The Adventures of Bucks Bunny

[BobZ]

Hi all, I'm new to the world of bunnies, but I decided to start a blog for my little Bucks Bunny :biggrin2:

I'll start with a little info on me, I'm 23, a guy, gots loads of free time to waste as I'm currently on a VERY loose work schedule. I live in Durban, South Africa, where the days are hot and the nights are almost as hot, our awesome beachlife and generally chilled atmosphere make up for it though, however enough about me and lets get to who this is all about!

Introducing BUCKS BUNNY!:bunnydance:arty0002::woohoo

(This is the day I brought her home)

We'll begin with the fact that I have been thinking of getting a bunny for a while now, I live in a complex that does not allow cats or dogs. I made up my mind at the end of September, after quite a bit of research.
I went to the most reputable pet store in town and chose out this lil furball, she instantly drew my eye when I went to check out the babies, the pet store told us they were 6 weeks old. We grabbed all the stuff that we would need and took her home.
I will say that through all my research I had come to the understanding that rabbits were not the attention seeking, cuddle with you type, so I was not expecting much in that regard. I must say however that I was pleasantly surprised a couple of hours later, while sitting on the floor in my room, near her cage, when she came up to me and started licking my arm :biggrin: she then proceeded to groom every reachable part or me.
Over the course of the next week she got more and more affectionate and trusting of me, to the point that she now allows me to pick her up and put her on my chest. Today I got a little cat collar with a bell so we know where she is, don't worry it's got a break-away latch so if there's more than 3kg of force it opens. I left it with her for about an hour to get used to it before i tried to put it on, I was soo happy when i tried to put it on and she held still and let me put it on and adjust it with no wriggling, arguing or dirty looks, she even gave me a good grooming after which i did her the favor of returning.
She absolutely loves carrots, when she has the opportunity to get them. Runs like a child on Redbull, binkies like she's doing high jump and flops like a dead bunny! But the cutest thing I've seen her do so far was last night when she got the hiccups for a minute, all these tiny little sqeaks and jerks, I soooo wish I could have gotten a video of it!

And there you have it, our first blog post! I hope you enjoyed reading it!

I'll leave you with a couple of parting shots of her.

The first 2 are from her 1st and 2nd days respectively and the last 2 are from about and hour ago.

 

[agnesthelion]

She just could not be any cuter I have never seen a rabbit with a collar so she's the first! It sounds like you made sure it was safe so good for you I love her coloring too. She is very pretty.

I would love to visit South Africa! It just seems sooooo far away from lil ole Iowa in the USA, haha. If you continue your blog you'll have to post some pics. I would love to see them.

Are you going to litter train your lil girl? It does make for easy cleanup! If so I would advise to not use bedding in the cage. It confuses bunny into thinking the whole cage is for pottying.

Also, since she is just 6 weeks old, be VERY careful offering veggies. It is usually advised to wait until 3 months or sometimes even 6 months to give veggies. Little buns digestive tracts aren't developed and even the slightest reaction to a veggie can prove fatal. Not trying to sound pessimistic, I just would not want anything to happen to your lil girl. Carrots are very sugary and should be offered as rare treats only.

I hope you continue with your blog and stick around. I would love to see how she grows and follow her progress. I have two rabbits, Agnes a Lionhead doe and Archie and mini rex buck. I'm trying to bond them currently. But they are both such fantastic pets and I really enjoy having them in my life. I'm sure you will enjoy your little girl just as much!

 

[BobZ]

The pet shop said that she would be fine with the collar, its just so that I can hear where she is.
You definitely should try come at least once, it really is a beautiful country, even if the government is a bunch of clowns.
Yeah I'm planning on potty training her, thanks for the advice, I currently use her hay as bedding, so should i only put it in the litter box and she can munch on it there if she wants to?
I don't give her any veggies yet, other than the odd half a carrot every other day. I'm not planning on giving her any for 6 months or so.
Oh I haven't set up her hutch yet, got her a smallish cage just for now, she spends all day running around my room, she's only in the cage at bed time. I'll be getting her hutch in the next week or so, just need to get paid, I found a awesome double story cage that's HUGE! Should I start her potty training now or when i get the hutch?
Thanks again for the advice.

 

[agnesthelion]

Yes I would definetely start littertraining now. Remove the hay as bedding and just keep it in the litter box. Lots of people do that. OR you can get a hayrack (or make one out of an old kleenex box and have the hay stick out the top of the box) and not put any hay in the litterbox at all. I am one of the ones that has never done hay in the litterbox. However, it is a good litter training tool as buns will often nibble on hay and poop at the same time.

For litter don't ever use clay clumping cat litter, it is not good for buns. There are several bunny safe litters on the market in petstores and such. There are also other products you can use too. I happen to use wood stove pellets (hmmm, probably hard to find in your climate! LOL) some people use horse stall wood pellets too.

The point is that you want to remove any litter, hay, or bedding type material from the cage that bunny could see as a place to pee and keep it all in a litterbox. For the surface of my bunny condo, I use baby blankets. Some people use tile, linoleum, coroplast, fleece etc. Bunny may pick a certain corner to pee. Don't fight that. Just move the litterbox there. Her litterbox skills will improve with time. Also, are you planning to spay her? That will help tons too.

That is great that she has free run all day Spoiled bun already. Lots of people build their own bunny condos alot cheaper than you can buy them. NIC cages are very common choice. NIC stands for Neat Idea Cubes most commonly sold at office stores or hardware stores. You can shape them how you want and get creative and build HUGE palaces for bunnies if you want If you do a search on here there are lots of pictures of NIC cages that can give you some ideas. I actually bought my NIC cage rather than build it so spent way more than it costs to build but got the space I wanted.

Lots of info on here and feel free to ask any questions on all the sections. We all love rabbits here and are excited to help!

Btw, are you from South Africa originally?

 

[Blue eyes]

Hello and welcome to the forum. It sounds like you've already gotten a lot of good info from Lisa.

Just wanted to add that a half carrot every other day is even too much for a full grown rabbit. The high sugar content of carrots can be potentially deadly to a wee one. I wouldn't give any veggies whatsoever until at least 12 weeks of age. (oh, and in the world of bunnies, carrots are treated like a fruit - so just as the occasional treat and not more than a 1" slice - when the time comes)

Your bunny is adorable and so glad you are enjoying her!

Very clever blog name, btw :wink