Have some serious questions, please help!

[LovinLops]

Ok so I have a black Holland lop named Anakin born on 4/19. He is super sweet and even though he's still new to my home (I got him from a breeder on 6/29) , we are bonding really well. I do have a few questions that need specific answers, so I thought I'd ask for your help.

1.) The breeder that I got Anakin from came outside with him in her arms when I rang the doorbell. She didn't have an enclousure where I could put him down and see how he hopped set up outdoors, so I just gently tugged his legs to make sure they all worked. I asked to see the other rabbits she had, and she explained to me that they were all in her basement in makeshift crates because the extreme heat wave we had was too much for them to handle(she said she lost several from heat stroke before she coulf relocate them all). As you can imagine, the makeshift cages were pretty small, but from what I saw conditions were good and the bunnies seemed healthy. When I brought Anakin home and set him down to see him hop, I was a little worried about his back legs. He seemed to kind of army crawl instead of hop. Since then, his hop has improved and he's even doing binkies, but still does his army crawl. Should I be concerned, or just patient while he grows and gains strength?

2.) I made the mistake of introducing cilantro into Anakins diet, because I read first that it was ok to introduce greens to young buns slowly as long as you kept feeding pellets and, of course, hay. He seemed to absolutely love it. I monitored his waste and it was still solid and fine. Then I read that babes should have no greens at all at his age. Do you think it would be ok if he still got a little cilantro here in there since I haven't noticed a problem?

3.) I have a pretty large rectangular cage for Anakin. I was told by a friend to start off by putting the Carefresh all over his cage, but I think it's confusing him. I want to take the Carefresh that isn't in his litter pan out of the cage, but will he be uncomfortable laying on the cool plastic bottom? Is there something else I should out down that he would like better?

Any and all feedback is GREATLY appreciated. I feel so lucky to have found such a friendly and caring group of people to go to when I need information I can trust.

 

[ZRabbits]

Hi,

I think your bunny is doing well. Regarding the hopping, mine do the army crawl. I have a 6 week old Flemish Giant that is just getting his legs. New surrounding, new experience, plus the heat will set all animals back. It just takes a bit of time. Just let him settle in and get his legs. Lot for a little bunny to go through. Plus I found that my Flemish was on wire and now on plastic. He's got to get used to that feeling. He now after a couple days is getting his legs. More strength, more agility and more movement.

Regarding the cilantro, I don't feed until 6 months, but if you started and there is no problems, a little each time won't hurt. Just don't over due it. You are doing right by watching his poo. Any disagreement of food, you'll know right away.

Regarding the carefresh all over the bottom of the crate, I think he is getting confused. My bunnies all have plastic flooring with mats. They love the cool plastic at this time of the year.

Hope this helped a bit. Sounds like you have everything under control and your bunny is getting settled in. Hollands are such sweet, gentle bunnies.

K

 

[mimosa]

Anakin sounds like he's doing well!

Harriet army crawled when I first got her. I think it was because she was nervous. She's never done it since the first days I had her.

Did you read from the House Rabbit Organization website? I did too and gave Harriet a variety of veggies at only three months old. When I learned that was bad I cut down to the veggies she'd already tried (and loved) to just being treats. Like Anakin she never had runny stool and has never seemed harmed by it.

I don't use bedding for Harriet. It's expensive and messy and I just really had to cut some costs, so when I read it was unnecessary, I ditched it. Harriet has her own linens-- towels, sheets and baby blankets that I put in her cage. She can dig in them, bite them, move them around. Because she has a few I'm not doing laundry all the time, I just take a dirty one out, throw a new one in and and do a load of Harriet's laundry when I have a few things to wash.

 

[agnesthelion]

Agnes never army crawled so no input there.

I started veggies at about 3 months. You will see varying opinions on this. Some believe to wait til 6 months. Some give them as soon as they are weaned with no problems. I think the key, is to go SLOW and only introduce one at a time so you know right away if it causes problems.

And yes, no bedding here either. Agnes has baby blankets all over her cage. Perfect size and they don't tend to shred or have strands come off so she can dig and rearrange all she wants

 

[Robyn13]

Okay, I was reading the replies to this and my mind is blown. Bedding is not necessary?! I use carefresh with my bun, the entire bottom of his cage is covered with it. I use Yesterdays News for his litter. He rearanges his carefresh and likes to push it around, including kicking it out of his cage.
So would he be fine without any carefresh? I never knew this. The bottom of his cage is metal. This would be great if he didnt need it, its pretty expensive. Is it okay to only use old towels, or whats the story here?

 

[ZRabbits]

You can use towels. Just watch to see if your bunny chews on it. Had to exchange towels for mats, because some of my rabbits did chew. Kreacher stopped the towel chewing habit and loves his "wooby". Snuggles up to it all the time. Rearranges it the way he likes.

K

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Okay, I was reading the replies to this and my mind is blown. Bedding is not necessary?! I use carefresh with my bun, the entire bottom of his cage is covered with it. I use Yesterdays News for his litter. He rearanges his carefresh and likes to push it around, including kicking it out of his cage. So would he be fine without any carefresh? I never knew this. The bottom of his cage is metal. This would be great if he didnt need it, its pretty expensive. Is it okay to only use old towels, or whats the story here?

Since many rabbits can be litter trained or even will use one area of the cage to pee and poop, they don't need litter in the whole cage. Covering the cage in litter can actually confuse them if you are litter training and they don't know where they should go. They should have some sort of bedding though, towels or fleece are good options.

 

[LovinLops]

Fixed up Anakins' cage this morning and he peed in his litter box and no where else! He only left 3little poops outside of his box and the rest were right where they should be. He had absolutely NO accidents outside of his cage and I'm so proud! I put newspaper down just in case. Anakin started doing a little chewing on the newspaper, is that ok?
And I'm so relieved that his hopping isn't all that unheard of. I feel confident that he'll only get stronger in time.

Big thanks to everyone who responded, found every post soo helpful! Without this forum, I would have been clueless when I got my baby!

 

[ZRabbits]

So glad to hear the successful litter box habit has begun.

Newspaper is fine for bunnies to chew. Just watch with the shiny paper. Really not good. No advertisement, just the paper. You want to keep him with the vegetable ink instead of the processed ink that you find in advertisements. You can tell by the texture of the paper.

Again, so thrilled for the success.

K

 

[wendymac]

YAY for litter box success!!! As for his Army crawl, the babies all do that when they first come out of the nest box. Then I don't see it again until you put something "scary" in with them, like a new ball. Then they do this stretch/crawl thing over to it. Very funny to watch, for sure! Once he's comfortable with his surroundings, he'll probably stop the crawling. I'd love to see more pictures of him...he looks really cute in your avatar.