Paul’s Blog: Not All About Rabbits

Caring for rabbits (properly)

Some people seem to think that rabbits can be just chucked outside in a little hutch 50cms high and with a small metal box at the end and fed carrots once a day.

A rabbit MIGHT survive under those conditions but it isn’t a very good quality of life for him/her.

That kind of hutch is fine for a day time run when you put the wire over grass so the bunny can graze and relax in the open space. For short times when you cant watch it, or if you have a yard with bad fences and dont trust the rabbit to go running.

My principles for keeping rabbits in order of importance:

1 They should be fed fresh food mix everyday - sometimes the food may look ok but it goes stale, and rabbits are fussy. also some rabbits eat their food selectively and only leave the husks of seeds and grass clippings in their food bowl and then they wont touch it. I fed Katrina this morning and he buried part of his face in the food seaching for the sunflour seeds.hehe

2 Their water should be checked every day and refilled if more than 1 inch below the top of the bowl. In an emergency the rabbit will stick its neck into its water bowl to drink, or drink slimy water, but rabbits really like to be able to just rest their chin on the side of the water bowl and slurp it up. I use an old 2L saucepan for my rabbits because it has a big surface area so it lasts a while, and its too heavy to be knocked over, and too small for the rabbit to fall into. Smaller rabbits might benifit from having a brick in the middle of their water bowl too so they can’t fall into it.

3 They should have at least 1 square Meter of running space in their hutch. Else they will just go crazy unless you let them into the yard every single day.

4 They should be fed non poisonous green plants everyday Else they might go crazy or get sore tummy’s.

5 They should have some sort of shelter within their wire hutch, which they cant see out of in most directions, with a roof. Otherwise they get really freaked out when a dog/cat/fox/owl/eagle sits eyeballing them from 10cm outside the wire. They like to be able to hide. this shelter should be waterproof and dry if the whole hutch doesnt have its own roof. The shelter protects them from the weather too

6 Pick them up and hold them and pat them everyday Rabbits do hold a grudge unlike goldfish and dogs etc.

7 They should have some things to stand on at different levels with the highest one 1-2 feet off the ground. This is so they can get a view and feel importand and also floods do happen. even if the floodwater is 1cm deep the rabbit likes to jump up and out of it.

8 The rabbit should not be able to stand on its hind legs and grab the roof with its paws Else it will slowly go crazy…If you want to make things easy for yourself make the cage at least as tall as you are so that you can walk in and invade the rabbits privacy if it forgets who the boss is…and easier for cleaning

9 Let the rabbits outside for supervised runs from time to time. Once you are comfortable and sure they cant escape, you can let them out by themselves but there is some risk of course. In my old house i had 2 male rabbits and i let each one out every second day. My new house is surrounded by dog owners and the fences arn’t secure so i cant do that i have to watch them

10 Pick them up and hold them and pat them everyday Rabbits do hold a grudge unlike goldfish and dogs etc.

11 If their ears dont point up when you pat them give them chocolate Else they will keep putting on the sulking act. Oh if they are lops dont worry but watch for other forms of sulkyness.

12 Dont keep them with guinea pigs if you can avoid it I had a bad experience with this once…I dont like guinea pigs much.especially the type that look like they have been licked by a dog too much…

 

rabbit Foods:

 

Plants to avoid: (so keep them away from it and dont feed it to them - but they probably will reject it after sniffing it)

Deadly nightshade.

Potatos Tomatos, capsicum (pepper), eggplant (augbergine) etc…

Oxalis.

Any eucalyptus type plants.

Holly.

Canna (looks like ginger plant - in fact dont feed rabbit anything that looks like ginger but isnt)

 

Plants most rabbits love (so feed it to them or keep them away from it)

Passionfruit leaves (especially banana passionfruit)

Yellow flowers that grow in the lawn

Bananas

long grass

Roses…

saltbushes

Ginger & Ornamental ginger - the leaves

 

Plants rabbits love too much (feed small amounts only)

Cabbage.

Lettuce.

milk thistle.

dandylion.

weeds that look like cabbage leaves.

weeds that look like small lettuce leaves.

Cacti

other flowers

 

Plants rabbits hate (wont eat but will destroy)

Chill

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