Becky wrote:
Hi, I am new here and am not sure how to post andreply.So decided to just jump in and see whathappens.
...One of my questions is that they are digging a hole in the ground and am wondering if that is ok for them to do.
Just to let you know that I believe they were kept caged at alltimes beforeI got them so they were not toofriendly. I tired all winter to get them to warm up to me butwith littleluck....I worry so much, andwant only the best for them.
Posting your own new message would have garnered you more responses toyour particular questions as readers are responding to the originalquestion and not yours when they read this thread. If myreply is insufficient, you might try making a new topic inyour own right so as to increase general interest andresponse.
Digging holes is a natural rabbit activity for our species of domesticrabbits. Cottontail rabbits, for example, do not doso. The only downsides are the propensity for the buns to getdirty and/or possibly contracting mites, worms, or othercritters. If no, or few other animals have accessto the pen, that likelihood is small.
Rabbits that are bonded to one another have a tendency to not be asinterested in human contact as a rabbit whose only other socializationoccurs with humans. Rabbit living together will result inpregancies in they are of the opposite sex. If they are does,spaying is recommended to reduce the high statisticalprobability of uterine cancer among unbred does.
If they are bucks, it is unusual for them to remain togetherwithout fighting after puberty and castration is recommended to reducesexually induced behaviors like aggressiveness, circling, mounting, andspraying urine, quite accurately, I might add. LOL
Our first rabbit was a loner and had spent some time on his ownsurviving in a vacant lot in the middle of Philadelphia. Hehad never been a house bunny, nor lived in a cage, so when he came toour home we permitted him to free range in the back yard, which wasfenced with anchor fencing.
I placed chicken wire on the ground horizontally along theinside perimeter of the anchor fencing in order to preventhim from digging under and out of our yard. He would notallow us to even touch him for six months. As prey species,rabbits are very, very cautious.
Eventually, Montie became a very loving and responsive rabbitwho trusted me implicitly and would never fail to shower me withkisses, even when I was doing things to him like cutting hisnails. He remained that way even after we providedhim with to sibling does for company.
My point is, give your new buns lots of time. Talk to them alot, especially in high pitched baby talk and never fail to acknowledgethem when you walk by for not to do so is a breach of rabbit ettiquetteand an insult.
How do I know that you might ask? Well, link to the
Language of Lagomorphs and learn how to interpret "Rabbit Speak:"
http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk.html
Buck
