Surprised rabbit rescuer

[Madelinekk7]

My husband surprised me with a Jersey Wooly that a sweet lady was looking fora home for because he wasn't quite 'show' worthy. Ok, now I have this sweet little 4 month old siamese sable buck in my house and I have not gotten a cage for yet. Right now, I have him in a kiddie corral on top of plastic, with some hay. I will be going shopping today for a 'house' for him. I want him to have as much room as possible. That is a good thing isn't it? Should I splurge and get something big and fancy or should I go for simple?

I'm new to this board, so I don't know anything yet about how to navigate and post pics yet.

I'm an empty nest homemaker, rancher, grandmother and animal lover. The only other house pets I have are cockatiels. My boxer and cat live outside and on the enclosed porch, so bunny should be safe.

I know you are supposed to learn about the rabbit before you get one, but this was a total surprise for me so I'm shootin' from the hip here.

I appreciate any tips you good folk can give me.

Madeline

 

[SOOOSKA]

Hi Madeline (nice name)

Welcome to the world of bunnies. I have 6 and would have more if my hubby let me. LOL Have you thought about making your new baby a cage. Many people on here make them out of the NIC grids, much cheaper and you can make them any size. I know their is a blog on here somewhere about them.

As he's so young he should be eating Alfalfa hay and pellets. I use the Oxbow which are really good a little more expensive but better for the rabbits.

Hope to see pictures soon of your new addition to your family. BTW that's one good husband that surprises his wife with a bunny.

Susan

 

[Madelinekk7]

Thanks Susan!

I'm feeding him what the breeder was feeding him which is the Purina Advanced Nutrition Show Formula. I figured it might upset him if I switched him. Also, bermuda hay from our hay field (she was using that also). Someone told me alfalfa had too much protein for rabbits??

I went and got his cage today and he loves it. The kiddie corral was not working well for all the time. It's a big nice one. I wouldn't have had the time to figure out how to make one. I also got a resting board to put in it, a harness and a rabbit toy. He likes it. He is stretched out now, snoozing. I'm so glad he is not stressed!

I investigated and looked at the youtube how-to links listed in this forum. SO HELPFUL!!!

Have a great day!

 

[gentle giants]

Alfalfa hay is ok for young (still growing) or for senoir rabbit that need extra nutrition. For a healthy adult, though, you don't need alfalfa. Timothy is a good choice. The feed you are using I am pretty sure will work fine, not totally familiar with the show formula but Purina is usually a good brand.

About the harness: what kind did you get? YOu have to be very careful using those on rabbits, several people on here have had bad experiences with them. Do you have an experienced exotics vet close by? There are state listings in our library as to rabbit savvy vets. At four months, your boy is probably close to being old enough to neuter, which you will probably want to do before he starts acting like a boy, LOL.

Congratulations on your new baby, and welcome to RO! And I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say-please post pictures!! :biggrin2:


ETA: Ha! It took some digging, but I found the vet listings, LOL. Here they are.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=9

 

[Madelinekk7]

gentle giants wrote:

Alfalfa hay is ok for young (still growing) or for senoir rabbit that need extra nutrition. For a healthy adult, though, you don't need alfalfa. Timothy is a good choice. The feed you are using I am pretty sure will work fine, not totally familiar with the show formula but Purina is usually a good brand.

About the harness: what kind did you get? YOu have to be very careful using those on rabbits, several people on here have had bad experiences with them. Do you have an experienced exotics vet close by? There are state listings in our library as to rabbit savvy vets. At four months, your boy is probably close to being old enough to neuter, which you will probably want to do before he starts acting like a boy, LOL.

Congratulations on your new baby, and welcome to RO! And I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say-please post pictures!! :biggrin2:


ETA: Ha! It took some digging, but I found the vet listings, LOL. Here they are.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=9

I got the kind that looks more like a little vest than a harness. It fastens with velcro and little plastic buckles, like the kind they use on life preservers. It's called a comfort harness for rabbits by Super Pet. I hope it's a good one. He took me for a walk on it while ago, and so far no problems.

Thanks for the heads up on the neutering. I'll be looking into that this weekI appreciate the link! Thanks so much!

 

[Madelinekk7]

I can't figure out how to upload a pic.I didn't have a problem uploading him as my avator though.

 

[SOOOSKA]

Hi Madeline, does your Bunny have a name yet?

Do you have an account with photobucket? That's the one I use, I just download my pictures to it then copy and paste the img code to my blog. It's actually quite easy believe me I'm not like all the young "Wipper Snappers" on here. It takes me a while to figure out these computers some times. Gosh I had a Sony Mini cam for 3 years and just finally figured out how to use it. LOL

Looking forward to lots of picstures of your Baby.

Susan

 

[Madelinekk7]

Thanks Susan! I will check out photobucket tomorrow. So I can just post it from there to my posts? The pic of my avator is him.

My bunnies name is Caiman on his papers. I think it is going to stick. Your bunnies are sure cute!!

 

[juliew19673]

Hi Caimin and Human counterpart! Sounds like the "happiest" of homes for you both! Glad you foundRO; as I can gather "you have a story to tell" of your latest "fur kid".. Looking forward to the story and the pic's.

Have you had Rabbits before? You mention that you are a Rancher so wondering where?;and if you've had to "deal" with rabbits before (if not within the best possible light and wondering why your husband would get you one as a pet? Asking only as most of my family has had farms and buns were only a 4H project at "Best" and most likely in all situations "Vermin" that needed to be handled... sad to say, but understand.

So would LOVE to hear your own story of your first bun as a pet..

 

[Madelinekk7]

juliew19673 wrote:

Hi Caimin and Human counterpart! Sounds like the "happiest" of homes for you both! Glad you foundRO; as I can gather "you have a story to tell" of your latest "fur kid".. Looking forward to the story and the pic's.

Have you had Rabbits before? You mention that you are a Rancher so wondering where?;and if you've had to "deal" with rabbits before (if not within the best possible light and wondering why your husband would get you one as a pet? Asking only as most of my family has had farms and buns were only a 4H project at "Best" and most likely in all situations "Vermin" that needed to be handled... sad to say, but understand.

So would LOVE to hear your own story of your first bun as a pet..

Hi Julie!

We raise Boer goats. We have 75 acres in the middle of nowhere South of Texarkana, TX.

I had a pet rabbit when I was a teenager that someone was trying to get rid of. He was full grown big white rabbit named Sam. My husband had seen pics of me with Sam and knew Sam was a highlight of my teen years. I guess he just wanted to bless me with a 'warm fuzzy'. It was the furthest thing from my mind when he came up out of the blue with wanting me to have him. I guess he wanted to cheer me up as I've been kind of down since my kids grew up and moved so far away with my grandkids. I miss them so. Caiman is taking my mind off it. I guess you could say he is my therapy bunny. LOL!

 

[Madelinekk7]

This is a test pic

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WooHoo! I did it!

 

[SOOOSKA]

She's BEAUTIFUL

Susan

 

[Ofelia]

OMG what a beautiful beautiful rabbit :shock:

Hello I am Ofelia, I used to be Lemonaxis but got lost on the forum so changed my name.

Welcome to RO
So pleased to meet you. I have 6 bunnies now (just got a new one today, the last of my tribe of bunners), I have also got 2 cats, 2 chickens and some fish and I live on a small little farm.

:biggrin2: