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6 month old male rabbit - is that young or old?!

4 replies

huffpuff · 04/12/2007 20:59

looking to get dd a rabbit for her birthday on Friday and have found one in the local paper - i was thinking of a bunny. This one is 6 months old. Is that still relatively young for a rabbit?

OP posts:
motherhurdicure · 04/12/2007 21:58

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lucyellensmum · 04/12/2007 22:13

i echo motherhurdicure - rabbits are great.

The only reason 6 months might be a problem is if it hasnt been handled. If it has been regularly handled and is friendly then it is a brilliant age as it will already be accustomed to handling which will encourage your DD to handle more. There is nothing worse than a terrified bunny to make a child not want to handle and therefore make the rabbit not want to be handled.

Remember a few things : Bunny will need myxamatosis and HVD vaccinations, either 6 monthly or yearly depending on the regeime that your vet follows. They need a varied diet of greens and GOOD quality proprietory (sp) rabbit food. There have been increasing problems with misaligned teeth. Rabbits teeth do not stop growing so if they do not meet they can overgrow and cause big problems, if the problem is with the front teeth a regular visit to your vet nurse to clip the teeth can solve this. A good quality diet can help with this too.

If i were looking for a bunny for a child i would (im preparing to be jumped on by dwarf bunny owners) generally avoid the dwarfs as they tend to be more highly strung and nervous. However the dwarf lop is loooooovely. Both of my rabbits were giant breeds but they take a whole lot of looking after and are expensive, also more difficult to handle for a youngster. I would definately be looking at something with floppy ears though

im quite i have to say - we have a demonic terrier so rabbits are out of the question.

My Bunnies had the run of the garden, in fact we did away with one of their hutches and he just lived out as he preferred this, even in sub zero temperatures. Only ever bought him in one night when the temp was -4. IF you cannot give the rabbit the run of the garden for part of the day, do get him a big enough run, nothing breaks my heart more than seeing a rabbit cooped up in a hutch 24/7.

I quite like bunnies i do, does it show

Blu · 06/12/2007 15:34

I have two netherland dwarf rabbits and will not jump on LEM at all - they are bloody awful pets!

They are very unfriendly, and still will not let us stroke them, and are terrified and struggling every time i catch them. This is important, as rabbits have v powerful legs and extremely sharp claws - not at all suitable for children unless they are very docile and tame, imo.

Also - you have to do the two vaccinations every year, and check they don't get an extremely unpleasant condition called flyStrike (basically, maggots eating ther bums), and we were advised to get two as they are social animals.

I am quite fond of our rabbits - but as a pet for DS, a guinea pig would have been MUCH better!

chocolatespiders · 07/12/2007 22:39

i struggle to handle mine aswell, but do manage to stroke them. but they run away from dc's, think they must be more used to me as i feed them clean them etc etc, kids go to them once a month.

i would love to pick them up but to be honest i am scared of them hurting me, vet nurse told me off for not handling them enough, when we had them neutered....
maybe i should get some big gloves

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