To ask DH if we can get some more rabbits?

[Awomancalledhorse]

The fuzzy kind, not the buzzy kind!!
We're due a LO in december, live in a large 2 bedroom flat currently shared with two houserabbits. The plan was when LO came, rabbits would have free run of the spare room for a few months then come back into living room once we get used to looking after everyone.

HOWEVER, I've just fallen in lurve with some gorgeous bunnies on a local website who desperatly need a home (as their owners are moving abroad), is 4 rabbits (2 seperate bonded pairs, or all 4 together if they get on) too much to handle with a LO?

Sorry, not qualified to advise as I have 3 big dogs with a LO but would think 4 rabbits would be OK?

Ugh, free running house rabbits?
I'm sure someone will say they are lovely and more hygienic than cats/dogs but the thought makes my skin itch.

You might find after your LO (is it DC 1 ?) that you'll get paranoid about germs.

We had our moggy 9 years before DS was born, no trouble,until I became convinced she was a walking bacteria factory.
Spent loads of time washing hands and work surfaces that she might have walked on.
We had her for 15 years so there was never any intention of getting rid of her.

I've never kept rabbits (had 13 guinea-pigs, not all at same time ) but I personally wouldn't fancy 4 in the house.

I am a guinea pig person myself, they are not given the credit they deserve. Amazing pets. Everyone should have two (at the very least)!!

OMG SIX rabbits in a 2 bed flat??? Stick to the buzzy kind IMHO

I'm a guinea pig person too and I love them, ive had rabbits before too

I'd be a bit reluctant to get any new pets while pregnant, you don't know how you will feel when baby arrives - which might be no different, but some people react in very unexpected ways.

It's quite a financial risk as well, I guess you know if something goes wrong the vet bills can be insane, x4 you could have some very skint months.

it's unfair to even keep rabbits inside at all. they love to dig and like to be in fresh air! also they honk

I'd never keep my guinea pigs indoors and that would be the same with rabbits, they need outdoor hutches and fresh air.

Weasel there's always insurance. My guinea pigs cost me £2 a month!

like wimpybar i agree rabbits honk, when my husbands ex partner died before christmas my stepdaughter brought with her the indoor rabbit, i hate the smell of it, i have six cats and they dont pong, but this bloody rabbit does honk, she wont let me put its hutch outside, so i am stuck with a cute but stinky, messy hutch and yes she cleans it regurlaly with lop eared rabbit in the bloody kitchen, only place it fits and last place i want an animal if i could rehome it to another mug who wouldnt mind an indoor rabbit believe me i would in a second the thought of six rabbits running round a two bedroom flat where there will bea new born baby send shivers dwn my spine, if you had a big house maybe but not in a small flat

wait until your baby arrives. I found I completely went off my pets for a while when I had children. also you will need to think about whether it is fair on the rabbits when you have a marauding toddler.

Bunnies!

Ahem.

House bunnies are cute, if you can manage, enjoy.

Just an opinion but four bunnies in a small flat could be too much. Thing is, if it's a two bedroom flat, what are you going to do when your LO needs the currently spare bedroom. Bunnys might get stressed out by crawling baby in livingroom, and no where to go to get peace.

Introducing two more to a bonded pair may cause fights as well.

I'd wait to see how you get on with the baby before taking on more.

I don't thing yabu but I still would think really carefully.

Rabbits need to be bonded and it can take AAAAAGES. Introducing two grown ones to each other is bad, four to each other will be a nightmare, as you've got four different dynamics. It needs a lot of patience and a lot of room as you won't be able to keep them together to start off with.

I also personally don't agree with house rabbits; bunnies need the outdoors, sun on their backs and grass to munch, it goes against their nature to be indoors the whole time.

:( DH said no to more bunnies (well it wasn't a NO no, but a 'not now no').
Our current two are lovely, fresh smelling, litter trained rabbits (minus the sawdust..which can pong if it's not changed often) who take up loads of our time so I guess it would be unfair to them if they had to adjust to new buns & then a new baby.

Wimpy, house rabbits have a longer life expectancy & are less likely to get sick compared to outside buns, in the rabbit owner 'community' (I know people who have 5/6/7 bunnies in flats of our size!) it's quite frowned upon to have purely outside rabbits (one of ours is disabled so we couldn't have her outside anyhoo). Our rabbits have a massive soil pit (one of those underbed storage boxes)...which they hate being in, the dig-phobic weirdos!
Weasel, I didn't consider the vets costs! One of the rabbits I was looking at getting has a long term health problem so needs monthly trips to the vet, although with our lovely disabled bun it would probably cost £100 a month just to maintain the health of the two disabled ones. Damn logic (and DH) getting in the way of my bunny house dreams!

I just wanted to add that I am a mad animal lover, but when my DCs were new borns I really felt different about the animals I didn't want them around and felt they were unhygienic etc till the DCs were older. Now I prefer the animals and think the DCs are unhygienic!

Arf @ LittleMissFlustered.

Anya always knows the truth

to have rabbits outside is frowned upon

i have generally found people on rabbit forums to be a little um odd

It is a bit like people who think cats shouldn't go outside (without a very specific reason).

OP, obviously you can't help it because you live in a flat - but rabbits are animals native to this climate, they are designed to live outside. Just because a fair few people with no common sense can't work this out doesn't mean it's wrong to keep rabbits outside.