Rabbit questions?

[Aquatic_blue]

I'm severely allergic to Timothy hay. Its dusty too. Orchard grass works best. I don't have any issues with it, and cleaning up regularly will help. Plus lots of air purifiers.

Y'all looking to move? If so, I would wait until you find a place if you think it'll happen soon.
I would go meet the rabbits, and if you really want to get them go for it. You could keep them in the hutches for a while as long as they get time out of the hutch, just temporarily until you can get a better set up.

You could be helping rabbits that would otherwise stay in a hutch the rest of their lives. If you don't think it'll work out though I would wait to get rabbits until you're ready.

Go meet them though, and see what you think.

Will definitely look into orchard grass as an option. Unfortunately, air purifiers aren't something we have had in quite a while since we haven't had furry animals in the house for a while. Although, they are definitely nice to have either way - pets or no pets.

Well, I suppose "right now" and "soon" is more of my hope than reality. Reality...we have quite a few more years on our mortgage so it probably isn't happening as soon as we would like. I just keep an eye on land listings and stuff in case we find something that would be doable to pay on top of our mortgage, but we haven't seen anything that way yet. We're probably going to have to wait until tax time to gather an acceptable down payment. It will be a while. I honestly wish it were sooner, but that's how life rolls sometimes. If it were a lot sooner like in my dreams (haha) then I'd definitely be holding off. We've moved too many times to know how much work that entails, especially with animals.

We plan to go meet and greet tomorrow. Still uncertain about a lot of details, but we will get answers tomorrow to see if this is doable or not.

Yeah, if we did hutches outside like we were thinking, I'm definitely not leaving them in there all day. I wouldn't even do that to my chickens so I'm not doing it for rabbits - they need a safe, secure place to run.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Hello, I hope your meet and greet goes well! I read the thread and it looks like you are getting great help. I just wanted to add, since you said you were very worried about biting, that usually rabbits won't bite. It really depends on each rabbit and what their personality is. And you said your friend socializes with them in the mornings and evenings, so that supports the idea that they wouldn't be as aggressive if at all.

My one rabbit will nip, but he's only bitten me hard once or twice--and usually 'hard' is only hard enough to draw a little blood. He's always been a grouchy rabbit, though--he growls too lol. I have had two other rabbits with him; both are (well, one had to be put down, so were...) super sweet and have never bitten or even nipped me once.

So I wouldn't be as worried about biting, honestly. If anything, like someone else mentioned, I'd be more wary about the kicking. Even friendly pet bunnies can kick hard--the scratches can range from minor to drawing blood depending on how bad you get it. In my experience, even a sweet and docile rabbit still doesn't like to be picked up much, and can kick very hard when put back in the cage. I find mine mostly kick when they are taken to and from their cage, so they don't always kick when held. But it is also fairly easy to avoid their nails, so when I handle my rabbits I normally don't get scratched. So kicking is a concern, yes, but it isn't a huge concern because if you careful you shouldn't get scratched much. At least with pet rabbits that are socialized.

 

[Bunnylady]

Having kept and bred rabbits for over 30 years, my observations may be at odds with some of the opinions offered here. It is quite possible to have very friendly rabbits that live in hutches. Right now, I have several rabbits that I have to pet before I can feed them, because they park themselves in front of their doors and I feel like a heel if I just push past them, dump food in their feeders, and shut the doors in their faces without at least giving them a little attention first. I have rehomed some breeders to pet homes after a couple of litters because they were sweet bunnies, and I felt they deserved more attention than I could give them. On the flip side of that, my daughter has two rabbits that have free run of her room, that absolutely hate being petted. They'll take treats from your fingers, but, no pets! In the "nature vs nurture" debate, I go pretty solidly on the side of "nature;" I think a lot of the personality of a rabbit is inherited from their parents. Some rabbits are born outgoing and are just waiting to become people-oriented, while others just aren't ever going there. Certainly, handling helps to shape the animal's behavior, but they aren't total blank slates. People who breed rabbits for meat usually focus on things that make rabbits good producers when choosing breeding animals, rather than personality, so you are less likely to run into the really outgoing personality in a meat herd, but that doesn't mean they are all hopelessly obnoxious. I think your meet-and-greet will give you a good idea of whether these two rabbits will work for your family.

Mostly, I've worked with "pet" breeds, and one of the things I have told people is, "a rabbit can be anything from an animal that lives in the back yard that you feed once a day, to a member of the family; it's up to you." As I've said, some rabbits aren't that interactive, but some are. Some, no matter what you do, will seem to spend 99% of their time just sitting in one spot, only moving from it to eat, drink, poop, or pee. However large a space you allow a rabbit to have, don't be surprised if you never see it running around (this is especially true of older animals). Rabbits are small prey animals, so keeping a low profile is instinctive - spending most of their time hiding in some small, dark space is normal behavior for the species.

I have to admit, I have met a few rabbits that were genuinely vicious (very few, compared to the number I have met or heard of!). There's a scar on my wrist that has been there for about 20 years from the bite of one such animal. A friend of mine has a similar scar on her ankle from a rabbit she had free-ranging in her yard. We had raised the respective rabbits, so we knew what kind of handling they had had; it was no different from the countless good-natured rabbits we had dealt with, so I feel safe in saying that these guys were just bad actors. These were attacks from animals that meant business, and that kind of dedicated ferocity is pretty rare in a prey animal! As others have said, most rabbits don't bite, that's an aggressive act, and most rabbits aren't that aggressive. Most rabbits don't like being picked up, so getting scratched as the rabbit struggles to free itself is a very common injury. There are ways of picking rabbits up that minimize the risk of getting scratched, but not picking the rabbit up unless absolutely necessary is a good policy (particularly for children, since getting dropped from even a few feet above the floor can result in a permanent spinal injury for a rabbit).

 

[BGcoop]

I agree that the scratching is a much much bigger risk than biting. I have had rabbits (for meat production) for about three years, due to them being meat producers I do not get overly friendly with mine since that makes the deed that much harder, but even without extra socialization I have only been maybe once while handling a pregnant doe. I say maybe because it was such a light nip I had to think for a moment about what I had actually felt! I’m pretty sure it surprised the rabbit that did it just as much as it surprised me. I have even nursed the wounds of a rabbit with horrible cystic mastitis without so much as a nip- however those nursing encounters left me looking like I had had a fight with a gang of razor blades and lost!
All that being said, as a kid I do remember a friend who had a pet rabbit that would bite ALL THE TIME, and yes it hurt like crazy, so do your meet and greet and get to know the personalities of these particular bunnies. Good luck!!

 

[HorsesRMe123]

Hello!
I recommend spaying them for sure if they aren’t spayed. For a while, I let my does and bucks go unfixed for a bit when I didn’t know you should fix them. Thankfully I didn’t house them together lol. But I did breed them a couple times. But I would definitely spay them because one of our does was aggressive, she circled, bit me a few times (and let me tell you, it pinched and it breaks the skin for sure!), she growled (yes, rabbits can growl), and would lunge out. We were thinking of getting rid of her, but I was determined to keep her. So Fluffy got spayed and after that, she never bit, lunged, circled, growled, or grunted again. It’s not just for a better bunny, but it’s also for a healthier bunny to get them spayed. Unfixed female rabbits, by the age of 5, have an 80% chance of getting uterine cancer which increases each year. Fluffy lived until 7 and was much happier after being spayed!

Also, I really recommend housing them inside if you’re going to get them. Otherwise I would let someone else adopt them and be able to house them indoors. Housing outside makes it so you aren’t as involved with your rabbit, more difficult to clean, higher risk of heat stroke, sore hocks (in a hutch with mesh), mites, respiratory issues (for example, breathing in smokes from fires all the time) and just less healthy overall. But, if you do happen to have to house them outside, I recommend bringing them inside when conditions outside are dangerous like a really bad wind storm, smoke from fires, extreme heat or cold.

Rabbits are also not children’s pets. So if children want to pick up and cuddle them, the rabbits will not enjoy it. Rabbits prefer to be on the ground because that’s where they feel secure. But, just because they aren’t children’s pets, it doesn’t mean you can’t have them! You just have to supervise and make sure the rabbits aren’t uncomfortable.

I hope the best for you and your possible new additions to the family!!

 

[Aquatic_blue]

Hello, I hope your meet and greet goes well! I read the thread and it looks like you are getting great help. I just wanted to add, since you said you were very worried about biting, that usually rabbits won't bite. It really depends on each rabbit and what their personality is. And you said your friend socializes with them in the mornings and evenings, so that supports the idea that they wouldn't be as aggressive if at all.

My one rabbit will nip, but he's only bitten me hard once or twice--and usually 'hard' is only hard enough to draw a little blood. He's always been a grouchy rabbit, though--he growls too lol. I have had two other rabbits with him; both are (well, one had to be put down, so were...) super sweet and have never bitten or even nipped me once.

So I wouldn't be as worried about biting, honestly. If anything, like someone else mentioned, I'd be more wary about the kicking. Even friendly pet bunnies can kick hard--the scratches can range from minor to drawing blood depending on how bad you get it. In my experience, even a sweet and docile rabbit still doesn't like to be picked up much, and can kick very hard when put back in the cage. I find mine mostly kick when they are taken to and from their cage, so they don't always kick when held. But it is also fairly easy to avoid their nails, so when I handle my rabbits I normally don't get scratched. So kicking is a concern, yes, but it isn't a huge concern because if you careful you shouldn't get scratched much. At least with pet rabbits that are socialized.

That's great to know that rabbits don't usually bite.

I have never heard a rabbit growl, but I found it on a "bunny body language" video. It was kind of funny, and I never knew they could do that!

Definitely figured that bunnies wouldn't be a carry around everywhere type of pet, it seems a lot of rabbit videos on YouTube mention this, they are more of the come to you and get pets and treats and that's okay, but takes kids time to understand.

Good information, thanks!

I'm kind of bummed for the kids (we didn't tell them we might take the rabbits home because we don't need that fit), but we got up this morning and went over there and my husband realized he didn't have the address. He messaged her to get it and she never got back. We were supposed to meet her 5 hours ago, we went back home after 30 minutes of no response. She still hasn't responded. No word from her, we're kind of concerned.

 

[Aquatic_blue]

I agree that the scratching is a much much bigger risk than biting. I have had rabbits (for meat production) for about three years, due to them being meat producers I do not get overly friendly with mine since that makes the deed that much harder, but even without extra socialization I have only been maybe once while handling a pregnant doe. I say maybe because it was such a light nip I had to think for a moment about what I had actually felt! I’m pretty sure it surprised the rabbit that did it just as much as it surprised me. I have even nursed the wounds of a rabbit with horrible cystic mastitis without so much as a nip- however those nursing encounters left me looking like I had had a fight with a gang of razor blades and lost!
All that being said, as a kid I do remember a friend who had a pet rabbit that would bite ALL THE TIME, and yes it hurt like crazy, so do your meet and greet and get to know the personalities of these particular bunnies. Good luck!!

Glad to know...kind of reminds me a bit of cats - the biting is never as bad as the scratching. It's good to know, though!

 

[HillGuy]

Cut resistant sleeves work wonders against the scratching problem. I prefer the ones that have the thumb hole.

 

[EverythingDucks]

Any news?

 

[Aquatic_blue]

Any news?

Well, we finally heard from her today (4 days later...whew). It seems that she went back to the house that her and her ex used to share and he kind of took control over it (she's living elsewhere at the moment), he freaked out on her and said she's not having people over there and whatever and she's been trying to find a solution because he's pretty adamant about keeping her and anyone she knows away. She's currently trying to work out a solution so we can meet the rabbits, but she can't take them where she's living at the moment.

She is tempted to just bring them over, but then there's no meet and greet and that just makes me nervous. Not sure how to deal with that idea at the moment...thinking...