterfly or a "mom"?? ;D
Best in finding a vet.
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Post by Dezzi on May 27, 2008 0:06:11 GMT -4
Of course you have big scary feet. (I wear a 6) I think feet bigger than mine are huge and scary. (not really, but if I was a bunny I would)
>>A butterfly or a "mom"?? << Nah, their boyfriend's name... *eyeroll* The tattoo is one of those "find your pet" ones or whatever... If you get the tattoo all your info gets entered into a database for if it gets lost type thing.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on May 27, 2008 1:13:03 GMT -4
I have to order shoes by mail, if that gives you an idea. Horses have ID tattoos under their lips, as I recall.
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Post by ladyjosephine on May 27, 2008 4:45:15 GMT -4
Hmm...don't they just get give them a chip?
In the netherlands only 'breeder'-rabbits get 2 tattoos, 1 in every ear. Every ear has 3 symbols, leftear = 3 numbers = 1 for the month he was born and the other 2 are for how many rabbits that breeders'union' already tattood..For instance a rabbit has 236 in his ear, that means: he was born in Febr. and he was the 36th rabbit to be tattood. The right ear is for birth-year and 2 characters for his breeder. Rabbits born in Oct. Nov. Dec. don't get tattoos.
Without those tattoos a rabbit can't be shown on a 'real' show.
Horses over here don't get tattood either, They get chipped. You have to do that, by law, if you want to transport your horse. Even horses that are to be killed need to be chipped. Because of the huge amount of stolen horses that disapeare, this makes it a bit harder to get the horses sold or even to get it over the border.
Bram has a chip too, He doesn't have tattoos because he's a petstore rabbit. And usually petstore-bunny's don't have tattoos because they are a mix of different breeds or the breeder only breeds for the money not to make the breed better.
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Post by Dezzi on May 27, 2008 13:13:30 GMT -4
>>I have to order shoes by mail, if that gives you an idea.<< WTB pics of your huge feet!
>>Horses have ID tattoos under their lips, as I recall.<< Here it depends on what the owner wants. Some get chips. Others get tattoos. Some still use brands. I think the horse has to have ID of some sort in order to be transported, but what kind of ID that is exactly, I'm not sure. I've never been in a situation where I've had to transport a horse off the island, so I don't know.
UPDATE: Co-worker's boyfriend has pawned off most of the bunnies. (I say pawned off because I doubt they're finding good homes and more just giving them out to whoever will give them $5) And apparently they're all inbred. I was appalled when she said to me "I'm hoping he saves me the only cute one left. It's black and white and has floppy ears. It's not like they're hard to look after. All you have to do is put them in a cage, feed them, and keep them away from my dog" to which I said "Actually, rabbits aren't robots. There's more to it than that" to which she replied "Oh, I'd clean it's cage. Apparently their [pee] stinks." Discussion ensued. Thankfully she accepted the link to the HRS site, and since she saw that I was truly concerned, she's going to talk to her boyfriend. (as am I, the next time I see him)
Best friend still doesn't know if there will be little bunnies running around soon or not. (I'll admit, I'm doubtful. All of her pets have been pregnant at one point or another. None have ever had babies) So I don't know what's happening there.
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