New to Rabbits......... have ????? need answers

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tressiah

tressiah

In the Brooder
11 Years
Jul 28, 2008
73
0
29
Beecher, Il
OK, so I go to the livestock auction over in Lowell, IN, looking for ducks, and found Indian Runners(5) mixed with GKW Latte, Cappichino, Frappichino,Mocha & Expresso, Beautiful Colors,
Nevertheless,
here are these bunnies, and I just couldn't help myself, I come with 4, a lionhead, a plush, a something else,Black/white, & the last one looks like the wild cousins. The plush bites & grunts, and humps the others. They are SUPPOSEDLY all female. have rabbit chow, supplement with fresh fruit & veges. Kept in a cage, (large) on wheels in @ night, porch during the day
I can't stand the smell! Now, I am a nurse, have a strong stomach, but this is HORRIBLE!!
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Is the pee supposed to be brown? I use cat litter in the bottom trays to keep the scent down, changed every 2 days, of course the kids love 'em, so now what ?
 
Well I've had rabbits now for 3 years. I also have a lionhead, she is so cute! I also just got a female Holland Lop to replace my old man (neutered) Holland Lop.

My female lionhead would hump the old man..I guess to show him what to do. She was baffeled that he had no "drive".

I just rechecked her to make double dog sure she was a "she" before I put this confirmed new female doe in with her. Well, she is definitely a girl too.

I can't explain the female humping thing, sorry. But my female lionhead also grunts too, kind of sounds like growling.

Their urine can be strong as it is pretty consentrated stuff. Not sure if my rabbits have brown urine. They freerange outside in a large pen, so I don't know.

Good luck! Oh, lionheads can be hyper because they are part dwarf, that is what I was told because Sasha is a wild child!
 
Females will hump and growl and bite when they are wanting to be bred, and in the process will even take turns humping their partner. LOL


Now, the smell, does don't have a bad urine smell, now the bucks do....it kind of SMELLS (oops i mean sounds
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) like you may have a buck.


Unaltered does (females) can be really nasty rabbits as "pets"
 
Were the four buns all together, or did you purchase them all seperately at the auction and put them all together?

How large is your cage? I can keep two Lionheads together in about a 24 x24 cage, or some of my slightly smaller Jr grow out cages. Any more and they're going to fight to establish dominance. If the buns you just got were not raised together and are not babies, yup, they'll fight if you toss them all together in a cage.

Next, I'd STRONGLY suggest you sex the buns. Odds that you picked up 4 females at auction, errrr, probably not good.
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There are some good sites online that tell you how to sex them. If you've got a male in there, then your females are all bred, and you'll need nestboxes for 30 days from now and a cage for each pregnant female, although I have a pair of sister Rex now, their brother bred both of them before they got seperated. One lost her litter, the other one had 12. They're both feeding the litter, but I've also had the dominant doe kill the other does litter!

You can use shavings in the pan, or Stall Dry or wood pellets. That should keep the odor down too.

If you're feeding fresh greens, make sure you only give them a small bit to start with until they get used to it. You don't want to give them poop butt!
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Dark leafy greens are good, as well as Dandelion greens, strawberry leaves. No celery or iceberg lettuce.

And welcome to the world of rabbits!
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Rabbits can be easily litter trained. I would switch out the cat litter to either Care fresh, Cell sorb, Yesterdays news, or aspen bedding. I use aspen for my rabbits and i scoop the litter corner daily and clean the cages weekly. I also feed lots of timothy hay aswell as a good quality plain rabbit pellet. Also you should seperate the rabbits. If rabbits arent raised together and arent fixed, they can be very territorial and can do quite a bit of damage.
 
We have found that adding 1/2 tsp of vanilla to their 16 oz water bottle everyday has nearly eliminate the smell for us. We use pine shavings on the tray and the urine/poop drops through, but we can go much longer without changing the litter now. It took about 3 or 4 days to see a huge difference. An old breeder told us this. It's what he does and he has over 100 rabbits. I've been to his place. It works well for him, too.

As for the humping, well, I've been told they will all do it. But I'd agree that the odds that of all those bunnies being female are not good if purchased at auction. Bunnies who have been bred and continue to stay with the male will sometimes kill him in frustration at his continued advances. I'd say have them sexed ASAP just to be sure.

Also, if the bunnies were together before purchase, you may need nest boxes before the 30 day mark, even if you have no males. It's happened more than once that people sale bunnies who've all been lumped together to bring to a sale... And rabbits breed in seconds, not minutes... Most bunnies don't give marked signs of impending birth until just right before, from what I've seen.

Anyway, enjoy your babies! Rabbits really can be so enjoyable. Once you get the smell down.
 
I have 4 rabbits right now on a very small porch, all in hucthes. 3 are bucks, one is nuetered. My bucks do have an odor, don't get me wrong, but it is by no means HORRIBLE. It is a light smell that is barely there and I only dump my cage pans once a week.
Colored urine is normal. Rabbits can even pee bright red or rust coloured and it's not blood, it comes from usually eating too much greens.
My bucks urine is almost always brown, and guess what? They can spray like a cat too!

I would definately give them nest boxes and sex your bunnies again, quickly! I agree that your chances of getting 4 does at an auction are slim.
 
Hi. Rabbits can have a strong urine smell. To help with that we have given ours Purina Advanced Show Nutrition Formula and we also put cedar shavings in their pull out trays. They keep the odor down and also help with flies.
I would also suggest like everyone else, to sex the bunnies. A friend of mine bought a pedigreed bun from someone and was told it was a doe. Well she named her Wilamena. Come to find out Wilamena ended up being a Winston.
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When you look at the vent area you will either see a slit (doe) or a circle (buck).
As said in a previous post females can and will hump each other. I find this is the case when they are wanting to breed but for ours that passes. They will grunt, growl and charge at you but that is something that generally passes.
Good luck! It sounds like you'll have your hands full.
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Thanks for all the advice !
I am off to work now, and will do the sex check this afternoon when I get home.
They do eat a lot of green beans, apples, and I cchange the litter every other day
the plush is the more agressive, pushes the others around, and hogs the chow.
I will keep everyone updated
Thnaks again
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