A Pet Rabbit.

We currently have a pet rabbit that we have had for about a year. I did alot of research when I found out my husband was bringing it home. Anyway the internet has TONS of information but I'll try to give a little information here: you can buy bags of pet rabbit food, treats, & timothy hay at Walmart. Keep the hay and water out where they can get to it all the time. We feed food 1x a day - in the evening and I give him treats then also. Any of the pet stores have rabbit cages with water bottles & hay feeders. We got the largest available at that time. (I am assuming this will be an indoor rabbit ? If it's outdoors you will need a hutch - not sure where to find those.) I use large pine chips in his cage. Not supposed to be the best for them but it's the cheapest. You will need to clean out the cage at least 1x or more a week. They can get to smelling really bad ! Lettuce, green peppers, cilantro, parsely, radishes, celery are all good. Carrots are a treat for them. Don't feed tomatoes or any citrus stuff. There's other stuff but this is what we typically have on hand. Oh - bunnies LOVE LOVE LOVE to chew on the plastice over electrical cords. We replaced many computer cables & lamp cords. PetCo has some clear cord covers you can put over that they don't like. That has saved my TV cords. Well worth buying. Oh - PetCo has some information on rabbits also. Sorry this is so long but I hope it's helped some. Other than the chewing, my bunny is really not a problem and one of the easier pets I've had. If you need/want more info or ask questions - feel free to IM me.

We had a rabbit for 8 yrs. He died this past July. His name....was Easter because we got him in March one year (pre Easter)

He was the meanest animal we have ever had. Beautiful rabbit, all white, Californian. We "rescued " him from a rabbit sanctuary in Garland. He was "free" but after 2 interviews and purchasing the "required" supplies, he was around $200.

We had a large cage that he stayed in. A litter box was on 1 side. Water bottle hooked up for fresh water. This rabbit ate anything given to him, even dogfood. I did give him greens, veggies, I grew cilantro and parsley for him and I purchased Timothy Hay at Target for him.

Easter was very good with our daughter, however, I was the one who cared for him. It is not easy, it is smelly, and hubby and I kept Benadryl in business because he made us sneeze. He bit and scratched at everyone except daughter, especially when i would put food in his cage. He would grab it.

I changed the litter box every other day AT LEAST because it will stink. I used regular cat litter. I kept about 4 litter boxes on hand so 1 would always be clean and ready to trade out. After filling with litter, I would put Timothy Hay on top of the litter. He LOVED that.

They jump around a lot and will make messes. Our sprayed the side of the cage with urine and that was not fun to clean up. Our cage had a solid bottom that would pull out to clean. I took the cage apart often and cleaned it out really well.

We had a gated "safe" area outside where we would let him run and get exercise. Be careful about letting him run in the house...they LOVE to chew on wires. He loved chewing the grass. I would place him in a grassy area and he loved it. It is important for him to have some safe running time. It is funny to watch because he jumped straight up and turned around and would take off. He did get loose outside a couple of times and that was not fun finding him. We always found him in the flower beds with the shrubs.

Overall, he was a healthy rabbit. We are not sure how old he was when we got him but they say the life span is 8-10 yrs. He was fine one afternoon in July, daughter played with him, etc. The next morning when I went to change the water and check on him, he was dead. He had not been gone long, we could tell. Tooth Acres took care of him for us and he now joins our other beloved pets in a cedar box with a picture and rose beside him.

Good luck!

Dear J.,

I would advise against getting a child a live rabbit for Easter. Rabbits are a big pain and most children cannot care for them properly. I have owned them for about 15 years now. If kept outside in Texas they can die from the heat very easily. They can be litter box trained for inside the house but may chew on furniture and electric cords. If they are left to run around loose in the yard they can get killed by a bird of prey. Foxes will dig under your fence to get to one.

If you REALLY insist on getting one, call Diana ###-###-#### at Rabbit Rescue in Denton. She has over 100 abandoned bunnies that need to be adopted. She can tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about bunnies.

Food: Petsmart sells rabbit chow. They also need Timothy Hay and fresh greens. Rabbits are social animals and like to be around other rabbits. A responsible rabbit owner should always have their bunny spayed or neutered.

Go to a feed supply store or wherever you got the rabbit. They have food pellets like dog food and vitamins. You also need to take it to the vet for an initial check up and whatever shots it may need. You can train them to use a litter box if they are indoor pets. Just look that up on the internet.

GL!

I had 2 Dutch Miniatures when I was young, they are the black and white bunnies... they were AWESOME! They were potty trained in a litter box and they ate the pellets and greens. They also had a little round salt lick that had vitamins in it that I tied to their nighttime cage.

I would also highly recommend the cord protectors if you let them run around your house. Our bigger bunny (his name was Tiny) got electrocuted on the television. He lived through it but it singed his whiskers :-)
We also had them both declawed and neutered.

Have fun, they are very nice pets. Tiny lived 12 years and Squirt lived about 8 years.

E.

WHen I was little we had rabbits and they died. I was told it was because we put their pen against a building and the air sould not circulate. I have no idea if this is true or not.