new rabbit owner... advice please!

[ack123]

www.arba.net go to the faq link in the upper right. If you ask them they may be able to give you a list of good rabbit breeders in your area.

Sometimes ground cages are not the best thing to use. It puts the rabbit at risk for picking up parasites. Plus they can dig out. your best bet would to be to house the rabbit indoors somewhere in a wire hutch. Those are much easier to clean. You can always provide a mat for them to sit on if you want to.

I agree about going to a breeder over tsc. Our local tsc does see to take some interest in the health and welfare of their rabbits. The guy they are getting them from is very shadey. I would say do not buy unless they are purebred healthy animals from a good breeder.

You also want to find a breeder that breeds for temperment since the bunny will be a pet for your son. Because some rabbits can be really nasty when they get older, and they will bite. And some do not breed for good temperment.

 

[ducks4you]

AGREED, ladycrotalus. I didn't mean to exclude rabbit breeders. Forgot to mention the toxicity of cedar bedding. The pics above are of a 4' wide x 3' deep x 2 1/2' high (sloping roof) standard style hutch made from pine 2x4's and 1/8" hardware cloth floor, with 1/4" hardware cloth sides. It's probably about 20 some years old, and I have 4 coats of paint on it (for the chicken that used to live in it, 'cause chickens don't chew wood!

)
NEVER used "Stall Dry" or "Equine Fresh" (or equivalent) until this winter, for my gelding (who floods his stall.) Any bunny people know if there's a problem with using it in the rabbit bedding? I know that it REALLY cuts the ammonia.

BTW, after we moved out to the country (2000) we took in 2 rabbits that needing rehoming. Two of my DD's claimed them, then forgot about them. They were 12 and 18 years old, respectively, when we took in the rabbits. I took care of them until they got old, sick and died (7 years of care.)
RIP, Foo Foo and Huxley.

(they are lovingly buried in our pet cemetary)
I have now sworn off of rabbits because I'm way too busy with my horses, chickens and gardening.