Any of you own a Bunny Rabbit? Need tips please!

[rkmontana]

Hi Everybody,
Over Easter holiday at one of the local feed stores my son and wife fell in love with one of the bunnies they were selling and letting the kids pet, etc. Bunny so far has been cute, and pretty low maintenance - but I need to get him into a permanent spot in our house or yard. Currently he is hanging out in our living room in a medium size dog cage. I purchased a larger cage off of Amazon for $85 (that's about 46x22x24).

My question is - for those of you who have experience with rabbits - is in Houston are they better to keep cage/hutch indoors (and let them out to run around in backyard every now and then, etc)? Or are they better to keep cage/hutch in backyard? I have read in back yard they are susceptible to predators, and the heat will be too much for them? I really don't have a issue keeping ours indoors - but if I do is a cage 46x22x24 big enough for one rabbit to live in? Is there another cage/hutch out there that would be a better option that you recommend? Or do you think its best to head to Lowes/Home Depot and build my own cage/hutch for the rabbit?

Basically I don't have a clue about rabbits - but I do want to provide our new pet a happy and safe home.....so looking for advice as well as maybe some pictures of what you all have done and used for your rabbits? Attached are pictures of the dog cage we are currently using, and the cage I bought on Amazon - that I would love thoughts on? PS - we are in a suburban neighborhood with a normal size yard, wood fence, etc - so I can go fairly big.....but not huge farm hutch style like I have seen that some have built on youtube. And again based on heat and size of our patio - I am thinking the bunny will sleep inside at night anyway.

Thoughts/advice? Thanks so much!

[Txjourneyman]

When I was a kid we had one that was litter box trained. We let him have his run of the house until he started chewing on furniture. Then he went in a 36x36 cage when we weren't home to keep an eye on him.

[stinkbelly]

My boys just bought show rabbits to show with 4H. I am learning too. I have asked everyone about this and half say they need to be indoors and the other half say they need to be outdoors. Every one of them said they need to be on a 1/2"x1/2" mesh so their waste can fall through.

Right now we have some in the house and some in the garage. We found out that when one of the males became mature, he began to spray. He is in the garage now while I build an enclosure outside for him.

The oldest one we have has been trained to use a litter box. It is a male that does not spray and is in my boys bedroom. He lets the rabbit run loose and it returns to the litter box to use the bathroom.

Most of the breeders we bought from keep their rabbits in a cage that is 24"x24"x18".

They love empty toiletpaper rolls.

There are tons of videos on youtube of kids showing off their home made cages.

[RRagan83]

I had a few when I was a kid and the Texas summer is brutal on them

[Tower43]

We had one growing up. The smell would get pretty bad, not sure you want that in the house. And it crapped every time it hopped anywhere. Ours lived in the garage for a few years, then in the backyard. It had about the same size cage and only got out about once a week. It had a small wooden house at one end with a heat light inside. It survived Michigan winters living outside, and summers. The summer temps were not as high as Texas but still in the mid 90's for August. It was my sisters pet and the novelty wore off after a couple years

[papadoc]

The heat is what will kill a bunny. Inside is much better, every cat in 5 counties will try to kill your bunny, so keep them in a cage while outside, if you're not there to watch.

Plenty of timothy hay, we also fed bermuda grass hay, to keep their digestive system in the green. They love bananas and apples, watermelon, but Cilantro was our bunnys favorite.

We had a domesticated cottontail and a Rex, both lived over 12 years. The cottontail died when she fell in the pool after being chased by my neighbors cat.

[Tower43]

Ours was a large white giant chinchilla rabbit, and the thing peed about a gallon every time

[Txsurveyor2014]

Freeze a 2 liter bottle of water, and put it in with them when they are outside, and wipe them down with listerene to keep the mites off of them

[TXhoghunter94]

Our family has had some, they are cute when they're young but once they grow up they become very stinky. We had built about a 3'x6' cage for one and moved it around the yard. They do attract foxes, hawks, and cats. I think keeping it outside under some shade should be enough but it's up to you. Hope this helps

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[Tower43]

My sisters interest moved on after two or three years and that thing lived for like ten years. Pretty much became my dads job to take care of it.

[lovemylegacy]

Hi Everybody,
Over Easter holiday at one of the local feed stores my son and wife fell in love with one of the bunnies they were selling and letting the kids pet, etc. Bunny so far has been cute, and pretty low maintenance - but I need to get him into a permanent spot in our house or yard. Currently he is hanging out in our living room in a medium size dog cage. I purchased a larger cage off of Amazon for $85 (that's about 46x22x24).

My question is - for those of you who have experience with rabbits - is in Houston are they better to keep cage/hutch indoors (and let them out to run around in backyard every now and then, etc)? Or are they better to keep cage/hutch in backyard? I have read in back yard they are susceptible to predators, and the heat will be too much for them? I really don't have a issue keeping ours indoors - but if I do is a cage 46x22x24 big enough for one rabbit to live in? Is there another cage/hutch out there that would be a better option that you recommend? Or do you think its best to head to Lowes/Home Depot and build my own cage/hutch for the rabbit?

Basically I don't have a clue about rabbits - but I do want to provide our new pet a happy and safe home.....so looking for advice as well as maybe some pictures of what you all have done and used for your rabbits? Attached are pictures of the dog cage we are currently using, and the cage I bought on Amazon - that I would love thoughts on? PS - we are in a suburban neighborhood with a normal size yard, wood fence, etc - so I can go fairly big.....but not huge farm hutch style like I have seen that some have built on youtube. And again based on heat and size of our patio - I am thinking the bunny will sleep inside at night anyway.

Thoughts/advice? Thanks so much!

If you like to raise gardens or plants you have your very own compost/fertilizer starter kit. An outside hutch in the shade would be great, have a bin under the hutch to catch the rabbits waste, deposit your kitchen waste in it, drop some earthworms in it and you have a viable fertilize that people would be glad to pay for. Rich compost and compost tea=$$$. Probably enough to pay for feed and supplies to sustain the rabbit and worms to fish with.

[Rat]

We raise New Zealand whites for meat.

If outside, even in the shade, you will need a fan above 85°; they will die quick form heat stroke. The frozen water bottles works great. Even if you keep them inside, they still need a little outside time; they just seem happier.

Feed good feed and we also supplement with timothy hay and house/garden scraps. Use a feeder (on the side of the cage) or place the hay/scraps on top of the cage; this will let him stretch and move to get to the food and is natural exercise.

Keep plenty of clean water and we use apple cider vinegar about once a week in the water.

Treat for ear mites. A good treatment once a week will keep them away.

You will need some nail clippers; clippers for small dogs work great.

A mitt brush will also help keep the hair manageable.

A small box for sleeping may also help; ours only get nesting boxes when they are ready to kit, so they don't have a box to sleep in all the time. But it wouldn't hurt for a pet to have one, if he likes it. It is something else to clean though.

The cage you have is more than big enough. You didn't say what type of rabbit he is, but that cage is big enough for even the biggest rabbit.

Handle him often while he is young, this will help him be a much better pet. Many times people just expect a rabbit to be like a dog and think they love to be handled; they really don't. You will have to condition him to being handled while he is young. If you do this though, he will have no problem being handled.

Rabbits are pretty fun critters, and mighty tasty!

[AntlerCollector]

I live near Hiuston and have raised lots of rabbits outside

[rkmontana]

I just wanted to say thanks again for all of the tips and advice. I appreciate it very much!

[Strummer]

I had one ..... I put it in the crock pot and ate it . Was delicious. It was left overs from not making the sale at the fair .