Are rabbits suitable pets for 3 and 6 year old boys?

[TheHouseofMirth]

A friend is trying to pursuade me to rehome a rabbit or rabbits belonging to her neighbour (they have 10 which are currently being kept in a greenhouse!)

I am just wondering how compatible rabbits are with small boys?

Depends on the rabbit, but I'd be wary with such young children. I still bear the scars from mine, I was older and he was actually a very lovely rabbit. But they are a prey species, have sharp teeth and strong back legs with which to rip vulnerable arms.

As long as they're your pets which you allow your dc to play with under heavy supervision, you'll be fine.

I would find out how well treated and socialized the buns are first though. They can deliver a nasty bite/scratch/kick when scared - and if they've had no human contact, they'll be petrified.

You'll need a hutch and a run of a decent size. The minimum recommended is pretty small tbh. You need straw for bedding and hay for food, and a nice big bottle of clean water every day. Cleaning out every 2-3 days.

It's quite an investment of both cash and time, but my (late) housebun had just as much personality as any cat thick as two short planks but very sweet

Despite their unorthodox accomodation the current owners do seem to interact with them so I'm not too concerned about socialisation in general, just having read some RSPCA info I'm not sure how happy they'd be about living with 2 boys who might love them too much.

Do they need hay all year round or will they mainly eat grass in the summer?

Just make sure the boys can't get to the bunnies unless you're there - padlock on the hutch?

I would think hay all year as it wears down their teeth (this is a good thing) but i've only had housebun so I suggest you double check! Do you have a garage/shed/porch they can go in over winter?

Thanks for your advice. Have decided against rabbits as I think the DSs would be too much for them. I do want them to be a proper family pet rather than mine. We have been advised that guinea pigs might be more suitable.

You'll need to supervise closely with any animal, and the "your pets" is more that you'll be doing all the feeding, cleaning, water changing, transferring from hutch to run and back etc. Legally, a child under 12 can't purchase an animal from a shop, which implies that a child under 12 would not generally be capable of properly caring for an animal. Obviously there are exceptions, just that you're the one who needs to do the hard work.

The amount of animals in rescue shows how few people take on board the work involved even in something "easy" like a bun or gp. Most buns live in a 6x3 hutch with no view. My late housebun liked to play football and chase with my cat. I have strong views on keeping furries in small cages but maybe this will bump for a more balanced opinion

Now your talking Mirth. Guinea-pigs are fabulous little mammels. (I've had GPs since I was 9yo and now my DC have 2 boars.They are my GPs number 13 & 14)

In a way it's -these rabbits would really benefit from a loving caring home and having 2 being cossetted rather than 10 in a greenhouse.
But you have to consider your DC and alot of the threads suggest they are not really the temprement for children.
Plus you have to neuter rabbits (health reasons for females and behaviour for males.And to rule out a bunny population explosion )
And they need innoculations which GPs don't.

There are loads of guineas in rescue that are waiting for a good home. Read up on their requirements and decide.
Some keep GP inside,some outside. I do both-in during winter at night and out in their hoghouse by day even through the winter.
But who was walking down the garden with a fan heater and fresh food,water and veg.Then take the heater out after 15 minutes (take the chill off) and putting three hot water bottles and a snuggle pad in the hay.
Then putting the piggies out.

It wasn't the DC ! [wink}

Not really IMO. My rabbit was more like a cat or a dog. No run (or hutch), secure garden with a kennel and in the house at night, mine was house-trained. They can be strong, stroppy buggers too.

However you can play 'football' with a big rabbit . But I don't approve of rabbits being cooped up, they're lovely things when they have space to charge around. The local cats were scared of my rabbit, she used to chase them off.

Pellets (SuperRabbit) are better for their teeth than the museli mix style foods.

Great pets when they have space and attention though.

Sorry, I didn't mean that I would expect the DSs to care for an animal (I am under no illusions about that). More that I would hope to get a pet or pets that the boys could happily and safely (on all sides) interact with without me having to worry unduly about the children being injured or the pet being stressed.

I had a hamster and rabbits as a child and promised myself I'd never have another caged animal but I think we l succesfully escape-proof our tiny garden to give them the run of it.

Years and years ago a friend had rabbits as pets for her spoilt and indulged DS. They were seriously unsuitable pets. They weren't handled enough, so they kicked, so her DS didn't want to handle them, and so on. When they were out in the run one of her cats used to terrorise them.

They stayed with me once and DCat1 (hunter killer cat) started out regarding them as potential supper - but DCat2 let them out of their hutch (she opened the door for them) because she wanted to play. Thank God we had a bunny-proof walled garden - and somewhere along the way one of them must have kicked DCat1 because from then on in she just refused to acknowledge their existence. They had a lovely holiday, being regularly let out (and washed!) by DCat2 inspite of my attempts at cat-proofing and rioting round the garden, but I was more than glad to give them back and have never had any desire to have rabbits even though DD and I were talking to some very cute and very well socialised ones the other day.

My bun was absolutely fine with both 4 yo NT dnephew and 6 yo autistic Dniece. He loved going up in the car to visit them and would flollop off under dsil's sofa when he'd had enough and hoover up all the leftover ricecakes

But, with any animal, young children need to be supervised all the time. You never know what hurts an animal who can only tell you something's wrong by lashing out. There's no reason not to help out your neighbour, just know exactly what you're getting into

If it weren't for the likelihood of dp going batshit I'd take a couple myself

Pidj - my Russian Hamsters were fine with aforementioned friend's DS (they hamster sat in exchange for rabbit sitting I may not have mentioned the rioting round the garden bit) - they even went to school for show and tell - but then they were handled, every day, by adults, and were generally sociable little things with a tendency to want to set up home in random shoes. I don't think it was the rabbits at fault, it was the way they were kept.

Pidj - my Russian Hamsters were fine with aforementioned friend's DS (they hamster sat in exchange for rabbit sitting I may not have mentioned the rioting round the garden bit ) . They even went to school for show and tell - but then they were handled, every day, by adults, and were generally sociable little things with a tendency to want to set up home in random shoes . I don't think it was the rabbits at fault, it was the way they were kept.

that's better .

Need sleep.

Yep, housebun never stripped at anything despite joining is age 10weeks and going through puberty with us - which is why the op would be better with older buns; most behaviour problems are hormone related and settle age around a year old with decent socialization.