Maverick Top Bun
Member
Hi everyone,
Brand new bunny mom here. I'm in Columbus, Ohio. My husband and I just brought home a 10 week old Mini Lop bunny from a breeder over the weekend, and I'm just a bundle of worries lol. I was hesitant to join a forum because I've seen on social media how everyone jumps all over everyone and is super judgy, but I feel like I had to try anyways because I need people to talk to about this who know.
I've seen people get attacked for having just one rabbit, and I would like to preface that my intent isn't to have Maverick alone for good. I wanted to let him settle in, bond with us, and later on once he's neutered, I would like to correctly find him a friend from the local shelter.
My eventual plan is also to let him have some free roam freedoms (not the whole house) but definitely the living/dining room once he's littered trained and trustworthy. Right now, we bought him a pretty roomy enclosure as far as those go (I know, also a taboo it seems to have a cage these days) by Krolik (the Extra Large version). This is kind of his "home base".
I have a few questions I was hoping maybe folks could weigh in on. I want to ensure I'm not doing anything wrong. I almost wish I could have a Bun Mom Mentor lol.
- I have been opening the front of the cage (it opens wide) and sitting there talking to him, petting him, etc. I haven't yet picked him up from that position because I didn't want to scare him too soon. He's showing more and more interest to climb out on his own. I don't have his pen yet - waiting for the shipment to arrive. So this is making me nervous for him to come out because I don't want him to just take off all over the room and if I can't catch him it could be extremely traumatic for him.
- I read that you only should let them have a small space at the beginning to not be too overwhelming so I would like to limit him to the play pen once it arrives. So right now I'm feeling hugely stressed that he's getting cabin fever in his enclosure since the pen isn't here yet. I don't want him to hate it. I have toys in there, but without having his pen I feel like I'm trapping him in there and I feel so cruel I also feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette risking he could start developing bad boredom behaviors.
- I think he's doing pretty well with using his litter box so far. I have the hay rack right there so he can eat and poop/pee. It's one of the ones that has a protection grate over the poop and pee so he's not walking in it. I'm still seeing a pee or two in the rest of the cage, but I think that means he's learning because there's plenty of pee made in the box? When I find a pee, I've been putting it in the litter box. My question is though, is it normal for them to continue pooping everywhere? I'm kind of feeling overwhelming at just how much poop there is. At first I was trying to be dutiful to scoop the turds into his box to get the point across, but there's just no way. I came out this morning and attempted it for a few minutes, then realized it would take me forever.
- I wasn't sure what to put in the plastic bottom of his enclosure to make it more comfy for him, so I bought some of the unscented low dust soft bedding. Not Carefresh, but similar. I was shocked how pricey it is, and I started with just a small cube for $10 - I didn't even make a super thick layer of it, but half of it is gone already in just two days. My thought was to eventually (after being litter box trained) have something like a soft bunny liner that's washable (kind of like a flop mat) plus a scratch pad area, so that I won't have to waste money on bedding, but I'd love to hear what other people do in their bunny's "home base".
- Again, because there's so much poop, I'm wondering at this point now if it makes sense to just simply change out ALL the bedding instead of trying to pick the poop out. I feel like this is just not sanitary at this point. But like I said, I don't want to be spending a fortune on this stupid bedding either...am I being unrealistic? Is that just a thing that if I want to have a bunny, I'm going to be buying like crazy?
- I think some of my stress is just forming routines. I need to find a better way to prep hay in batches. I need to also find a better way to manage his poop/bedding (as mentioned above).
Thank you!
Brand new bunny mom here. I'm in Columbus, Ohio. My husband and I just brought home a 10 week old Mini Lop bunny from a breeder over the weekend, and I'm just a bundle of worries lol. I was hesitant to join a forum because I've seen on social media how everyone jumps all over everyone and is super judgy, but I feel like I had to try anyways because I need people to talk to about this who know.
I've seen people get attacked for having just one rabbit, and I would like to preface that my intent isn't to have Maverick alone for good. I wanted to let him settle in, bond with us, and later on once he's neutered, I would like to correctly find him a friend from the local shelter.
My eventual plan is also to let him have some free roam freedoms (not the whole house) but definitely the living/dining room once he's littered trained and trustworthy. Right now, we bought him a pretty roomy enclosure as far as those go (I know, also a taboo it seems to have a cage these days) by Krolik (the Extra Large version). This is kind of his "home base".
I have a few questions I was hoping maybe folks could weigh in on. I want to ensure I'm not doing anything wrong. I almost wish I could have a Bun Mom Mentor lol.
- I have been opening the front of the cage (it opens wide) and sitting there talking to him, petting him, etc. I haven't yet picked him up from that position because I didn't want to scare him too soon. He's showing more and more interest to climb out on his own. I don't have his pen yet - waiting for the shipment to arrive. So this is making me nervous for him to come out because I don't want him to just take off all over the room and if I can't catch him it could be extremely traumatic for him.
- I read that you only should let them have a small space at the beginning to not be too overwhelming so I would like to limit him to the play pen once it arrives. So right now I'm feeling hugely stressed that he's getting cabin fever in his enclosure since the pen isn't here yet. I don't want him to hate it. I have toys in there, but without having his pen I feel like I'm trapping him in there and I feel so cruel I also feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette risking he could start developing bad boredom behaviors.
- I think he's doing pretty well with using his litter box so far. I have the hay rack right there so he can eat and poop/pee. It's one of the ones that has a protection grate over the poop and pee so he's not walking in it. I'm still seeing a pee or two in the rest of the cage, but I think that means he's learning because there's plenty of pee made in the box? When I find a pee, I've been putting it in the litter box. My question is though, is it normal for them to continue pooping everywhere? I'm kind of feeling overwhelming at just how much poop there is. At first I was trying to be dutiful to scoop the turds into his box to get the point across, but there's just no way. I came out this morning and attempted it for a few minutes, then realized it would take me forever.
- I wasn't sure what to put in the plastic bottom of his enclosure to make it more comfy for him, so I bought some of the unscented low dust soft bedding. Not Carefresh, but similar. I was shocked how pricey it is, and I started with just a small cube for $10 - I didn't even make a super thick layer of it, but half of it is gone already in just two days. My thought was to eventually (after being litter box trained) have something like a soft bunny liner that's washable (kind of like a flop mat) plus a scratch pad area, so that I won't have to waste money on bedding, but I'd love to hear what other people do in their bunny's "home base".
- Again, because there's so much poop, I'm wondering at this point now if it makes sense to just simply change out ALL the bedding instead of trying to pick the poop out. I feel like this is just not sanitary at this point. But like I said, I don't want to be spending a fortune on this stupid bedding either...am I being unrealistic? Is that just a thing that if I want to have a bunny, I'm going to be buying like crazy?
- I think some of my stress is just forming routines. I need to find a better way to prep hay in batches. I need to also find a better way to manage his poop/bedding (as mentioned above).
Thank you!