Taz and Ruby

[Hyatt101]

So, I figured I'd start a bunny blog!
To start, I'll do a blog about my indoor rabbits, Taz and Ruby.
I've had rabbits outdoors, and now indoors, and personally I like indoors better for keeping rabbits, which was why I moved my bun Taz inside.

Taz is a 4 month old female lionhead-dutch mix, but she has no dutch traits in her! She's brown, with a little white stripe on her forehead. She's got the smaller, compact body of a lionhead, the head of a lionhead, and of course, a full and beautiful lionhead mane! Taz has been through lots of ups and downs, but she is a strong little bunny and has recovered amazingly. She's an adventurous girl who always wants OUT of her cage! She's a little shy as well.
Then, there's Ruby. She's a Netherland Dwarf, but she doesn't look much like one. She's got black 'eyeliner' leading me to believe she's part hotot, but she's also got black ears and 2 little black spots on her back. She's a real sweetie who doesn't mind being held. She's around 2 1/2 months old. She's been warming up to me more and more, and she's become such an enjoyable rabbit!
I plan to eventually have both Taz and Ruby spayed and bonded, but for now, I just introduced them. The first time, Taz chased Ruby a little, the second time, they just sniffed and nuzzled each other, and the third time, Ruby chased Taz for about 2 seconds.
As for litterbox training, Taz is quite stubborn and goes wherever she pleases. She likes sleeping in her litterbox though
Ruby is a bit more flexible; she is going in one spot, and is starting to sort of use her litterbox. She also likes to flop in it!

Thats all for right now! :biggrin2:

The above picture is Taz as a baby <3


Below is a picture of Ruby when she was a baby, and Ruby now:

 

[qtipthebun]

Ruby's whiskers in the grown up picture are so cute! They look like they tickle! I cannot imagine the tickle torture of getting bunny kisses from her! She's so cute!!

 

[Hyatt101]

Yes, her whiskers tickle sooo much!! Thanks!!

 

[Hyatt101]

So, next I wanted to talk a little more about Taz and Ruby's diet:

I feed them premium Timothy pellets, with unlimited Timothy hay. (Keep in mind these bunnies are 2 months and 4 months old) and I give them pellets in the morning, and then generally again at night, or, sometimes I'll give smaller quantities more times per day. I've slowly introduced veggies to Taz, but not so much Ruby. The breeder I got her from gave her a little more veggies, but I wanted to cut down for awhile until she was older. So far, carrots are the main favorite with my rabbits

I'm not going to give them actual treats like crasins or berries until they're a little older, although I may start giving them little by little to Taz, because one thing I plan to do with my rabbits is trick-train them, like as in, teaching them "come", "sit up", etc. (Any tips on training would be great, although i have researched it a ton!)

For their housing environment, they will be living in the same NIC cage, but there's a divider. It's really big, especially to dwarf rabbits, and it has one other level. I will be adding ramps, since they are tiny and don't jump My question is, how should I do the door? I don't plan on having a roof, since they can't jump over it anyway. I'll probably have to post pics of it so you can see it better, but of you can visualize it in your head, does anyone have any ideas for the door? Thanks! :biggrin2:

 

[Hyatt101]

Oh my word, Ruby was being so cute!! When she lays down, she doesn't lay down on her stomach like Tazzie, but she flops on her side and stretches her legs out I want to get a picture but my camera is dead!

 

[Hyatt101]

So, I've been looking for places that spay in my area. I've emailed a couple places, asking if they spay, prices, etc. and non have written back I've tried a vet, and the humane society in my area.

Do vets not usually respond to emails; is it the kind of thing where you'd have to call or visit?

 

[JBun]

Cute bunnies!!! That's nice that Ruby feels happy and comfortable enough to flop on her side. Did she do the whole dead bunny flop, where she's completely laid out asleep, and almost looks dead. It can be kind of scary the first time cause it really looks like they are dead, but it just means she feels really safe and relaxed with you and her home.

Usually you have to call to get a price on a spay. The humane society or a spay and neuter clinic will usually be a lot cheaper than a vet office. The vet near me would have charged around $200, but I took mine to a spay/neuter clinic, and it was only $65, and that included pain meds. So I would look for something like that and give them a call.

So, are you feeding both your bunnies the timothy pellets? Didn't the person you got Ruby from give you a bag of her food to take home and feed her with? Usually for bunnies under 7 mo., it's better to feed them an alfalfa pellet because it has extra protein and calcium that are good for growing bunnies. Plus alfalfa pellets are usually cheaper too, which is nice. If you do decide to switch them on to alfalfa pellets(just the plain kind), make sure you switch their food slowly, starting with just a little bit of the new pellets each day, and gradually mixing a little bit more of the new pellets each day, so that at the end of 2 weeks you will be all switched over and feeding only the new pellets. You just have to give their tummies time to get used to the new kind of food. And you don't want to give too many treats, cause it's not good for them. If Taz really likes her carrots, you could use that as a training treat. Just cut it up into tiny pieces to give her each time you 'reward' her. She probably shouldn't get more then one medium sized baby carrot a day. Good luck with the training. Can't wait til she learns a trick that you can post here

 

[qtipthebun]

For the training, get a clicker (they're like a dollar) and clicker train. Q knows "c'mere bunny!" which she does pretty much usually but takes her own sweet time sometimes, "OATMEAL!" which is how you get her from anywhere in the house at any time (but risk losing a finger) to get oats, and she can stand up on command "uppy", and spin. We're working on high five, but it usually ends with me getting my hands nommed.

But the clicker is totally the way to go. She sees it and waits for the commands!

 

[agnesthelion]

Cute buns! And how awesome that ruby flops like that. Sounds like she's pretty comfortable with you

 

[whitelop]

Your buns are so cute!
I agree with Jenny on the food, I think some people feed babies alfalfa pellets and timothy hay but I would probably try to make the switch to alfalfa. But, I'll be honest, when I got my bun I didn't know to feed her alfalfa and she got timothy pellets and she did just fine. hahaha.

Can't wait to hear more about their tricks. I wish my bun had the patience for tricks!

 

[Hyatt101]

Okay thanks everyone! Where do I get alfalfa pellets? And the breeder I got her form said that any food bag that said "complete" on it should be fine, but i trust timothy pellets and hay the most. If alfalfa are better though, why not switch them over?
Yeah, I figured spays would be cheaper at a humane society. Wow Jenny, $200 compared to $65 is really awesome!

When Ruby flops, she doesn't go completely on her side with her head down, she keeps her head up, but is on her side I'll get a pic later!

 

[JBun]

The breeder actually should have given you a little bag of transition food. It's usually not very good to switch a rabbits food suddenly. A lot of times it can make them sick. But as long as Ruby is doing ok and her poops are normal, then you probably don't need to worry.

You can find the regular alfalfa food at any petstore, or even Walmart usually has it. You can also get 50 lb bags at a horse feed store. Try not to get a kind that has corn in the ingredients. Just remember if you do switch their food, to do it very gradually over 2 weeks to give their digestive system time to adjust to the new kind of food.

I can't wait to see pictures

 

[Hyatt101]

Thanks Jenny! I'll try switching her slowly over soon

 

[Hyatt101]

So, I wanted to do a post about my outdoor rabbits

They are: Cocoa (unsure of her breed) Ranger (dutch) and Pockets (not sure of breed, but agouti coloring)
Cocoa is a sweetheart. She's solid black, and kinda looks like a Polish to me. She LOVES to eat, and would eat forever if I let her!

Ranger is more Sean's (my brothers) rabbit. He's a dutch, and he's got one blue eye, and one half blue half brown eye. He's a piggy too, but he doesn't like me as much as he's always been closer to my brother.

Pockets is my sweet agouti girl! She loves me, and will jump when she sees me.
Pictures can been seen in my avatar, but I will post more pics later

 

[whitelop]

I love dutch rabbits. And Pockets is adorable!

 

[Hyatt101]

Thanks Morgan! We put a ton of hay in their cages and hutch because not only will they eat it, but it keeps them very warm!

 

[Hyatt101]

Our outdoor buns got a new huge bale of hay yesterday! Not only to they eat it, but we put a LOT in their cages, and they burrow in it for warmth when it's cold! They love their hay! :hearts

Taz and Ruby are as usual

In other, non-rabbit related topics, we got our tree a few days ago It's a decorated now, and looks so pretty! When do you all get your trees?
What are some Christmas traditions you have? Any at all? How do your Christmas mornings go? We wake up and wait till around 7:00 am till we all go downstairs to read the Bible Christmas Story, and then we do presents! Sometimes we'll do a quick breakfast before presents also. We always have so much fun; all my older siblings come up to spend Christmas with us, and this Christmas will be an especially happy one, because we found out that my brother's wife is having a baby boy in April!!!!! :weee:

So, any Christmas Traditions? They can also include bunnies

 

[agnesthelion]

Christina it sounds like you have some great Xmas traditions and congrats to your family for the new baby to be

We spend Xmas eve with my husbands family. Then Xmas morning we get up and our son opens up his presents from Santa and us. Then we drive 2 hours to spend Xmas with my moms family.

 

[Hyatt101]

That's nice Lisa!

 

[Hyatt101]

So.... Taz pooped a lot in the litterbox, and I think she even peed in there! Whoo hoo! :weee:

This is the most significant progress she's made, so I'm pretty excited! My spay research still has not gone well... I can;t find a place :grumpy: if anyone in maine knows of a good place to spay rabbits, please let me know!!