New bunnies !

[Samah Al Maawali]

Hey everyone,
I've recently received two bunnies as a gift , I've only had them for a week and I'm completely new to this!
I'm not sure what to do and how to take care of them .. I've gotten them a cage , it was hard to get one where I'm from so I got the biggest one I found ( it's not as big as I hoped it would be ), they're both still small I guess they're still "babies".
I feel bad keeping them in the cage so I keep letting them out every morning and evening but they keep littering ( poop and pee everywhere ), although I've gotten them a litter box and I put it in the cage with them , I also put hay in it because I've read that it's a better way of litter training. Is it normal that they poop a lot ? It's like they're leaving trails as they walk.

And when I got back from college today I went to check on them they seemed completely fine, they were running around and seemed super energetic, two hours later though I found the female ( which looks younger than the male ) still and not moving. She layed flat on her tummy and did not move at all, so I picked her up and moved her out and she remained the same.. then I gave her some pallets and she started eating a bit , but still stayed the same way. I was worried like crazy and thought I was going to lose her so I picked her up and put her on my lap and started feeding her some hay, and she slowly started getting up and a little while later started moving around , does anyone know why that might have happened ? I assume she was either dehydrated or really hungry.
She's fine now , like nothing even happened but I'm still worried. I do leave food in the cage with them and water that I renew every few hours. Though I did notice that the female was picky about food since I got her, could that be the issue?

I'd really appreciate your help

 

[Blue eyes]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.
It would be most helpful to know the ages of your rabbits. Knowing what to feed and how to handle their interaction is all dependent upon the age.

Hay is most important for keeping a bunny's tummy in good health. They have delicate digestive systems. Without enough hay they can get a tummy upset. That can cause gas and/or pain. A bunny in pain won't eat and won't move around much. Getting such a rabbit eating and drinking again is important and it sounds like you did the right thing by encouraging that hay eating.

Rabbits under 8 weeks of age should still be with their momma. Rabbits over 10-12 weeks should be kept separate until they can be fixed or else their hormones may cause them to start them fighting. Rabbits are adults around 6 months of age. Unfortunately, few people realize that the cuddliest of baby bunnies can suddenly turn on each other with the onset of hormones. Those hormones can cause them to fight viciously and even to the death. It's a story we've heard many times on this forum : "my two rabbits were best of buddies and now they are fighting!"

Hormonal rabbits are also more difficult (or impossible) to litter train. Fixed rabbits practically train themselves. [And, yes, rabbits poop A LOT!] They also tend to mark territory with their poos when they move to a new home. That amount of poos usually subsides in time.

Pellet food brands shouldn't be switched suddenly. If you are feeding something different than they were used to, then she may have refused the new pellets. You can see here how to transition to a new food.

Oh, just looking again at your post. If you have 1 female and 1 male (and don't their age) then definitely they should be separated until both are fixed.

It's good to let them get exercise, but until they are litter trained, you don't want them have any accidents on carpet. No matter how much it is cleaned, they seem to still smell it and will return again and again to the same spot. It is important to limit their early wanderings to a more confined space until trained. That can also be read about here. The rest of that site should provide further info on how to care for your new bunnies.

 

[Samah Al Maawali]

Thank you for your response Blue eyes!

I'm not really sure about their age , when I asked the friend who gave it to me they said they're still babies. Would it help if I posted a picture of them here ? Maybe someone might now how old they are?
But I was planning on taking them to the vet today just to make sure they're both okay..

Also I've read that I can't bathe them, however they have really dirty paws because they keep stepping over their own pee, can I clean that?

 

[Bribble]

Thank you for your response Blue eyes!

I'm not really sure about their age , when I asked the friend who gave it to me they said they're still babies. Would it help if I posted a picture of them here ? Maybe someone might now how old they are?
But I was planning on taking them to the vet today just to make sure they're both okay..

Also I've read that I can't bathe them, however they have really dirty paws because they keep stepping over their own pee, can I clean that?

Pics might help to an extent, no guarantees. If their paws/bums are dirty you can usually just clean em up with a baby wipe. And the yellow-stained hair on their paws will actually shed out to the white within time if they quit stepping on litter so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Samah Al Maawali]

I took them to the vet today and found out they were about 4 months old!
I was worried about Lola ( the female ) but the vet said everything was okay and she was just scared or shocked.

I'll wipe their spots off with baby wipes then, thank you!

Also, the cage I got has metal flooring and I know that isn't good for the bunnies paws , I put newspapers down but the vet said that isn't so good , do you guys know what else I can put that would be safe for the bunnies ?

 

[Blue eyes]

Four months, definitely separate them until fixed or she will be pregnant in no time!

Have you looked at the cages threads on this site? They show how people here on RO house their rabbits.
Here's the latest such thread, but there are ones for prior years as well:
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/2018-cages.88690/

You should be able to see plenty of ideas there.

At 4 months of age they will soon be ready to transition to an adult diet. At 6 months, the adult diet would mean no alfalfa hay or alfalfa pellets. Instead they will get unlimited timothy hay (or other grass hay), and measured amount of plain pellets.

They can already start being introduced to greens. This needs to be done slowly and gradually. How to do this safely can be found here.

Once you get a couple good cage set ups and a litter box in each one, and once they are both fixed, you won't have them walking on their pee as they will potty in their litter box. Rabbits groom themselves just fine so you are correct that they should not be bathed. It can send them into shock. I've not had to ever bathe a rabbit and I've had rabbits since the late 1980s.

[Occasionally a rabbit may get a poopy bum if ill or having an issue with diet. Even in these cases, a rabbit does not get a full bath but only gets a butt bath.]

A couple easy, inexpensive options for two cages would be either a couple x-pens or building two using the grid panels. These can be seen here and also there are usually some shown on the cages thread linked above.

 

[Samah Al Maawali]

Thank you Blue eyes and Bribble
You've been really helpful !