Help with Rabbit.

[horseshoe]

I have just taken in a lopped ear rabbit who is 18 months old.

The trouble is....A) His cage is far too small as he is fairly big
b) He has not be handled much and is therefore very shy
c)He has not been neutured.

My original plan was to keep him as a house rabbit and only have him in his cage whilst we were out but I'm worried that at 18 months it's now too late to change him from a garden rabbit into a house rabbit. Also I was gonna leave him a couple of days before handling him as I tried yesterday and he got stressed.

Should I just leave him be and buy a run for the garden or should I persevere. Also would it be beneficial to get him a "friend" and if so a GP or a rabbit?

Hi there we have a large bunny too, his cage is 4ft long. But he gets the run of the garden and when we bring him into the house he does use his litter tray. I,m not too sure if you are late to introducing him to being a house bunny as our bunny was 10weeks old when we got him and he is now 14mnths. Does your bunny use one corner of his cage to soil in ?

TBH he does and I let him run around my living room yesterday and he was well behaved.....

He can't even stand up in his cage ATM bless him.

I have a large outhouse on the side of my house and I'm thinking about devoting the whole of that into a run.

Also he has a large V shaped bald patch on his back and I have been told it is where he is molting but I am unsure if they molt in this way!

Yeah sounds as if he def needs a bigger cage. Not sure of the hair thing would get him checked at the vet incase of fleas or skin mainge (sp?) Usually when they soil one corner of the cage you can slip in a corner litter tray which you can get at the pet shops and fill it with saw dust and they use this when in the house too just transfer it anytime you take him indoors. BEWARE rabbits love nothing better than to chew wires we have had our telephone cut off as he chomped through it and we had to renew all the wires connecting our computer as he nibbled them too!

DH's family all bred rabbit for hobbies. Him and his brothers got into a lot of trouble when the bunnies came in the house as at least one electrical thing needed fixed due to cable chewing.
The rabbit may get less stressed if he had more contact with people, eg, have him in the house with you, stroke him when he's sitting on the floor. It may take a while but he might get accustomed to you.

Any other thoughts on how to housetrain a v. young rabbit? Ours lives out in a goodsize cage, with an attached outdoor run. I bring him in every morning when two dd are in the playroom. He does always do his business in the same place in his outdoor cage, but that corner is the one exposed to the elements so tough to put a litter tray in there...or not? When in house, has currently taken to pooing on the sofa, which is definitely not acceptable. Help!

kaelle rabbits tend to poo where they eat so you could putting a litter tray in a different corner with some food by it and some of the soiled litter from the are they use now. I haven't tried it but that's what our rabbit book says

Horseshoe rabbits need to be handled every day so if they are ill the vet can deal with it. The outhouse sounds ideal and if you sit on a low stool (we use a toilet training step ) the rabbit may come on your lap. It is better to let a nervous rabbit come to you. Ours jumps up when offered a dandelion leaf or long stemmed grass. Fur tends to be thin at the back of the neck and easily rubbed off but ours doesn't molt like that. They scraped the fur off when they had ear mite though, lops are more likely than other rabbits to get ear problems.

Rabbits are social creatures and need either a friend or lots of attention. Don't try and get a male rabbit a friend until 4 weeks after neutering. They will fight unless introduced carefully. Get a female rabbit and you'll have too many to cope with! The RSPCA badly need homes for rabbits. Guinea pigs can be attacked and hurt badly by rabbits, RSPCA says don't keep them together although many people do.