I wanna make Mocha happier

[Luimeril]

my rabbit i sorta adopted from my mom, Mocha. i'm not sure about her breed(and i'm trying to get the pics off my camera), but she's such a sweety. she lives in the kitchen, in a bunny pen during the day. she's not litter trained, but we keep the bottom of her cage in there for her to potty in during the day. she gets fed fresh veggies in the morning, and bunny kibble at night. her favorite veggies are carrots and parsley, her favorite fruit is pears(she goes crazy when she gets a slice of pear! all excited and hopping around). the produce guy at Food Lion gives us free veggies, the ones that have been there all day. that way, we can try out new fruits and veggies, sticking to the safe fruit and veggie list i found online. she doesn't like berries too much, and HATES celery and alfalfa. she loves Timothy Hay, and i try to give her that daily.

but, she seems pretty bored. she'll sprawl out and just lay there, hopping around only a bit. i'm worried that she's not happy. :< i'd love some tips on what to get her, what to give her, and what to feed her to make her the happiest bunny i can make her.

she seems to love me, getting excited and chewing on her cage at night when i sit by her cage and pet her. she'll let me pet her for hours, and seems to love to chew on my favorite Dr. Pepper pj pants. lol is that a good sign that she's happy with me, at least? she'll sprawl out, her front half on the cage door with me petting her, her back half in her cage. it's pretty cute, how much she loves pettings. she'll sniff my fingers, then nudge them till they're on her head.

 

[elrohwen]

A sprawled out bunny is a happy bunny! Most bunnies are very lazy (especially over the age of 1 or 2) so I wouldn't worry too much. An unhappy bunny won't sprawl out and enjoy pets.

Do you let her out of the cage? Does she have an area with carpet to run around? You said she was in a kitchen, so I wonder if she doesn't like the slippery floors. Many bunnies will walk on slippery floors just fine, but I don't know any who will run circles and binky on them.

Also, is she spayed? One key to making an animal happy is keeping them healthy and the rate of reproductive cancer for unspayed females is extremely high (up to 80%, according to some reports). Spaying will also improve her litter habits and allow you to give her more time out of her cage to run around.

 

[Luimeril]

we have two dogs who enjoy chasing running things, so she doesn't really get to run around on the carpet very often. :< i wish i could let her, but our Peke and Jack Russel would terrorize her.

i'm not even 100% sure she's a she! she isn't that comfortable with being picked up still, so it's not like i can flip her around and mess with her bits(i'd feel odd doing that anyways.>.>; ). once i get a job, i plan on making her a very spoiled bunny, and that includes vet visits and spaying/neutering.

is there anything safe i can put on the floor, to make her for comfortable, in case she doesn't like the tile? like a rug or something?

 

[Amy27]

Nikki, I bought a cheap, but a not really pretty rug from Walmart. It was pretty big, and would probably make Mocha more comfortable on the kitchen floor. I know that The Dollar Store (not sure if you have one near you) had small carpet pieces for sale also. A rug will give her a lot more traction to run around. Some boxes with holes cut in them can also be a lot of fun to run through. My buns favorite toys are boxes of all different sizes. Phone books to shred is also a lot of fun. I also by a lot of toys online. But to be honest, my buns are 7 & 8 years old, they do lay around a lot.

 

[Luimeril]

then i gotta make a list of things to get her! the pet store i got her from sells tarps for the pin i got, but i don't know if that'd feel good on her feet. what kind of toys do bunnies like? would old soda boxes be safe for her?

 

[Momto3boys]

I would just put your dogs in a bedroom and shut the door that way when the bunny is running around the dogs can't terrorize him/her.

 

[SweetSassy]

You could also use cardboard under her xpen. Thats what I use for my rabbits for traction. Ibuya boxat Lowes for less than a dollar- like .50 cents. I stock up. I make houses out of them too for my rabbits.

Rabbits love soda boxes, cereal boxes....anything cardboard with no glue or tape. I stuff hay with them too. Rabbits need lots of toys to keep them entertained

 

[MiniLopHop]

I have found cat toys work well for rabbits too. They are light, which is great for mine since she loves to throw things. The balls with bells inside are particular favorites. She also likes having one stuffed animal about her size, I think she sees it as a friend.

 

[Luimeril]

thank you all. :3 we have tons of soda boxes-guess i'll just rip off the ends where the glue was and give them to her.

found out today, she doesn't like apples anymore. :/ the produce guy gave my mom two big bags of pre-sliced apples, and she turned her nose up at them!

 

[SweetSassy]

The ends where the glue is on the soda boxes wont' hurt her. If you see boxes with lots of glue then I would worry....but you don't have to cut the ends off. It's fine



I don't give my rabbits fruit anyways.... lots of ppl do, but it's really not good for your rabbits. Too sugary. So don't worry if she doesn't want it. Just give green leafy greens. :biggrin2:

 

[Luimeril]

fruits like pears and apples are only treats, really. :3 she adores pears, and will eat those first! we only give them a few slices of pear or apple every few days. she adores carrots, though. they're her favorite. :3

 

[SweetSassy]

I would give carrots as treats too. Only the green tops are good for buns.

 

[Suz]

Mine loves the inside rolls from paper towels or toilet paper She'll pick an end up and bang it back down on the floor and get my dog all riled up to play. It's fun to watch.

 

[Luimeril]

oohhh.... good thing i give her more lettace than carrots, then! she gets one small carrot, chopped up, every day, and about four large leaves of Romaine lettace. any other suggestions on greens your bunnies adore? :3

xD here we've been throwing those away, and Mocha and Gizmo could play with them! they loved the peices i gave them from a small box. Mocha ate hers. o.0 Gizmo likes toting hers around, throwing it up and grabbing it again.

 

[SweetSassy]

I give my buns romaine, parsley, cilantro, mustard greens, dandelion greens, kale, spinach,and thats all I can think of right now...lol. I just woke up

In the library section they may have a bigger list of foods. You may wanna look there.

 

[Luimeril]

she adores parsley, but it's so expensive right now. x-x

i gave her and Gizmo the tubes from the toilet paper rolls, and they went crazy with them! Gizmo licked hers, then toted it around, and Mocha was rolling it around, trying to figure out how to pick it up. xD