Unexpected Bunny-mom!

[Noahs Ark II]

I live out in the country. Around Easter we found a domestic bunny (Dennis Hopper as my husband named him) in our back yard. I knew he wouldn't survive long with the various coyotes, fox and hawks that live here, so we caught him and brought himinside. I took Dennis to the vet for a eye infection and found out HE was a SHE. Now we call her DeeDee and she is a Sable Point. About 4 weeks after DeeDee appeared a 2nd rabbit wandered into our backyard!! This one is a Lion Head (?) and I believe is also a female. We named her Erma and now are unexpected bunny parents! We spent all day yesterday making an offical 2-unit bunny hutch for our 2 lovely ladies! My husband is calling me "Noah".We now have 7 animals - 6 of which are rescues; the 2 new bunnies, 2 dogs, a cat and 2 horses (oh, and some fish!)

Couple questions:

We were told that 2 mature females will most likely fight? We built a 2 unit hutch seperated by a wire mesh (coated 1/2in small animal fencing) wall. Is this appropriate? I'm not sure how much room they need to be comfortable.

We have them in our garage right now.... are they better off outside if they have shelter? (I can't have them in the house with my dogs and the cat)

They are set up with rabbit pellets, timothy hay and fresh water. Do they need salt licks?

Do they need litter boxes? Are they okay on a wire mesh floor? (see pictures)

When we found them they had ticks.... the vet had no idea how to treat them other then pull them off.... can they wear flea collars? I'm afriad of doing a spray or drops in case they try and 'clean it off'.

What do you DO with bunnies?? Do I need to play with them? Do they get bored? Lonely?

Please don't flame me for being unprepared...as I said, I didn't go out and get these animals, they were dumped and made thier way here.... I used to volunteer at the Humane Society and know how over full they are....we wanted to try and do our part by providing these bunnies with a good home without dumping them into the system. Neither of us have had rabbits before and we just need to educate ourselves....

Since this is an introduction, a little about me:

My name is Kimberly, I'm 30 years old, very happily married and am a full time professional horse trainer and riding coach. (http://www.GreatLakesEqu.com) I LOVE animals!! My hobbies other then riding and showing horses include riding motorcycles (riding, not driving!), boating, traveling, reading and fine dining and good wine.

(I have pictures to post and will do so as soon as I figure out how!)

 

[Pipp]

Hey Kimberly, we'd never flame you, we'd applaud you! :great:

Thanks for taking these little girls in! Do you have a breeder in the area who may be turning them loose?

Too bad you couldn't keep the name 'Dennis Hopper', that's classic!! (And I've never heard it used before, oddly enough!)

The two girls may get along or they may not. Bunnies are like people that way, they choose their own friends. They do like company though. The hutch set up sounds great, but love to see a picture.

You can use our Photo Gallery to upload some as long as they're not too big on your computer.

Here are some instructions:

How To Use The New Photo Gallery

We can tell you all sorts of ways to keep your rabbits entertained. They most often love people and like hanging out with them (and other bunnies). But love to check out their digs first. Hopefully you can get some photos up.

sas :welcome1

 

[Noahs Ark II]

I think I've almost got the picture thing figured out, will just take me a moment to upload! All forums have different pic systems!

I dont think there are any breeders around here. One of my riding students is a breeder and even judges shows. She is going to come out soon and double check my set up. Hopefully we've done a good job and she will approve!

 

[Noahs Ark II]

okay, I think I've got this figured out!

Dee Dee

Erma

 

[Pipp]

:inlove: Oooh! Cuties!!

Have they been fighting through the bars at all? Any attempts to groom?

The rabbits will get along fine with the cat, btw, and maybe the dog, depending on the breed.

Suggestions:

- Keep them supplied with a ton of hay and a little pulled grass as long as its pesticide and animal waste free. Hay should be most of their diet.

- Cover at least part of the floor with a board -- the part they're not peeing in.

- Put a shelf in there if you can, for several reasons. They get more exercise jumping up than hopping across, and it will give them a lot more space and more play area. And it will also provide the all important 'roof' that make rabbits feel much more secure. They instinctively need to feel protected from hawks and other predators attacking from above. I always provide a cardboard box with three sides and the roof intact. They will chew on it to 'redecorate, and it gives them something to do that they love.

Here's a pic of Sherry and Marvin's well-renovated box, not the best example, but it's handy! (Pardon the filthy litterbox, its mostly torn up paper, looks worse that it was!)

And another pen... (The purple box is used for hay, I just hadn't filled it up yet). The bunnies are always hanging out in the areas with cover.

Hope this helps!



sas :bunnydance:

 

[funnybunnymummy]

Aw! Well done, taking in those two homeless buns! They're both beautiful!

If you take some of your questions to the Nutrition Behaviour Environment forum there are plenty of experts there to help you out!

Hope that helps!

Rue

 

[cheryl]

:wave:Hi and welcome,

The bunnies are both pretty little girls...and very lucky to find a home

 

[countrybuns]

What lucky little ladies you have there and cute too! Bunnies love snuggles and play time so if you can give them time to excercise somewhere safe would be great.

 

[Noahs Ark II]

Thanks everyone! I wondered about putting a shelf in there - I didn't know they would jump up on it! I saved some extra materials from our build so I'll add those! I'll also make sure to check out your other forums!

They have not seemed aggressive at all through the wall - but I haven't seen them try to groom each other either. How do you "try" without the risk of them getting hurt if one gets aggressive? And...if they do fight - how do you break it up!?!

Also, I'm hoping to build an outdoor play pen type area for them, I just have to figure out to put some sort of roof on it - lots of hawks here!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Let me welcome you to Rabbits Online, my name is Dave and I am a moderator on the forum. So if I can be of any help please let me know. This is a terrific website for rabbits and their slaves, not only is it very active but also friendly. I am so glad you’re here and I know you will enjoy it.

If you everhave a sick bunny, please post in The Infirmary and include your rabbit's age, breed and health history as well diet and output details leading up to the problem.

I have listed some links I thought you might find interesting:

*For reference the Library section

*To brag or tell everyone about the antics of your bunny or just to talk about your day here is where to start a Bunny Blog, you can also look back at it later and remember when you had a life before your bunny.

*Now all the bunny’s like talk to each other when we mere slaves aren’t around in the Bunny Chat is the spot to be.

*Rabbits Online also has regional forums , this a good way to find a vet in your area that has experience with rabbits and to find out from other nearby of good sources of rabbit supplies.

The Let Your Hare Down section is for anything non-bunny related.

Here is a link tothat will help you and your bunny to connect, How To Bond With Your Bunny.

Now every forum has rules and ours can be found with this link Rabbits Online Forum Rules. This gives guidelines on what is acceptable, what is not and how we hope everyone will treat each other.

Everyone on this forum loves to see pictures of each other’s bunnies. So if you would like to post a picture this link will help you do that, Upload Photo's to Photo Gallery. Then in the post, you click on the "G" in the tool bar to insert your photo.

I am glad you have joined rabbits online and I look forward to seeing you around.

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Iapplaud youfor taking these bunny's in. No one is going to be upsetthat your not prepared. Those bunny's must have sensed you would take care of them and they made their way to you.

Noahs Ark II wrote:

Couple questions:

We were told that 2 mature females will most likely fight? We built a 2 unit hutch separated by a wire mesh (coated 1/2in small animal fencing) wall. Is this appropriate? I'm not sure how much room they need to be comfortable. That looks like a great set up. I have two buns that if they are in the same cage will not get along, but with a wire divider between them they love each others company. I have NIC panels dividing a cage and they groom each other through the wire and lie down next to each other.

We have them in our garage right now.... are they better off outside if they have shelter? (I can't have them in the house with my dogs and the cat) They can be inside with the cat and dogs. I have a pointer and a rat terrier and at first they had to be supervised, but now the rabbits will hop right under the pointer and the dogs don't even pay attention to them any more. When you introduce them have the dogs on a leash, to be safe. Now my dogs will go nuts if they see a wild rabbit but the ones inside they know are off limits.

I am a believer that buns should be inside if at all possible. Rabbits are very social animals and are best if placed in area that has a lot of human traffic or in an area where the family hangs out.

They are set up with rabbit pellets, timothy hay and fresh water. Do they need salt licks? I feed my herd a mainly pellet diet with unlimited hay. I also feed them some veggies, dark green lettuce, romaine, green leaf, collard greens, turnip greens, parsley. No Ice Berg lettuce. They don't need salt licks.

Do they need litter boxes? Are they okay on a wire mesh floor? (see pictures) Some of my buns are litter box trained and some have a wire mesh floor. Like Pipp said they need something solid to sit on so they don't develop sore hocks.

When we found them they had ticks.... the vet had no idea how to treat them other then pull them off.... can they wear flea collars? I'm afraid of doing a spray or drops in case they try and 'clean it off'. I would suggest posting a question in the Hare Care section or checking out the library. I know there are certain products that are safe for rabbits but I can't remember off the top of my head.

What do you DO with bunnies?? Do I need to play with them? Do they get bored? Lonely? Bunnys are great to watch play. They like to explore, do binkies (running jumping twisting in the air) when they are happy. Bunny's like to get pets, some like to cuddle with you, they are great for getting relaxed, its hard if not darn near impossible to be mad or upset when holding a bunny. Some can be taught to play games like toss a toy back and forth. They are very intelligent animals and some people train them for agility competitions.

They can get bored. Baby keys are good toys, small slinkies, baby stacking cups, toilet paper tubes stuffed with hay.

Having them side by side like you do will help prevent loneliness.

Please don't flame me for being unprepared...as I said, I didn't go out and get these animals, they were dumped and made their way here.... I used to volunteer at the Humane Society and know how over full they are....we wanted to try and do our part by providing these bunnies with a good home without dumping them into the system. Neither of us have had rabbits before and we just need to educate ourselves....

Since this is an introduction, a little about me:

My name is Kimberly, I'm 30 years old, very happily married and am a full time professional horse trainer and riding coach. (http://www.GreatLakesEqu.com) I LOVE animals!! My hobbies other then riding and showing horses include riding motorcycles (riding, not driving!), boating, traveling, reading and fine dining and good wine.

(I have pictures to post and will do so as soon as I figure out how!)

 

[aurora369]

Before putting the two buns together, I would double check that they are both indeed female! Rabbits can suck their testicles up so that you can't see them and rabbit genitalia can look similar for male and female. Many of our members have been fooled by our rabbits gender, and it happens so often we call it being struck by the gender fairy.

Also, to increase their chances of bonding, you can look into getting them both spayed. But this will take finding a rabbit savvy vet to do the operations.

For mites, ticks and fleas, you can use the kitten formula of Revolution. It is dosed the same way as for cats/kittens by the weight of the animal. This will also get rid of intestinal worms like round worms which they might have picked up outside.

Also, welcome to the forum and thank you for rescuing these bunnies!!

-Dawn

 

[Fancy77]

WHOO HOO to u for helping them they r adorable...welcome to the forum

 

[cirrustwi]

Welcome to the forum!! I'm so impressed by your initiative to take in these bunnies! And congratulations of becoming a bunny mom, even if it was unexpected. Those girls are absolutely beautiful!!

I think most of your questions have been answered, but if any more arise, please just ask! Also, check out the library, some of it is in progress, but there is an amazing amount of info there.

:big kiss:

Jen and Timothy

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Revolution for kittens can be used one Bunnies.

I would get a dose if you can.


These girls are very lucky.

Just to give you a idea of a indoor set up.
I also have a dog and a cat they all get on fine.