too many rabbits. please help me.

[missmissi]

Im in bunny hell.

I thought i brought home 2 males in february. Turns out 1 was female and they're older than i was told. She had 12 babies total, we lost 2 tho. Now i have 12 rabbits.

I had an atrium built of 120 sq ft with ramps and i open the doors during the day to give extra room the width of 2 dog fences. And man i give them every toy and treat i see, the best alfalfa, feed and litter i can find. It is obscene what this is costing me, but they are sooooo precious. Oh and when theyre ready for spay and neuter, a low cost clinic, 2 hours from home, is still going to be over $600. Plus renting a cargo van big enough to carry them all or the multiple trips and a hotel/hotels to hang out at while i wait....

None of them want anything to do with me, they run like hell as if i had ever hurt them. Im spending $600 per month caring for them to be ignored? My heart is broken, i am a slave to cleaning their habitat 2 or more hours every day and because of these reasons i have begun to resent them.

Now, theyre fighting, even the girls. I dont have space to separate any more than the 3 boys currently residing inside my home, do you have any idea what that smells like? And the additional time cleaning in my house 2 or 3 times per day and changing out their litter boxes, blankets/towels, rugs and cardboard boxes or some other hidey-hole kind of house, to keep up with the odor of little boys spraying. 2 were badly injured and need medical attention, and papa does not want anything to do, with anybody, any more, even me of course. Hes vicious with them and i doubt he will ever be reintroduced to the herd again. Then he chewed the power cord for the surround sound subwoofer.... Thats why these 3 are inside in solitary, i have no place else to put them. So many crates and fences ive bought, the monthly costs and the $1000 aviary i had built for them, im out of money and cannot buy any more-anything.

Ive called, emailed and filled out online forms for 4 rescue orgs, a sanctuary, the SPCA and 2 nearby shelters. Everybody says they are at capacity and unable to help me, even after I assured them all that i can make whatever donation necessary to take some if not all of these precious wonders. Petfinder.com, rescueme.com and craigslist have attaracted 1 person who wanted them for food and 1 who wants a female to breed - i could not look myself in the mirror if i agreed to those terms of use.
I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO.

My fantasy of a pair of house rabbits napping with my dog on his bed or cuddling with me while i read is shattered. Im just going to go ahead and throw this tidbit of info out there too, im bipolar and disabled, the stress this situation is causing is dangerous for someone like me. Im deeply depressed because i dont know how to 'stop the hemorraging' and get some relief from this level of responsibility and physical demands. I cant take a trip, go on vacation or visit my friend in Seattle to 'get a break' for a little while - because i cant get anybody to do what im doing here to get through the day. DH wants nothing to do with them, he sees what this is doing to me and hes beside himself. I am past the breaking point that this is effecting my health. My marriage is suffering and so strained that we are discussing terms for separation, my husband just wants his living room back and for our house not to smell like boy bunny, and i see no light at the end of the tunnel.

Ive considered putting each one in a crate with small amounts of extra hay, feed and litter and leave each one on a different door step with a nice note explaining that their 'person' loves them very much but can no longer care for them properly and "PLEASE LOVE ME" Until then i continue to stay in bed all day, ignoring them now, wait for the next cleaning, and cram bad foods in my mouth while sitting in the dark.

What would you do? Im begging for an answer. I will do anything, take them anywhere.... Please help.

Desperate In Texas

 

[enola]

Letting them go out in the country is sentencing to a horrible death, either by malnutrition in the winter or a predator killing them.

Not to mention it is animal cruelty to dump animals can land a person in jail.......

 

[Bunnylady]

I'm sorry your rabbit experience has gone so wrong. I'm sure that having those males put down was painful for you (and expensive - unless you are doing it the way that the people who are butchering do it, rabbits are rather hard to euthanize).

You have learned (the hard way, unfortunately) several things that I often try to tell people, but which somehow doesn't quite get across a lot of the time. For starters, rabbits fight; particularly bucks. They aren't really social by nature; that's more of a baby rabbit behavior. As adults, they are territorial, even the does. This behavior usually starts at adolescence, which may begin as early as 10 weeks of age. Spaying/neutering helps, but there are a few that never will get along with other rabbits; they are just too dominant. Some rabbits may live together quite happily, but the key seems to be giving them enough space that they can get away from each other when they feel the need to do so. Each rabbit needs to have its special place(s) where it can kick back and chill - boxes and other structures that give them "cover" and get them out of each others' sight seem to make for much happier groups.

Male rabbits (and some females) spray to mark their territory. Some aren't bad about it, but with others, it's like a hobby. Once again, neutering helps, but some territorial marking is just normal rabbit behavior, and some may never be 100% on using a litter box.

Unless you luck onto a rabbit with a naturally friendly, outgoing nature, you will probably have to put a fair amount of time into taming your rabbit. The more handling they get as babies, the more likely they are to respond positively to people, but we are a tall, towering, predatory presence to them until they learn otherwise, and they will run from us. A cage isn't really a bad thing; it provides a relatively small, secure area where calm. positive interaction can take place. People often tell me that they want their rabbit to free-range in their back yard, and I warn them that securing the fence line is only part of the equation. What I usually say is, "if you turn him loose in the yard, you may never get your hands on him again." These are small prey animals, and it seems like everything eats them; they instinctively know that survival depends on detecting and avoiding threats. The incautious rabbit is lunch! If your rabbits won't let you approach them, maybe they will approach you if you sit quietly among them.

Don't beat yourself up about those rabbits that you have had put down. Your sanity is at stake here; some tough choices will have to be made to get your herd thinned down to a manageable level. I just hope you got the males away from the females early enough; some female rabbits can get pregnant when they are as young as 3 months old. We keep pets for the pleasure they give us, not to become slaves to their needs! Hopefully, you can get this situation under control, and start getting some pleasure out of owning these little fuzzy things.

But mentioning needs, why are you giving these rabbits alfalfa? They really do not need that much protein. Some rabbit feeds are alfalfa-based, but they have other ingredients that balance out the protein levels. Some people believe that alfalfa may be harmful to rabbits; some feed manufacturers even make feeds that don't contain alfalfa to accommodate them. If you are giving these rabbits a pelleted feed, you are most likely meeting their needs as far as protein is concerned. They need hay, yes, but it is for the fiber content - most good quality grass hays will do the job, and they are usually much cheaper than alfalfa.

 

[donrae]

List them on CL again and don't ask what the person plans to do with them. Seriously, if your marriage and mental health are suffering this much, they've got to go NOW. Your husband is a saint, mine would have butchered them already.

 

[Hholly]

I once found a 4H show rabbit by the side of the road, abandoned. It was emaciated, all bones and fur. It was dehydrated. It's fur was matted. It was terrified. It didn't know how to fend for its self. I took it home and found it a home.
Releasing domestic animals into the wild is irresponsible, illegal, and cruel. Humane shelters are there for a reason. Humane euthanasia is kinder than abandonment. Don't take on an animal if you are not prepared to take care of it. They are not disposable. You should have bought a stuffed toy instead.

 

[donrae]

I once found a 4H show rabbit by the side of the road, abandoned. It was emaciated, all bones and fur. It was dehydrated. It's fur was matted. It was terrified. It didn't know how to fend for its self. I took it home and found it a home.
Releasing domestic animals into the wild is irresponsible, illegal, and cruel. Humane shelters are there for a reason. Humane euthanasia is kinder than abandonment. Don't take on an animal if you are not prepared to take care of it. They are not disposable. You should have bought a stuffed toy instead.

Did you actually read the OP's first post? She thought she was bringing home two males. She never intended to be inundated with rabbits. Granted, perhaps more research on sexing could have been done, but there was no malice intended here. It sounds to me like she was more than prepared to care for two pet rabbits, things simply are now out of hand. Your response is inappropriate for this situation.

 

[MissMonty]

I would list them on craigslist or even local facebook groups. There's tons of local groups around me for pets in need of homes. List them there and I wouldn't ask questions either.

Your big problem is they don't really sound all that tame. So you'll have a REALLY hard time finding a pet only home for that many rabbits. If you really want to try to find them a good pet home find some groups on facebook and I'd offer them for free to a good pet home. The problem is that people don't want untame rabbits. Honestly people using them for meat would probably be the most humane way to go. Most kill them humanely and use everything, so they don't waste anything if possible. You could try to look into 4H groups around you but most of them use their rabbits for breeding or meat.

 

[missmissi]

It was dh's comment to leave them, after I said no he said he understood my point and agreed it's not the right thing to do.

Friday I put 4 boys in individual crates with baby blankets and drove to the vet's office. I hugged and kissed and told each that I love them. Auto pilot.

The vet assistants brought the carriers in from my car and to the back of the office. I gave the lady my credit card and told her that I don't want any receipt. I waited in the lobby for 20 minutes when the assistants brought my carriers and told me it was done and assured me they had no discomfort and we're totally at peace when we they handled them. They took the crates to my car, I wanted them in the backseat not the trunk.

I cried hard in the parking lot and could barely see driving home. What have I done? I took the crates out of my car, pulled all the blankets out and sat on my gravel driveway hugging them and later comforted by 3 goats, they laid with me in the gravel I checked the rabbits when I got on our deck and then went to bed.

I'll always question if it was the right thing, how much longer should I wait for someone from the SPCA, one of the 3 rescues, 2 of the shelters, cl, rescueme.com, someone on this website, my friends networking for me, the high school ag dept, the local college ag dept to call me back to say they are now inerested?

Those 4 were the aggressive ones, I was hoping it was just hormones, but maybe not. I had to separate them and was out of space that during the day those 4 were together in a large run but at night the best I could do was 2x2 sections, which was pathetic. Bad storms were coming Friday night and the 4 would have been in mud during the day or they all be in 2x2s til storms passed.

The last 2 boys are inside now. The 6 girls have the whole aviary and the boys are in separate areas and healing from the fights - 1 has a bad ear injury and the littlest one of them all has big slices on his back. They can be neutered in december, so can the girls be spayed. A low cost vet who will alter rabbits is 2 hours away, they'll let me bring 4 at a time, per week. So while each group is in surgery I'll spend the day waiting at a hotel.

I was hoping for another outcome but if they had any discomfort it was only for a second. Much less than if they got into the wrong hands, they were only 4 and 5 months old. I'm going to reevaluate my situation with 8 rabbits here and observe the change. The boys were so messy and took alot of work to clean for. And expenses are going to be half. I'm going to try horse alfalfa, it'll be much cheaper. I can get a 50lb bale for $15 instead of 9 pounds @ $30.

Thank you all for the advice.

 

[Tumbling K]

what type of rabbits are they?

sure wish I was closer, I would take them off your hands.

 

[missmissi]

Mom is Dutch, dad is Havana. I'm an hour east of Dallas. Where are you Bert?