Howdy From Texas

[MrBunAndFamily]

Hello, my name is Tammy and we have Mr. Bun (I call him that) my son (8yrs old) who is the "owner" of the rabbit calls him Thumper. It is funny because the rabbit responds to either name.

I sort of rescued him last June. I was at work (teacher) and our receptionist had 2 bunnies they got their grandchildren for Easter. They thought the bunnies would be able to fly home with them and they weren't able to afford the charges. So she brought the bunnies to the school to find homes for them. One of the rabbits was "adopted" and this last bunny was not. She was just going to take it home and release it to the wild. I knew you couldn't do that so I said I would take it home and see if I could find a permanent home for it.

Long story short my 8 year old and the rabbit immediately bonded. I was very surprised. So needless to say we now have this little bunny that loves my son and drives me crazy because of the shedding fur around the house. =o)

We are not really sure his age (was a tiny little thing in June) or what kind of rabbit he is. We need to get him neutered too as he has grown quite a pair! =o) I will post a picture soon and see if we can't figure out what kind of little guy he is.

Any way his newest thing is nibbling. Sometimes it pinches and most time it just is startling to feel his teeth on you. He will do this while he is sitting in your lap if you stop petting him he will nip your arm. He will also do this when you are petting him as well, if he is kinda sitting in the crook of your arm and he will nip while your petting him. He is also known to chew on your clothes if he is sitting on you which is getting to be quite an expensive thing to buy new clothes since he bites holes in them.

I have read all the FAQ pages but not really finding my answers. So hoping you kind people here can tell me what to do.

He really is a cute little guy and we enjoy him.. It is especially entertaining to see him charge around the house and it seems like he looks at us to say.. why aren't you chasing me? Our most favorite thing is when he is in his cage and he just flops over, it is almost like he making a "production" of laying down.

My other question is why the heck does he sleep in his litter box??? He actually started using what was supposed to be his bed as a litter box so that became his litter box. He does sleep in the other triangular container too but will mainly sleep in his litter box. Is this okay.

I also had to stop putting the cage chips or anything else in the bottom of his cage around his bed and little box due to him urinating on it as well. When I did that he now exclusively urinates in his litter box but will also sleep in it too!

Do they always drink that much water???

Sorry for all the questions. We just want to be good bun owners.

I appreciate your help.

Tammy

 

[Wabbitdad12]

:helloand :welcome1to RabbitsOnline. I am glad you found the site. RO is a very active, friendly and helpful website devoted to rabbits and their slaves. Yea, the bunny owns you not the other way around.

Regarding your question about your bunny's nibbling. If he does it when you stop petting him, thats his way of saying "slave resume petting me?". Nibbling on your clothes, well bunny's like to chew and they will chew on most everything. I have several t-shirts that have been relegated to "holding bunny t-shirts". Sometimes they do it also when they are content.

Big production of laying down, most people call it the dead bunny flop. When a rabbit feels safe and they get tired sometimes you will just see them flop on their side or even back with all four paws in the air. Scarred me the first time one of my rabbits did it.

You don't want to put whats being used in his litter box in the bottom of his cage, just confuses them as to where they can potty. I use a small piece of carpet on the floors of my rabbit cages to give the something to lay on and for traction. This is good if the bottom of the cage is smooth plastic. Many rabbits feel safe in their litter boxes too. If you have room in his cage, place a cardboard box witha couple of openings cut out so he can get in or a little house made out of hay (found at many pet stores). This gives them a safe place to hide if they get scarred or to play in.

If he is getting plenty of hay, food they do drink a lot of water, depends on the size of the rabbit. A small rabbit like a netherland dwarf will drink around 4 ounces a day, a large rabbit like a flemish giant will drink 8-16 ounces or more a day.

Here are some good links to areas of the site you might find interesting, the Library section, full of good reference info, Bunny Blog, where you can keep everyone up to date on your bunny and your life as a bunny slave and if you bunny would like to ask questions of other buns the Bunny Chat is the spot to be. The regional forum is a good way to find a rabbit savvy vet or to post places where you get some of your supplies for your bun etc. For the lighter side and to give you a chuckle or two stop by the go to the Let Your Hare Down section for anything but bunny's.

Here is link to the rules of the site, light reading Rabbits Online Forum Rules.

If you would like to post pictures in your post this link How to put photo's in your posts will help explain that.

I hope I didn't overwhelm you with info. This is a wonderful site and I look forward to seeing pictures and reading some stories. Feel free to send me a private message (PM) if you have any other questions.

Dave

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

I wanted to give you a big texas welcome LOL.

Hope you are enjoying the forum

 

[Fancy77]

Welcome the forum!!!