Getting a Bunny Tomorrow

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finallyabunnyofmyown

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Dec 8, 2011
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Location
Gibsonton, Florida, USA
I'm getting a new bunny tomorrow. Two days ago I rescued a gorgeous bunny, and fell in love. Unfortunately, he was very sick and pissed away yesterday. I did try to take him to the vet, but he was too sick, the previous owners had fed him only lettuce. :( At my local feed store I spied a beautiful little girl bunny in need of a home, she us also a rescue but they have had he for a few month now on a good diet and she is doing great. I am going to be picking her up tomorrow, and want to give her a wonderful life, both for her and in memory of my poor Roger. I have a basic cage available, but how do I comfort her tomorrow? Can I play with her, if so how much? Should she just be in the cage for a day our two to get used to it? Are there any good toys I can give her to make her happy? I will be getting her at 8:30, then going to work for 6 hours at 11, my husband will be home to check on her, is there anything he should do? She has her cage in her own bedroom (well, our storage room), and tomorrow either before our after work I'm building a run in. the room and one for outside. Thanks for any advice!

Kim
 
Oh! A rabbit for 2 days? :cries:
Hmm just let her settle in, was she with other rabbits? If so and if not get a nice little stuffie no beads for eyes to give to her. She'll settle in when she's ready. Ask if you can get some of the exact rabbit food that they were feeding her and continue feeding her that or add a bit of your new food in every second day. Cardboard toilet paper rolls are good, my rabbit loves shreeding newspaper. Let her get used to her cage before playing with her. Also only hold her if you absolutely need to like to put her in a better position but dont hold her for very long. You can tell when a rabbit is feeling more comfortable when they eat,drink,flop,clean themsleves. Dont do anything too scary for her like sticking your hand in straight away. Let her get used to you being in the room and then slowly oyou coming closer. Your husband shoul maybe give her some fresh water and if shes old enough a nice little treat. He shouldnt pet her, at least not yet.
Pm me for anymore help!
Best of luck!
Jj
 
I would say just sort of play it by ear, see how she reacts to her new home. Q-tip was exploring and snuggling and wanting to be held, petted, and cuddled within two or three hours. However, when my dad brought home his rescue bunny, Smokey a few years ago, she really didn't want much interaction for the first day or two.

I think a lot of it depends on the personality of your bunny. See how she reacts to her room, to you, and a new setting. And for fluff's sake, post pictures!!
 
Thank you both for the replies! Sorry I didn't reply yesterday, my internet was down when I got off work. I will keep an eye on her tomorrow. I have dogs, she its used to a dog and cat in the feed store. We'll try to keep them quiet until she's used to her new home. Other than the noise, is there anything I need to be concerned about with them? They will not be allowed around the bunny at least for now. I will definitely give her some toilet paper rolls and a little newspaper. Hopefully she'll love her new room! Roger liked it, it's got a lot of holes to explore when he wasn't in his cage (not that he explored much since he was sick, poor baby, but he did a little).

I'll let you know what happens and figure out how to post pics tomorrow. Thanks!!
 
They're lazy brats. Lol. I have 3 dogs, ages 3, 6 and about 8. They only bark when we initiate playing or when someone knocks on the door (very rare, we don't get many visitors). DH will be home all day today and will keep them behaving. All 3 are good around my chickens too when they're outside together.
 
As long as they're separate, the other animals won't bother bunny. Q-tip and I live in an apartment complex with a really annoying yappy bichon next door, and the constant barking doesn't bother Tips at all.

You sound like you've got this totally figured out. Now for the fun part...falling ears over tail in love with your new baby.
 
I got her home today! She's in her room in her temporary cage. It's about teh same size as the one at the feed store, which is big enough, but it's not what I want. I'm keeping her in there for this week, so she can get used to us and the place and everything, and letting her out in the room to run, well, not today, she was scared, but starting hopefully tomorrow if she wants. I'm then going to build the bigger cage around that one, it'll be like 3 times the size and take up a good chunk of her room. She'll be able to come and go from the old one to the new one until she's comfortable in the new one, then I'll take the old one out. I don't like the one she's in now, but it's big enough for her to stretch in, and will do for the moment I think. I've just got to wait til I have a day off to get the supplies and build the big one. (Roger was a small bunny and fit much better in the cage, so I didn't even think about it until I put her in it and realized I want her to have more room). Does that sound like a good plan? I think the big one will be at least 4 feet by 4 feet, maybe 4 by 5 or something. As big as I can fit in the room which is bunny room/knitting room/storage room. So, will that be an easy transition? I don't want her scared like this ever again!! :)

As for the bunny today, she stayed in one corner of the cage as far as myself or my husband could see. I left her alone, stopping in ever once in a while after work to check her water and sit with her for a few minutes. My husband did the same a couple of times while I was at work.

Just a little while ago, I went in to give her a carrot and sit a bit. She finally started moving around in the cage a bit and checked out the carrot. Not thinking about it, I picked up a piece of her hay and she took it from me and ate it! :-D So, I gave her a couple more pieces (they're free for her to get in the cage, but hey, it's fun to have her eat from my hand!). After that, I scratched her head by her ears and dared to try scratching her nose. When I stopped, she moved closer to me, sniffed my fingers, and bumped into my hand with her nose. Any idea on what that means? I took it as an invite to scratch more, so I did. Her eyes looked calm, when they looked kinda scared earlier. Did I do the right thing then?

I think she's starting to settle in, which makes me so happy! :)

Sorry, no pics right now, I cannot find my camera and my phone's battery is dead. When it gets charged, I will take a pic.

Thanks for walking me through this! I've read so many stories of little bunny heart attacks I was so scared I would screw up and give her one, and I just want to make her happy! So thanks for all the help!!
 
finallyabunnyofmyown wrote:
When I stopped, she moved closer to me, sniffed my fingers, and bumped into my hand with her nose. Any idea on what that means? I took it as an invite to scratch more, so I did. Her eyes looked calm, when they looked kinda scared earlier. Did I do the right thing then?
Click to expand...
You did - she was saying "why did you stop? I liked that!"
 
The nudge: hey! I thought you were petting me! Why'd ya stop? I wasn't ready for you to stop! Get that hand back over to the ears!

Sounds like she's a sweet, happy little bun. I can't wait for pictures!
 
She definitely loved cheek rubs and noise rubs! She's coming out of her shell nicely. Well. We did have an escape today! Her cage is temporary and not the most secure and, after apparently paying attention when I open and closed it today, she not only escaped but took the time to take 6 small treats my husband gave her of the cage! Silly rabbit. She had fun though, didn't cause any trouble, and I now know how to secure the cage a little better til she gets her handbuilt new one.

Also, a friends of mine has a male albino she is rehoming (he was given to her by a friends that's moving), and so I may take him. Not sure if I'm going to keep him our give him to the neighbor yet, my neighbor is already jealous of Jessica.

I'm going to try to post a pic of her, let's see if I can do it.

url]


ETA: It worked! Any ideas on what kind she is? Just curious. ;)
 
She's about a year old, she's a rescue the feed store had, so I don't know exactly how old. I'm not positive on her weight either. I'd guess maybe 5 to 7lBS? She's really not heavy at all, but I am used to a40lb lap dog! So, yeah. I can't get her on a scale to check, she's not so happy about being picked up, but she seems to like me and her new room, yay! Today she came out of the cage while I was cleaning the room and ram circles around my feet, inspected the new shelves, and found every hole she could between boxes to hide in. She's had a busy day!

Thanks again everyone!!
 
If you're looking for a good solution for housing your new friend, I'd suggest an Exercise Pen (X-Pen). They are excellent enclosures for rabbits, and very versatile. There is lots of info to be found about them here on the forums.

Running circles around your feet is usually a "Feed Me" request. Head buts or nose bumps, as you have already learned, is an "Awe I'm so cute, don't you just want to pet me" behavior. Although sometimes head buts are an, "Excuse me, can't you see I'm walkin' here? Move your big, stinky feet outta my way" request.

The Zoomer did that to me the other day. I was kickin' back on the couch with my legs stretched out, and he came walking by, right where my feet were. And then, bump, and in impatient glare. I was like, "Dude, you can jump out of a 36 inch high X-Pen, don't tell me I have to move my feet. Jump over!" Them, bump, and an even more impatient glare. So I sighed and lifted my feet up and he continued on his way.

If you ever see your bun go berserk, like jumping repeatedly while kicking her feet out and shaking her head, then running a short distance and repeating, don't worry, she's not having a seizure. That's called a "Binky" and it means she is very, very happy.

I've been trying to catch my bun "going Binky" on video, but every time I point the camera at him he stops and stares at the camera.
 
Update!

I got another bun from my friend, a fixed male. I kept them each in separate cages, letting them out at separate times to play, until I got a day off work to introduce them properly. (the plan was for today, I worked 2 Weeks straight).

About 4 days ago, I got home from work and Jessica had gotten it of her cage. Oops. I put her back in and went to bed. The next morning, she was back out, sitting on to of the boys cage. Grr. They each got play time, then I went to work, making sure her cage was closed. When I got home, she was out again. I had a box in the room that she was apparently using as a littler box, so I fixed her cage so she could come and go, and left her out. Yesterday morning, I went to check on the bunnies, and the boy was out too, and they're best buddies, so, his cage now doesn't close either.

I was planning on the intro today, but since they did it themselves, well, they just have the run of the room now and they're happy. They're living it and each other, so I guess I picked a good friend for her! They're also been renamed Bonnie and Clyde, since they're boy and girl and have successfully broken it of "jail"to live life in a whole open room together. They love snuggling together and playing together.

Thanks for all the help. Both bunnies are healthy and happy and are loving their room to play in.
 
Ooh! I'm so intrested to see what the new one looks like!
Aw so lucky! I'm thinking about getting Pembrooke a friend...
Tell me more!
Jj
 
Clyde has a thing about being petted. He jumps, scared, every time. He'll come up and check you out and even hop up on your lap, just as long as you don't pet him. Today, however, I was petting Bonnie (previously named Jessica), and he started to snuggle with her. He was so wrapped up in snuggling with his girl, I pet him for almost 10 minutes before he noticed. When he noticed, it was kind of like he thought "oh, so that's what you keep trying to do. Ok then, carry on.", and I was able to keep petting him for another 5 minutes with Bonnie not even there before he decided it was bath time.

Clyde is albino, and gorgeous. Here's a pic of them snuggling:

16030_181545_410000001.jpg
 
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