Rabbit questions please

[earlgrey]

I've cut and pasted this from another message this morning, but other MNers said I might be better off starting a new thread, so here goes for some help!

We bought a lop two weeks ago - she's enormous now (although not the size of our springer spaniel!)

How do you give them exercise when it's been raining and you can't put them in the run because the grass is wet? She seems far calmer and less likely to bite (in my naivety I just assumed they didn't) after she's had a good ole' hop around, but the weather in Oxford lately hasn't leant itself to outside exercise.

We bring her in and put her on the sofa. She chews the sofa. We put a throw on the sofa, she chews that (I don't mind that).

I think it will only be a matter of time before she stops demurely sitting on the sofa and starts running around the living room - how do you find all the bumbles?

And how, with a springer spaniel who chases anything that moves, is it fair to have him whining in the hall because we've closed the baby gate to stop him mauling the run and ultimately the rabbit/guinea pigs (who don't, btw, associate?

Any advice would be very much appreciated. God, we should have just stuck with the guinea pigs, now they're easy peasy little sweet things.

And how often do you clean out their hutch? I started by doing it every day but now do it every other day - is that OK do you think?

TIA

fine to do it every other day we do it once a week. Not much advice on the exercise thing though, we stopped lettingours in the house when she chewed through the playstation wire We just let her out when it's dry and if grass to wet put her on the patio. She is a bit of a monster too about the size of a cat!

As for the biting we were told it's sometimes better to pick them up with your something covering their face and make sure your supporting their back legs well. She will only bite when we go to pick her up though not when we actually hold her, although she is an albino so her eyesight very poor. Why do you not want her on wet grass ?

i have 3 female rabbits. they're very particular.

i've always had male rabbits before!

i got a fantastic run for them and still they just sit there.

Lilyloo I'm worried about the social interaction bit, though . H built a run short enough for her to jump over as soon as we got her home. Now, unless dds sit over her every time they get home, we have to put the lid on, and it's far too short for them to squat down into. I suppose what I'm trying to say is - how in eff's name do you try and interact with a rabbit?

Why cant a rabbit go on wet grass?

I let mine out rain or shine and now I'm concerned that he shouldnt be out in the wet?

He's 8 now so I'm assuming he's in pretty good health

Can anyone clarify the wet grass thing?

Do they pick her up ? I was told by the vet that a ginea pig or another rabbit best forms of interaction for them tbh, although we didn't and she about 7 years old now. She doesn't really enjoy being fussed with but if you handle them everyday from being young they get used to that and should be more friendly.

could the wet grass give them a cold? i dont put mine on grass at all my run is on the patio.... but i dont let them out if has been raining not sure why though maybe i should?

i am scared to pick mine up as they wriggle so much and was told off by my vet this week when they were in to be neutered... they said i wasnt handling them enough. we stroke them but dont pick them up, to be honest i am scared to pick up,

so any suggestions for picking up would be great...

ask your vet to show you snowonder. When i watched ours they so confident she didn't wriggle at all. Scoop your arms under their bag legs and hold them firmly close to you. It's easier to lift them up out of their cage and directly into your arms.

I just leave their hutch open in the morning and they come in and out at their leisure (one rabbit and two guinea pigs), usually find they have put themselves to bed when I come to feed and shut them up at night (aaaahhhh!!!)

by the way we got a metal run from pets at home £25.00 it has 6 sides that slot together, so you can change size etc, and move it around easily, an my girls are able to sit in there with them,,

i also have the hutch in there at the mo so i can just open it and they hop out.... hence me being scared to pick up so this aviods having to do this

If I absolutely have to pick up the bunny I tend to hold him by his scruff and then hold his back legs tight and kind of tuck him under my arm - he doesnt panic at all if you hold him by his scruff - I suppose this feels the most natural way of being carried to an animal such as a rabbit

thanks lilyloo, i did think that it would have been better if they said to me come in the back and we will show you how to do it rather than telling me and everyone in the waiting room,

but they must have been bad if they said that even with there confident hands?????

maybe now they are spade they will be more friendly (i can hope) i have read on internet they dont actually liked to be picked up and some so bad they attack your hand when placing food in hutch at least mine arent that bad..

Our giant rabbit tries to chew stuff when he comes in at night time, but lots of handling and consistency have made him become quite tuned into us and what we expect of him lol. If he steps out of line we clap our hands or use a loud rattle (homemade) that they use in dog training. We have done that enough now that he understands what it means. He has a large dog pen inside the house, with a white piece of fencing we put to separate off the other end of the room we don't want him to go in, and then we just watch him when he is running/binkying around. He is the same in the garden and we section that off and just watch him. He has never chewed through anything or escaped and, though he sometimes growls and boxes for fun, is easy, if big, to handle!

We feed as much hay as he can eat (we aren't in short supply being as we own horses) and he also has wood to chew on. He has lots of herbs, fruit and veg to eat and the odd treat of dried corn or something, but that's it. It keeps his claws and teeth down and he doesn't feel the need to chew the furniture to wear them down. And when he is inside he has a constant supply of food, toys and affection to divert him away from wires.

Litter training with rabbits is a piece of cake. He has one inside and one in his hutch and doesn't do anything outside them. You just have to keep moving the wet and poo to where you want him to do it. He has a thick bed of shavings and straw which he uses to burrow. Upstairs is full of hay and then there is a section where we keep his litter tray and all the poo and wet remains there. It took about a week to suss that. Although, being a giant, he needs a big tray, otherwise he misses with the wee!!!

When we first had him he was very flighty, but they say it does take a few weeks for the neutering to take much effect. Then his growling, biting and boxing calmed down and he never bites now.

I change all his bottles every day and put fresh probiotics in them as well. He gets a full clean out once a week, but he does have two hutches with large trays filled with shredded paper and megazorb.

Bloody hell. What have I done?

I was expecting some sweet, gentle little thing and all I hear from you guys and RL people I've talked to about her is that they didn't touch theirs with a barge pole! DD1 said that she growled - I thought she'd imagined it - but since you talk of your growling rabbit now I'm inclined to believe her!

This morning she came on the sofa. DD1 asked me to pick her up so she could cuddle her. I did. The first thing she did? Bite me. I've obviously got a lot to learn from you lot. I feel guilty now because she's in her hutch and I'm too scared to pick her up and put her in the run.

Like I said, we all love the guinea pigs though ......

Hi everyone,as you were all talking about rabbits on here i thought this is the best place to put this question.We have three bunnies 2 boys and one girl they are in separate hutches but the girl bunny seems to be larger than the other 2 even though she is their sister! and i am worried that the cage we got her at the beginning is now to small she seems to struggle to get upstairs through the gap to the upper level how big should the cage be??
At the moment we cant afford a new cage but he has started to build the girl bunny a new cage but him being a man it will probly be done by next year!!!

oh and also i have a problem with slugs in there hutch!!any ideas what to do?when i come to there hutch in the morning there are slugs crawling inside the hutch and in there food bowl euggg!!! how do i get rid of the slugs and will they harm the bunnies??

Do they get out for exercise or do you kep them in the cage?

Cage sounds too small, rabbits need plenty room.

You can get hutch covers, but my husband and I just used perspex to cover most of the hutch, leaving other areas open for air ventilation. He even has a lift up and down door to keep rain out. No slugs in the hutch but loads in the garden. Also make sure you have plenty of bedding down as slugs go where it is damp.

I can't answer your size question as I don't know how big she is, but as a rule rabbits should be able to have a layer where they can stand on hind legs and stretch upwards with ease. Also they should be able to stretch out in all directions, and then if the hutch is not big enough to run around she needs to be brought out for a run, even if in the house. We have a 6ftx6ftx4ft cage with an extra top layer, but our rabbit is a giant and we had to modify the gap he runs through as he was a little big for it. He comes in at night and has a huge dog kennel/cage from pets at home, and then lino under that to lie on, then he has free run of an area of the downstairs. We have also started letting him run round the garden, although am a little concerned that last night he ate some of my grandfather's memory rose

earlgrey, with some rabbits, it's a matter of wrapping your arms and torso up so they can't bite/scratch, and keep keep keep handling several times a day, with confidence (one hand under bum and other wrapped around and under chest, holding it close to you). Other rabbits will never want to be handled/touched. It also depends how much he was handled as a kit.

the problem is once they attack it puts you off handling, well it has with me, sometimes i put a square litter tray in the run and when they hop into it lift it up onto my lap then try and stroke them, this saves the having to lift them, one of mine also growls, i am hopig the neutering will have a miricle affect on them .... i can only hope

Mine is neutered and has been since we bought him at 16 weeks; he still growls and boxes... when he doesn't want to be handled. I know it puts you off and I have been there, but if there is any hope for the rabbit getting more friendly, it has to be a case of lots of layers and handling so he can't hurt you, and clapping/shaker when he bites - like you would do with a horse that bites or barges. So that's tshirts and jumpers piled up and probably thick gloves and jeans. My rabbit scratches, but not on purpose, it's cause he is so big and gets nervous being carried, so we use a pet carrier to get him inside and outside.

Neutering will calm your rabbit, but they will still growl and box as that's the way rabbits communicate, like dogs growl even when they have been 'done'. Neutering is also better for them on health grounds if they are not being bred from.

Could talk for hours about animals cause I've got so many of them and they are genuinely one of my interest subjects. I could probably use it as my specialist subject on Mastermind or something! Can be such a bore about animals.

I think we also have to remind ourselves that rabbits aren't naturally cuddly, like cats, for example, and most smaller breeds will not like being handled, whilst a minority love it and some will tolerate it after some practice. The giant breeds usually present greater signs of affection and more willingness to accept being handled, which was part of the reason I chose a giant in the first place.

thanks for that.

my girls are happy to just stroke but others say can i hold the rabbit?

maybe i will get some gloves...

if i had the room , i would probably buy a small shed / tool store and adapt it to differnt layers for the rabbits, this would work out much cheaper than some of the hutches....

yeah that is probably true, we have 2 mini lops,

they love to be stroked though