Bunny Experts Needed

[thechickenman]

hello all you bunny experts and everyone else who knows anything about bunnys.

i am getting two bunnys on saturday or sunday.
i am wondering what a bunny rabbit needs in their cage to make them happy. their cage is attached to the coop. so its outside not inside.

thanks.

oh and P.S. i am also wondering if you could post pics of your bunnys.

i love bunnys.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

The basics are a water bottle, food dish or gravity feeder, and either a hay manger that hooks to the side or even just a show box or small litter box to toss their hay into.
Hay should be the primary diet for rabbits, not the pellets. Alfalfa hay only for baby buns or pregnant/nursing does.
Timothy based pellets... If you have a Tractor Supply near you they have a couple of good rabbit feeds, Dumour Show is the one I fed another brand, something Pro for a long time too. If you don't have a TSC, look for Sweet Meadow Farm bunny pellets, they are GREAT!
Don't buy the small bags of hay from the pet store or TSC, you'll get ripped off. Go buy a bale, they'll eat it.
Everyone else gets timothy or grass mix.
The can eat dandylions (not sprayed with anything of course!), grass, apple tree sticks and branches, etc.
No pesticides on anything.
My little Holland Lop gets 1/4 cup of pellets per day and free choice hay. My large French Angora gets 1/2 cup of pellets and free choice hay. My Angora also gets some banana and papaya weekly to keep things moving in his digestive track since he's so furry.
Unless they are long haired bunnies they don't need to be groomed really.
An outdoor hutch is fine as long as they have someway to get out of the elements.
What kind of buns are you getting? Any specific questions?

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Also, if the cage floor is wire you might want to prodive a grass mat or plastic mat for relief from standing on the wire. Some rabbits can get sore feet from standing on wire all the time.
They love to chew on stuff. When my Holland was a house rabbit (he's nuetered and litter box trained and now lives in the house when it's cold and outside on a covered porch when it's nice) we would give him untreated wicker baskets stuffed with hay, toilet paper and paper towel tubes stuffed with hay, large kitty jingle balls (they will push them around), baby keys (they will toss them), etc. Cement pillar forming tubes from the hardware store make great rabbit tunnels and they are cheap.

 

[hen-thusiast]

If you have access to fruit trees, they LOVE apple branches. It gives them something to do and keeps their teeth short. If you can't get apple branches, try untreated wicker baskets and the like (like what PineBurrowPeeps suggested) Good luck!

 

[gypsy2621]

Quote:
This is not true.
If feeding a balanced pelleted diet there is no need for hay.
Hay is given to keep them from being bored, help with teeth. and to keep a gut moving. Pet rabbits have a whole different diet than production rabbits. and should be fed as such.
too many times people have fed a hay based diet and ended up with sick rabbits, ( under weight, malnouriished etc)
Dumor brand of feed from Tractor Supply is nothing more than low end Purina feed.
Manna Gro is expensive to feed for 2 rabbits , only sold in 50# bags, 2 rabbits wouldnt finish a bag before it went stale or moldy.
Manna Pro puts out a decent feed sold in most Walmarts called "Small World" comes in 10 lb bags.
hope this helps.

 

[thechickenman]

thanks everyone.that helps alot.

 

[CowRabbit]

Here's a picture of my bunny Tofu in her pen.

She a spoiled little house rabbit. I fill her litter box with timothy / oak hay and she gets oxbow pellets. I used to let her run in the chicken coop when the chickens were just chicks, but they're a lot bigger than her now!


What kind of bunnies are you getting?

Edit: Opps wrong picture!

 

[thechickenman]

im not sure what kind of bunnies to get yet. its so hard to pick one. there all very cute. i know it wont be a long haired breed though. i dont really like them but i like most shorthaired.

 

[cutiepieacres]

I agree that they should get a quality pellet, the small world at walmart is a good choice, Mazuri is also sold at most petsmarts and some even have Oxbow brand now.

With only 2 bunnies, I would buy in smaller bags and not full bales of hay as 2 bunnies eat so little that even if you can keep it from molding the nutritional content is lost in the amount of time it will take to eat that much.

A good grass hay offered on an unlimited basis along with the pellets is a good way to go. Bunnies can also get used to a small amount of veggies and an even smaller amount of fruit as a treat a few times a week, start slow though.

Get a litter box to litter train as this makes it easier in the long run for pets, Just set the litter box filled with bedding in the corner the normally go in if you can get a handfull of dirty shavings from their potty corner set those in the litter box the first few times so they understand where they potty box is. Most bunnies get it right off the bat and are super easy to box train.

Good Luck, bunnies are great pets! I personally would get a small mix breed bunny as a choice for a pet.

 

[thechickenman]

thanks cutiepieacres. that helps. i think im gonna get a mixed breed.
this may be a dumb question but the hay i give my horses will that be good enough to give to the bunnies. we have it to the horses in the winter. does that mean all the nutritional value is gone?

if so where can i find some good hay?
could i go and pick some grass out in my field that people harvest and let it dry out.

sorry for the dumb question but i dont know.