Hello Everyone,
I'm fairly new here, but I have had my netherland dwarf rabbit for 13years, and he's still going strong. (He's mostly blind, and has a skincondition so I have to bath him often, but he is very healthyotherwise. I didn't know they lived so long
) Originally when webought him, we were told that it was alright to keep a guinea pig withhim, so thats what we did. They got along great and were the best ofbuddies until the guinea pig eventually passed on. At which point, Itried to get him rabbit companions (different ones at differenttimes...) and at one point they have all turned on him and tried tokill him. (Yes- the ones being introduced to him wereneutered but he was not as at this point it was too risky for him.However- he is the least aggressive rabbit I have EVER seen; he never,ever tried to attack or hurt anyone...) Being a bit older, andobviously very small, I decided that it was too dangerous to continuetrying that. So, we got him another guinea pig friend and they are thebest of buddies. Before anyone says anything yes I do realise it is notthe best situation for all rabbits and guinea pigs, and they havedifferent diets, etc. But Fluffy is so small that anaccidental kick from him won't hurt his friend and as I said he is notaggressive at all. So no I don't reccomend it to anyone but it worksfor Fluffy and Soot. Soot, the guinea pig, is Fluffy's eyes, he followshis friend to wherever the food is. And Fluffy is Soot'ssecurity...things are alright as long as Fluffy is around. They groomeachother all the time, and are very happy. But I don't need advice onany of that.
I wasn't really planning on getting another rabbit.....but I basicallysaved my Spyral from someone who wanted to just let him go. I think hewas born April 5th, he's a New Zealand Cross. He's black with a whiteblaze, star, and socks. I'm going to ask two questions here the firstis about litter box training. Fluffy....goes ALL over the place....soI've never really attempted this. But Spyral will only go in one cornerof the cage. So I bought him a litter pan which he is using but I justwant to know, is it normal for them to "miss" the litter panslightlya bit at first? (Which I don't mind I'm amazed howquickly he's taken to it, anyway...) He seems to be pooping in it allthe time but peeing a little out of it a couple of times.
Alright. So, basically Soot and Fluffy are inseparable. So, I assumedthat Spyral would need a friend as well. I have alot of pets, andthough I do spend time with all of them, my time is divided and I don'twant any of them to be lonely. (We have 4 dogs, 5 cats, 6 dwarfhamsters, 2 syrian hamsters, a zillion fish, 30 sheep, 5 goats, and therabbits. I may have missed someone.) My plan was to waituntil August when he could be neutered, and get him a female rabbitcompanion, but in the meantime I've been looking for a female.(Obviously they wouldn't be able to go together until a whileafterwards...)
So, I went to a petstore today, saw a really cute mini lop x, (I havebeen looking around for about a month...I should inform you that IALWAYS choose males....out of the 7 rabbits that I've owned/chosen outof? ALL males. I have had three other "prospective" companions for himthat I looked at...boys.boys.boys....) I got them to get her out, and Itried to sex her.....she's very furry and it was obviously hard totell. (I picked her up just by lifting her from behind thefront paws as well to see if she would scratch me and she didn't. Iknow what rabbits from there are usually like soI wanted tosee how calm she was.) So I was pretty sure it was a girl this time....I get home, my mother looks at her..."You've picked out a male again;dear!" *Sighs dramatically*. :X
Alright...well, I have him now. I thought you could maybe use thebackground information; and laugh at me and my wonderful luck! Now, Iwill need to buy yet another rabbit cage...(yes I have one but its toosmall for "her"(...we aren't 100% sure on the sex yet...lets hope.) butit will do temporarily.) and, the solution to my supposidly lonelyrabbit have just gotten two times worse instead of being resolved.:?I can't exactly get them both neutered and get two morerabbits for their company.....three is plenty :O (I want to be able tomove out in a few years and it will be hard enough with what I alreadyhave )I know rabbits are generally social, do you think they will bealright by themselves? Maybe if I eventually put their cages so thatthey can see eachother?
If you need to know my involvement in their lives to tell.... they arenot "house buns". My dog sees them as fun things to chase- which isprecisely what I expect of her and I see that as entirely normal for adog- just means I have to keep em separate. (That being said my dog isfine around them if they are on my lap/with me...they just can't berunning on the floor.) So for exercise when it is nice enough out Itake Spyral out on a harness 3-4 times a week and he gets a good longrun (I live on an acreage and so can work it so I don't "interfere"with his running unless he is climbing under/through something and Ihave to. Otherwise I run behind him and he doesn't even really noticethe harness They are where my fish are so generally I pick him upwhenever I feed the fish and feed them one handed. I don't take Fluffyout on a harness anymore as he doesn't appreciate it/doesn't need toburn excess energy. (and it freaks Soot out when he isaway...) So, I would also be taking the new one out on aharness 3-4 times a week, and getting him a really big cage. I alsotake them inside with me (they are in my fishroomakathegarage which is cooler in the summer thananywhere else and heated through the winter.) to "watch tv"or whatever I'm doing fairly often, as well.
I think they will be okay but I could use some opinions, anyway. OH newbunny, as I said, is a mini lop x; white with brown speckles and spots,and ears that are half up half down. Hefty already and has very bigfeet and ears so I'm assuming he's going to be a big boy. I asked ifthey were stull babies they said yes so I said they were going to bebig....they told me that that was about as big as they got.......uhhuh. Tell me another one . But thats ok. He snugled rightup under my chin and is very beautiful.
-Aqua
I'm fairly new here, but I have had my netherland dwarf rabbit for 13years, and he's still going strong. (He's mostly blind, and has a skincondition so I have to bath him often, but he is very healthyotherwise. I didn't know they lived so long
) Originally when webought him, we were told that it was alright to keep a guinea pig withhim, so thats what we did. They got along great and were the best ofbuddies until the guinea pig eventually passed on. At which point, Itried to get him rabbit companions (different ones at differenttimes...) and at one point they have all turned on him and tried tokill him. (Yes- the ones being introduced to him wereneutered but he was not as at this point it was too risky for him.However- he is the least aggressive rabbit I have EVER seen; he never,ever tried to attack or hurt anyone...) Being a bit older, andobviously very small, I decided that it was too dangerous to continuetrying that. So, we got him another guinea pig friend and they are thebest of buddies. Before anyone says anything yes I do realise it is notthe best situation for all rabbits and guinea pigs, and they havedifferent diets, etc. But Fluffy is so small that anaccidental kick from him won't hurt his friend and as I said he is notaggressive at all. So no I don't reccomend it to anyone but it worksfor Fluffy and Soot. Soot, the guinea pig, is Fluffy's eyes, he followshis friend to wherever the food is. And Fluffy is Soot'ssecurity...things are alright as long as Fluffy is around. They groomeachother all the time, and are very happy. But I don't need advice onany of that.I wasn't really planning on getting another rabbit.....but I basicallysaved my Spyral from someone who wanted to just let him go. I think hewas born April 5th, he's a New Zealand Cross. He's black with a whiteblaze, star, and socks. I'm going to ask two questions here the firstis about litter box training. Fluffy....goes ALL over the place....soI've never really attempted this. But Spyral will only go in one cornerof the cage. So I bought him a litter pan which he is using but I justwant to know, is it normal for them to "miss" the litter panslightlya bit at first? (Which I don't mind I'm amazed howquickly he's taken to it, anyway...) He seems to be pooping in it allthe time but peeing a little out of it a couple of times.
Alright. So, basically Soot and Fluffy are inseparable. So, I assumedthat Spyral would need a friend as well. I have alot of pets, andthough I do spend time with all of them, my time is divided and I don'twant any of them to be lonely. (We have 4 dogs, 5 cats, 6 dwarfhamsters, 2 syrian hamsters, a zillion fish, 30 sheep, 5 goats, and therabbits. I may have missed someone.) My plan was to waituntil August when he could be neutered, and get him a female rabbitcompanion, but in the meantime I've been looking for a female.(Obviously they wouldn't be able to go together until a whileafterwards...)
So, I went to a petstore today, saw a really cute mini lop x, (I havebeen looking around for about a month...I should inform you that IALWAYS choose males....out of the 7 rabbits that I've owned/chosen outof? ALL males. I have had three other "prospective" companions for himthat I looked at...boys.boys.boys....) I got them to get her out, and Itried to sex her.....she's very furry and it was obviously hard totell. (I picked her up just by lifting her from behind thefront paws as well to see if she would scratch me and she didn't. Iknow what rabbits from there are usually like soI wanted tosee how calm she was.) So I was pretty sure it was a girl this time....I get home, my mother looks at her..."You've picked out a male again;dear!" *Sighs dramatically*. :X
Alright...well, I have him now. I thought you could maybe use thebackground information; and laugh at me and my wonderful luck! Now, Iwill need to buy yet another rabbit cage...(yes I have one but its toosmall for "her"(...we aren't 100% sure on the sex yet...lets hope.) butit will do temporarily.) and, the solution to my supposidly lonelyrabbit have just gotten two times worse instead of being resolved.:?I can't exactly get them both neutered and get two morerabbits for their company.....three is plenty :O (I want to be able tomove out in a few years and it will be hard enough with what I alreadyhave
)I know rabbits are generally social, do you think they will bealright by themselves? Maybe if I eventually put their cages so thatthey can see eachother?If you need to know my involvement in their lives to tell.... they arenot "house buns". My dog sees them as fun things to chase- which isprecisely what I expect of her and I see that as entirely normal for adog- just means I have to keep em separate. (That being said my dog isfine around them if they are on my lap/with me...they just can't berunning on the floor.) So for exercise when it is nice enough out Itake Spyral out on a harness 3-4 times a week and he gets a good longrun (I live on an acreage and so can work it so I don't "interfere"with his running unless he is climbing under/through something and Ihave to. Otherwise I run behind him and he doesn't even really noticethe harness
They are where my fish are so generally I pick him upwhenever I feed the fish and feed them one handed. I don't take Fluffyout on a harness anymore as he doesn't appreciate it/doesn't need toburn excess energy. (and it freaks Soot out when he isaway...) So, I would also be taking the new one out on aharness 3-4 times a week, and getting him a really big cage. I alsotake them inside with me (they are in my fishroomakathegarage which is cooler in the summer thananywhere else and heated through the winter.) to "watch tv"or whatever I'm doing fairly often, as well. I think they will be okay but I could use some opinions, anyway. OH newbunny, as I said, is a mini lop x; white with brown speckles and spots,and ears that are half up half down.
Hefty already and has very bigfeet and ears so I'm assuming he's going to be a big boy. I asked ifthey were stull babies they said yes so I said they were going to bebig....they told me that that was about as big as they got.......uhhuh. Tell me another one . But thats ok. He snugled rightup under my chin and is very beautiful.-Aqua
