Hi, I'm new!!!

[punkrockprincess]

Hi everyone!! I'm new to this forum and to being a bunny mommy. My fiance and I got a baby lionhead bunny; we think he's a boy but we're not sure, he's black and he is a sweetheart. We've had him a couple weeks.

I've been doing a lot of research and I think I almost got this whole bunny care thing figured out. I've been feeding him timothy hay and greens- romaine lettuce, celery, collard greens, mustard greens.

I have some pellets that came with him but I don't really understand why he would need to eat them..? I mean I thought about it and, wild rabbits don't eat pellets.. they just eat grass and leaves and whatnot. So I'm just feeding him grass and leaves basically. Can anyone tell me if pellets are necessary, and if so, why? and what kind of pellets would be the best, if I do need to feed them?

He's pretty much litter trained too, he always pees in his litter box, but he just poops wherever. I read that that's normal, but that getting him neutered might help. I plan on getting him neutered but the thing is I don't know exactly how old he is. He's definitely a baby though. He seems really healthy and active, and sweet as could be. I plan on taking him to the vet whenever I get some money, I've been going through some really tough times with my fiance having an extendedillness and some otherproblems lately,but in August I should be able to bring him in and hopefully get him neutered. Obviously if he got sick or something between now and then I'd bring him in right away but I'm trying to put it off until I can get my student loans.

One other thing I'm kind of not sure about is whether he needs a rabbitfriend or not. Any opinions on this? If I do get him a friend does it have to be another lionhead or could I get a netherland dwarf or something? I definitely don't want him to be lonely or sad because of spending so much time by himself while I'm at school and the fiance is at work. He seems pretty content and everything, I take him out and let himhop around for about 3 hours each day. He loves being petted, if I walk by the cage he will stand up and pretty much look at me like, "please rub me" he's sooo sweet.

One last thing- about bedding. I've been putting fleece down in his cage and it seems to be doing fine... is fleece an ok bedding for him? Does he even need bedding? should I get him some kind of wood bedding or something like a hamster would have?

Sooo basically... you guys are the bunny experts right? Any advice for a newbie bunny mommy? Anything you think I'm doing wrong?

sorry for writing a book... I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Welcome to RO!

For starters, congratulations on your new addition ; you must be VERY excited.

I'll try to cover your points as best I can... folks will chime in with more info, I'm sure!

- Timothy Hay and Greens are ideal for adult buns... Little babies (not sure how old your guy is) are able to also eat alfalfa hay. The standard advice is to push the hay more than the greens, as some find that young rabbits experience diarrhea if their systems are not yet capable of coping with greens.

- Go slow with the greens, introducing one at a time over a period of weeks. Hay should be the top priority.

- Alfalfa pellets are best for a young bun. Pellets provide a "known" nutritional factor: as you can read the ingredients & % on the bag. Many people feed a mixture of pellets, hay and greens.

- Pellets should look very boring; no cute shapes or nice colours. No seeds. Just boring khaki green pellets.

- Fantastic that he's peeing in the litterbox! Pretty good for a little guy; young ones tend to be erratic. Stray poops are not a major concern. Neutering will make for a less hormonally driven buck, which will pre-empt future territorial marking efforts.

(*** I find neutered buns to be a lot more affectionate too!)

- A buddy would be good. Wait until a month after he's neutered, to create the best atmosphere between the two buns. Breed doesn't really matter; personality does You can probably go on a bunny date at your local shelter/rescue!

- Fleece... maybe a fleece blanket is OK to lie on... Litter shouldn't be something that looks fun to chew on, or possibly ingest. Many folks here use KILN-DRIED pine.... Otherwise avoid pine and cedar shavings: stick to aspen only. I use Yesterday's News, a recycled paper litter.


More folks will pop by with more indepth answers

Please visit the Lagomorph Library for more information in the meantime...

Again, WELCOME!

 

[punkrockprincess]

thanks for the reply!!!

for the fleece I was just talking about in the bottom of his cage. in his litterbox i have "soft-sorbent" litter by kaytee... is that an ok litter? it was on sale at the pet store so I got it. it says it's made for rabbits. it seemsto be working finealthough everytime he hops out of the litter box it pretty much goes everywhere.

buti hopethe fleece is ok to keep in the bottom of his cage, it seems more convenient to me than having some kind of pine pieces or something that I'm going to have to throw away, and keep buying more of, and sweep up off the floor and all that.

 

[cheekynj]

Hello and welcome. Im new too but dont have a bun bun yet

 

[NorthernAutumn]

punkrockprincess wrote:

thanks for the reply!!!

for the fleece I was just talking about in the bottom of his cage. in his litterbox i have "soft-sorbent" litter by kaytee... is that an ok litter? it was on sale at the pet store so I got it. it says it's made for rabbits. it seemsto be working finealthough everytime he hops out of the litter box it pretty much goes everywhere.

buti hopethe fleece is ok to keep in the bottom of his cage, it seems more convenient to me than having some kind of pine pieces or something that I'm going to have to throw away, and keep buying more of, and sweep up off the floor and all that.

I'm not familiar with the soft-sorbent litter for the litter box.

However, a fleece blanket for the floor and a different litter for the litter box is great. The fleece will be OK, as long as he doesn't start chewing it and eating it...

You'll know if he's trying to eat it if you can't find little shreds of blanket by any chew holes. In that case, it would be best to find an alternative bedding.