I just bought two young dwarf rabbits 2 days ago.
I have them in a birdcage right now (a big one for a cockatiel) that’s sitting on the floor with 2 pet corrals connected around it so they can climb in and out of the food dish slots (no dishes in there). I bought them some gourmet rabbit pellet/food mixture, alfalfa and timothy hay, some yogurt treats, a water bottle and some bedding from newspaper pulp.
In the corral, I put a baby key toy, wadded up newspaper, an empty pill bottle that they can’t get open and I put a few coffee beans in for it to rattle, and a shoe box with one side cut out. I also had a toy for the cockatiel that she never liked so gave that to the bunnies to play with. I’m going to make a vet appointment tomorrow for a check up. They’re only about 2 months old so they’re not old enough to litter train and still too young to have neutered. My question is, am I missing anything? I’ll get a book when I go to the vets but I want to keep them happy and healthy.
I didn’t have enough room to explain that well. . I am keeping the rabbit’s indoors. The cage sits inside a large area where I have two pet corral’s connected and the toy’s and paper are inside the corral (outside the cage). The whole contraption takes up about 1/3 of my kitchen and the bunnies are about the size of my hand so it appears they have plenty of play room. I will get a better cage for them when I find what I’m looking for. All I’ve seen are either too small in my opinion or they have wire bottoms and I won’t put them in there. I took the wire bottom out of the birdcage. I’ve tried giving them a bit of romaine lettuce, carrots and celery tops but they’ve never had it so aren’t interested yet. I only give them 2 yogurt treats per day and they usually play with them lol. There’s no other animals except 2 parakeets and a cockatiel so they’re safe from other animals hurting them.
So far no biting but they do like to lick a lot!
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you may want to get a real rabbit cage but you sound like your going to spoil your new bunnies. good job!
toss out the plastic toys and yogurt treats. plastic and animal products aren’t safe for rabbits. stock up on lots of leafy green veggies, feed them less pellets, and give them lots of fresh water. get a bigger habitat, so that there is room for a litter box and play space. they will need a small confined space to protect them from predators and to sleep in.
make sure to get them neutered at the vet appointment. cardboard boxes, toilet paper tubes, and wadded up bits of newspaper make good toys. when they play, they make a growling sound and they love to bit humans cuz of our salty taste.
Rabbits are big chewers, so I would ditch any plastic toy and substitute it for some wood toys. Old bird toys – made of wood, of course – work wonderful, or my rabbit used to like to chew pieces of our orange tree that we had trimmed off for her. Also, try feeding as much timothy hay as you can, and only use the alfalfa as a treat. Alfalfa hay is very rich in protein, and too much causes problems. You want to free feed the timothy hay, and then pellets once every day as a supplement. For my rabbit (who was about 3 lbs as an adult) we gave her about 1/2 cup 1x/day on top of about a handful of hay, just make sure that there is always hay available. Plus, you can start the litter box training right now. Just provide a litter box, and clean it daily, and the rabbits pretty much will train themselves. I would also think about investing in a larger cage for them. Especially if you are planning to keep them together. And I would DEFINITELY spay/neuter them. My last rabbit lived to be about 9 years old and by keeping her on a primarily timothy hay diet as well as letting her run in our back yard at least once a week and around the house almost every day.
I hope that this helps. And good luck!
It’s good to see that you gave gone to so much trouble for these rabbits as it shows you care. I hope that the cage was cheaned properly after the birds were taken out so the rabbits don’t get any germs. Also they may like treats once in a while like a carrot once a week and lettuce or grass occassionally (but not too much as it will make them go too much). Tell the vet what you have told us, read the book and everything should be fine. Oh, also, rabbits like to chew through everything so be very careful in what you give them.
ok well first thing- they may need a salt lick (not a huge deal but that is why they are licking, getting the salt from your hands). for rabbit cages I would try contacting Bass equipment and supply, if you have a dealer near you you can buy a cage with no bottom and just attach a tray to the botom. Make sure they get their nails clipped and have the vet check their sex (so you don’t accidently have a boy and a girl). If there is the possibility of any problems with breeding or aggression- get one fixed that usually solves the problem.
Oh and very important- take away the bird toys and sanitize the heck out of them! Even the slightest hint of Salmonella can poison your furry friends and end their very pampered lives. Other than that I would just watch their diet and make sure you don’t feed them alfalfa based food with alfalfa hay, it will give them too much Iron and will make them uncomfortable and they will pee red. But timothy hay is best for them if your food is alfalfa based like most are.
I think you thought of pretty much everything, they will do fine but they may start to think they own the place!! LOL!