Hi everyone! Newbie here. :)

[wallflower]

Hi everyone!

I'm from the Philippines where rabbits as pets are scarce, thus I have limited resources. Any other Filipino users out there? I feel so alone here, and thankfully I found this forum. I've lurked a lot a few weeks ago while researching for my bun's care and other tips..

Once you've read my story, kindly advise me on what else to do by my baby bunny.. Thanks everyone, and I'm so happy to meet you all!

This is copied from my blog post here: http://wallflowerblossoms.blogspot.com/2013/01/sachi.html
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Meet Sachi, my new companion. She's a mini-rex rabbit who's currently six weeks old. I decided to call her Sachi (幸, kanji さち, hiragana) on a whim, and I only found out a few minutes ago that her name means happiness, blessing, and fortune in Japanese. Sachiko means "happy child." Lucky pick!

I got her exactly a week ago, which I think is too young for a kit to be adopted. Thing is, I've been searching for a mini-rex rabbit since May last year but the breeders are so scarce that I started to think that I should settle for a Mini Lop instead.

Just last November, I stumbled upon a breeder in sulit.com.ph who's selling an adult Mini-Rex and I contacted him in case he has some new kits available. The doe he's supposed to be selling gave birth to a litter of three on the 17th of December, after which he contacted me and I told him that I'll be waiting until the kits turn seven weeks old. Come 2013, he started telling me that the kits are ready to be claimed. I argued that they're much too young but then he said that he'll be shipping them to Cartimar as soon as possible if I don't claim my reservation. And so I thought that it's better if I get this baby than have her suffer in a crowded pet shop in Cartimar. I would have adopted all three of them if I only were an experienced rabbit owner.

After doing tons of research overnight in different rabbit breeder websites and forums, we went to Batangas to claim her. Since I was so unprepared, I only had an storage box lines with cloth to put her in, and we had to stop by Tiendesitas to buy her a cage, litter, food bowl, water bottle and pellets. I wasn't able to find any kind of hay that day so I had no choice but to feed her alfalfa sprouts since the breeder told me that she's already eating greens. I do know from my research that bunnies aren't supposed to be fed greens and fruits until they're six months old.

Right now, I'd like to think that she's enjoying her new life with me. Since I live in a small room, I bunny-proofed half of my room and whenever I can supervise her, I let her out of her cage. So far, she's on her way to being litter-trained, with only a few pellet accidents here and there. She also loves nose rubs and bolting around her side of the room. If she doesn't want to be handled, she tells me by running away whenever I try to carry her, but she jumps on my lap whenever she wants to be petted.

I'm still learning a lot of things hands-on, but right now, I've fallen in love with her.

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UPDATE:
-She's currently eating unlimited alfalfa hay and vitakraft pellets.
-Her litter is filled with wood shavings (I've been trying to find those paper ones, but to no avail) and alfalfa hay. Since she came here with me, she's only had around three peeing accidents outside her cage and several pellet accidents.
-I've noticed that she eats a lot, and she loves to dig in her food bowl(and makes a big mess of her food). Apparently, she likes to select what she eats from her assorted Vitakraft Menu but I can't figure out what she eats.
-Her breeder, whom I feel suspicious of, told me to put dextrose powder in her water bottle. I followed his advise, and she drink a lot. Is dextrose powder really ok?
-Whenever I pet her, and she's in the mood, she lies on her side with her head down and just stays still. I carry her at least once a day with me sitting on the floor, one hand supporting her chest, the other hand supporting her feet. She moves away when she doesn't want to be carried (but it's still ok to pet her), and I never try to carry her whenever she's in her cage. Sometimes, she's the one who jumps up to my lap. She also like to lick my hands and feet a lot. Am I doing things right?
-Every time she nips me, I let out a high screech then turn my back to her.. She hasn't bitten me since.
-Whenever she does something I don't like, like biting the furniture, etc, I just let out a "pssht" a la dog whisperer, say a firm "no" and if she tunes me out, I move her. I think this one is working quite well.
-She bolts around her side of the room a lot. Suddenly jumping, then hopping fast to one side then back to the other, then straight to another side then back to her cage, and around again. What does this mean?
-I've observed her for a day and I've noticed that she likes to eat a lot, groom a lot, lot more, run around, sniff things, lick stuff/rub her chin on stuff. She also sleeps in different spots and sometimes in her litter box. She also responds to her name 50% of the time.

Sorry for this unforgivably long post... I just want to raise a healthy and happy bunny. I love her so much!

 

[wallflower]

By the way,
Cartimar is the "pet district" here in the Philippines. If you go there, you can find just about any pet there, but the conditions aren't exactly ideal.
Tiendesitas is called a "People's Village" where one can find different things like antiques, furniture, delicacies, food, apparels and pets. But things can be overly expensive here.
Batangas is a province that's a two-hour drive from where I live.

 

[kmaben]

I wouldn't give her the dextrose powder unless she was having sugar crashes. It's essentially sugar and rabbits LOVE sugar so of course she drinks it right up. Sounds like you're off to a great start with her. Six weeks is young to be let go but the alternative sounds much much worse. As long as she's peeing, pooping, eating I wouldn't worry. Watch her little stomache for bloating or tightness since she's in a new environment and had a drastic diet change. Some good things to keep on hand as a rabbit emergency kit are simethecone or baby gas drops (dont know what they would be called in the Philippines), canned pumpkin the unsweetened kind with no spices, critical care, and syringes with no needles. Better to have it and not need it than be in a pinch and panicking.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

everything sounds alright except the dextrose. Sounds like a happy little bunny. The measure for potty training is one that urinates in it's litter pan. We only had one out of 37 that would poop exclusively in their pan but it's easy to clean up the pellets they leave.

 

[MikeScone]

Hi everyone! I'm from the Philippines where rabbits as pets are scarce, thus I have limited resources. Any other Filipino users out there?

Welcome to RO!

I'm pretty sure there are other Filipino members. I suggest you post a message to our Asia, Africa, Mexico, S. America forum, and put "Anyone from the Philippines?" in the title. I'll bet you get a few replies.

 

[JBun]

Hi and welcome!

It sounds like your bunny has come to a very good home. I'm sure she will be very happy with you.

Rabbits leaving their poops everywhere is pretty normal. Some rabbits will be good about pooping in their litter box, but not all rabbits will be good at it. As long as she's peeing in there then she is doing good. Alfalfa hay is ok to feed until she is 6 months old. If you can find some grass hay, you may want to feed a little bit of that too so she can get used to it, cause when she is 6 months old you will need to stop feeding alfalfa hay and only feed grass hay. Vitakraft food has the treat pieces in it, doesn't it? That's actually not the best kind of food to feed to a rabbit. It has too many sugars and carbs in it that can make some rabbits either too fat, or even get them sick. I don't know what you have available there, but a better food would be just a plain rabbit pellet without the treat pieces added to it. Switching to a plain rabbit pellet should also stop her from digging in her food dish. If you do change foods, you need to slowly introduce the new food in small amounts. So you start adding a small amount of new food to her old food, each day for 2 weeks you will increase the amount of new food and decrease the amount of old food, so that at the end of two weeks you will only be feeding the new food. With rabbits, you always want to very gradually introduce new foods to them in small amounts to make sure it doesn't give them stomach problems. Don't give the dextrose anymore though. That is somthing that could actually make your rabbit sick. Veggies can sometimes be given as early as 12 weeks old. But you have to make sure the veggies are ok for rabbits and that you start with only one veggie at a time, and only give a tiny piece of it for the first few days. If her poops don't get soft and they stay normal, then you can slowly increase the amount of the veggie. If she doesn't have any problems with the one veggie, then you can try a different one, introducing it the same way in small amounts. If you don't feel comfortable giving veggies that early, then waiting til she is 6 months old is fine too. Here are some good veggie lists.

http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html
http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#greens

The running really fast around the room and suddenly jumping up, or jumping and wiggling her body, these are all signs of a very happy rabbit. We call the running really fast, zoomies or bunny 500's, popping up is popcorning, and jumping and wiggling her body is called a binky. All these things are what a rabbit does to play.

She's very cute and she seems very happy in her new home

I think lunarlady is another RO member that lives there in the Philippines as well.

 

[Huwertun]

Hey, fellow pinoy here, quick question. Do you guys know what breed of rabbit pet stores sell? I got mine from shopwise cubao. He has normal hair i guess and about 1 or 2 months old

 

[Lokin4AReason]

welcome to the family ...

 

[Azerane]

Hello there and welcome to the forum, it sounds like you're off to a great start The others have made some good comments regarding the dextrose powder and type of hay.