Rabbit novice concerned about our lil’ bunny

[Jazzmama]

Hi all,
We just picked up a little black bunny to be our indoor house pet.
It’s quite a tale, we were set to pick up another rabbit, dropped a load of cash on a puppy Pen, hay house and all the bits and pieces, only to be told this morning that actually this rabbit was an aggressive breeding male who had given the owners so much trouble he had been put outside

not only did they fail to mention any of this when we were talking about him, they completely mislead me.

My children were devastated and covid-19 homeschooling threatened to go off the rails, so I hastily arranged a replacement.

the owner said 5 weeks old, I thought that was a bit young, but he assured me it’s fine.
I went with our carrier and the exchange was so swift, I barely saw the rabbit, as it was a bit freaked and we put it into the box.

We have a beautiful pen for the currently sex unknown babe. I have no idea what sort of bunny it is, it’s small but not teeny, and it was going in and out of the hay house. Did it’s first poo in the litter tray. It seems a little older but the guy insists it is 5 weeks

It had dirt on its back, and seemed itchy so following instructions online i used a flea comb and some alcohol to comb it through. It was quite dirty, but no obvious fleas, but i could only do its back and face as I didn’t want to freak it out too much on day 1.


It is still chewing its feet a lot, so I think I’ll get some revolution mite treatment.

It was eating the pellets and munching on the hay house, but I had meadow grass ready for the older bunny, so I think I’ll have to get alfalfa grass. Does it need milk? How will I give it that?

It doesnt seem to be pooping a lot, and I just want to make this bunny have a better life.

when I asked the guy what he was feeding it he said vegetables (!? Too little?!) and grass and pellets.

I am worried about the itching and diet.

We will have to get vaccinations and neutering too, so we can get it a friend. Need to know the sex first! It’s all a bit tricky right now!

thanks in advance. Here is a pic in case that helps.

 

[zuppa]

Hi, at 5 weeks they still have to stay with their mother and get her milk until they are 8 weeks. Rabbits milk is very rich and there's no replacement as far as I know, but people using combination of goat milk + cream or KMR when raising babies without mother.

If s/he's 5-6 week old most babies already can eat hay and pellets by that age so it's not ideal but they would survive without milk. 5 weeks is way too early to be sold tbh.

If not underweight you can get alfalfa based junior pellets (with min 16% protein and check ingredients listed look for alfalfa or lucerne as first ingredient) also higher calcium. Then you can feed regular hay no need for alfalfa hay, or just give alfalfa hay with regular hay (Timothy, meadow, oat, orchard etc).

Avoid rabbit food with flakes or any muesli type food with grain, get reputable plain brown pellets 16% protein.

I wouldn't feed vegetables yet, usually they introduced slowly from 4-6 months but if they were fed already I don't know it's all doesn't sound healthy diet to me at all. But you have to deal with it and fix issues.

i would feed unlimited hay and 50 gram plain junior pellets 4-6 times a day (up to 240 gram daily until he's 4 months old), unlimited fresh water all the time.

Some fresh or dried herbs, basil, coriander, mint, once a day maybe.

Hay is most important for digestive health. You can feel stomach if it's hard you can give baby gas drops a few times a day, but if poos are good you don't need it, just watch if there's poos are good, no soft or diarrhea keep feeding hay and pellets and some herbs. If still very skinny and weak after a week you can give some rolled oats, this milk replacement I am not sure if you need it it's not easy for someone with no experience.

 

[zuppa]

Here's some info on sexing your rabbit, although at 5 weeks it might be still not that easy, but here's some clear pictures
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/sexing-rabbit-pictures.44936/

 

[Jazzmama]

Hi and thanks.

I know now it is too young, but I didn't know when I picked the bun up. Bun is super active and not underweight at all, but did have some diahrrea. Unsure if it is stress, a different diet, or what, but I have taken the pellets away for now and will buy the kind you suggested. Thanks for the tip on sexing them too.

 

[zuppa]

It's good to hear that he's not underweight, if he was already weaned transition will be easier. When you get new pellets you should still mix his old pellets and new ones gradually decreasing old and increasing new over a few days at least, it's recommended do it over 2 weeks normally. Diarrhea could be caused by stress or changes in his diet or vegetables/fresh food.
Also it could be just cecotropes he's missing because of stress and new home etc.
There are two types of poos, cecotropes are large soft grape-looking and they smell differently, normally you don't see them because rabbits eat them straight out their bum but sometimes they can miss them when they are stressed or their diet is too rich, sometimes due to an illness too.

Here's your guide to rabbit poo it's important to learn some basics so you can understand if there's any health problems or needs to change diet.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/drop/Drp_en.htm
Any questions just post here and more photo so we can understand your situation better.

 

[Jazzmama]

Hi again,,
This was proper wet diarrhea. It had a very orange colour. I just wiped it up and put the towel in the litter tray as a reminder. I am so unsure of what bun was being fed, just sounded so innapropriate, we will go back to hay and water and a few pellets x 4 times a day and see.

Thanks for all the great knowledge. He was previously outside in a miserable cage with a few other rabbits(maybe siblings) and now he is inside in a spacious puppy pen, must be a BIG change.

 

[Preitler]

Hi,

the owner said 5 weeks old, I thought that was a bit young, but he assured me it’s fine.

That's quite young, but they can be weaned at 4 weeks in a pinch (like when there was a buck around when they were born). Not ideal, but they don't need milk at this age anymore, I wouldn't start experiments there.

when I asked the guy what he was feeding it he said vegetables (!? Too little?!) and grass and pellets.

If you can call the seller, and get more detailed information about what exactly was fed, what kind of grass (like, pure, farmed grass or mixed forage), also what vegetables and how often, I would continue feeding exactly what the rabbit was fed. If doable, even the same brand of pellets. It really doesn't make much of a difference if it's 14 or 16% protein.
Be persistent to get a detailed answer. Maybe you can get enough pellets for the next month from him?

Grass is perfectly fine when that is what it grew up with until now. All my kits grow up with that since I feed mostly green forage.
Vegetables are a rather small part of their diet, if it nibbled on it along with mum it's ok. (that exact vegetables, not just any you can get, and not too much of it)
Baby rabbits get their set of gut bacteria from their mom, and that set is specialised to help digesting whatever the rabbit is used to. Changing the diet at that point, around weaning, can cause severe problems like enteritis. Diarrhia, if it persists, is a sign that there's something severly amiss.
Adding grass hay doesn't hurt, it is the next best thing to grass, and has positive effects on digestion.

Alfalfa is Legumes, not a grass. It is great if your bunny is used to it, if not I wouldn't feed it now until the poop is normal, then introduce it quite slowly over 2 weeks. If the rabbit was fed a mixed forage, it might already got used to legumes, if its pellets were alfalfa based it shouldn't haved a problem with alfalfa, it's good stuff for young rabbits.
But any diet changes in the next month can be a risk somewhat. If you feed pellets anyway grass hay is fine too.

And then, as Zuppa said, do any changes in diet gradually over 2 weeks, starting with thumbnail sized pieces, to give it a chance to grow the right gut bacteria.

I am so unsure of what bun was being fed, just sounded so innapropriate,

There are many ways to feed rabbits properly, but there's a big bubble on the internet claiming that there's just one right one. Take everythink you read on the net with a pinch of salt. Apart from that, there are different opinions due to different experiances, you'll have to jugde what makes mist sense for your situation.

Can't be changed that you couldn't recognize some bright red flags about the seller now that you have the little one. Like selling at 5 weeks, or "aggrassive breeding buck"? Who would use a mean buck if not all offspring is destined for the freezer anyway? It isn't much fun to work with aggressive or skittish animals, that's why meat lines often have calm, nice characters. Well, might be different if the buck has traits desireable for the breed. Anyway, doesn't matter now.

If you talk to him about the diet I would really concentrate on being polite and strictly stay on that topic.

Good luck with your little one

 

[GeorgieBunny]

Hi!
I was in the same position in January. We didn’t know our bun was 5 weeks old until about a week after we got her, but we still didn’t know what age was considered acceptable to bring a bun home.
What we were feeding her was Timothy hay (meadow will work as well) and young rabbit pellets. The young rabbit pellets are made out of alfalfa hay so it is not necessary to have the hay they munch on be alfalfa because it is in the pellets. For the vegetables we started to give her a little bit everyday so she could get used to it. As long as you aren’t giving too much right now it should be ok as everyone seems to agree that vegetables are ok for little ones in smaller quantities. Just be careful and don’t give them too many new ones at the same time, start with one type of vegetable, see how they take to it, then try another one.

my vet said you can usually see the gender at around 12 weeks so around that mark would be when I would start checking, but to keep checking for a few weeks after, because if it is a boy it is possible for their parts to drop later on.
Good luck with your new bun!! They are adorable!!