Bunny Care 101 and Simple tips for a healthy bunny

You have brought the bunnies home, now what. A few quick and simple tips to keep your bunnies healthy and happy.

A year ago for Lily’s birthday she asked for bunnies….we put it off. Christmas rolls around and on the Christmas list…..Bunnies. We told her Santa forgot them. Her birthday came this year….and knowing that we couldn’t continue to blow off the idea of having bunnies, we got two. We have had a few bunnies before and no matter what we did to keep them from escaping…they escaped. I vowed NO MORE BUNNIES at Duke Manor Farm…ever. Well this post is an example of why you never say never…ever.

Bunny Care 101

We were heading to the pet store to purchase two bunnies and when I called a big box pet store to see if they had any bunnies in stock, the sales associate was actually the one who suggested I try to contact a Bunny Rescue. You guys know I am all about rescuing animals ,but honestly I had never heard of a bunny rescue. Made the call, got directions and two hours later we were driving home with 2 bunnies from the rescue. I picked up some helpful tips that I wanted to pass on to you, just in case you cave  you will be getting some bunnies anytime soon.

When you bring your bunnies home

Let your bunny get use to his/her new home for the first 72 hours.

Do not give your bunny toys or chewables for the first week.

Contrary to what we may think, carrots are not the best thing to give your bunny and should be given to your bunny sparingly. The gases cause your bunny to bloat, therefore causing stomach issues for your floppy friend. 

Add apple cider vinegar to the bunny’s water supply. 

Do not feed your bunny veggies for the first week. They will do just fine with Timothy hay and rabbit pellets. Timothy hay should make up the bulk of what your rabbit needs in their diet.

Watch for diarrhea. This can be caused by stress of a new home or what your bunny is eating. The diarrhea should subside, if not take your bunny to the vet.

This is our Lop eared rabbit. His name is Cougar.

General Caring Tips for your Bunnies

Bunnies will do fine in temps in the 30’s-80’s. Right now we have the bunnies in a rabbit house in our game room because our temps have been in the 90’s.  Come Fall, the plan is to move them to a dedicated place in the duck area. 

If you can’t move our bunnies indoors when temps rise consider placing a frozen gallon jug of water in your bunnies cage. Adding ice to your bunny’s water will also help to minimize the heat impacts on your bunny.

Make sure you bunny always has fresh water.  I just learned that not only is Apple Cider vinegar good for humans , it’s also good for some animals too. Add 1 tablespoon of apple cider  vinegar per gallon to help your bunnies digestive tract.

Feed your bunny Timothy Hay instead of Alfalfa. Alfalfa should not be given to rabbits because of the high protein and sugar content. Hay is important part of a bunnies diet because of the fiber  content and it helps wear down a rabbits teeth, which by way continuously grow.  I didn’t know that either.

Bunnies need a good amount of bedding. We bought these mats to put in the bunny house. Cedar shavings can be toxic to your bunny. The best thing we were told to use is a memory foam bath mat which will keep the bunny cozy and can be washed regularly.

This is our Dutch rabbit called ‘’Mixxie’. By the way, I am not responsible for the naming of our animals.:)

Lesson Learned

As I mentioned earlier our previous bunnies have all escaped on us by digging under the fence. This time we secured the fenced area by placing the wire fence in the ground , so digging should be challenging….let’s hope. We also just got this double decker rabbit house that we can use to keep the rabbits together or we can easily separate. The house also has slide out bottom for easy cleaning. I highly recommend if you are going to be going down  your own bunny path one day. It was so easy to assemble, the kids were able to do it themselves. To keep the bunny house clean, we use this feeder for the inside.

My kids, especially Lily just can’t get enough of the rabbits, well any animal really. So to see precious moments with her cuddling the rabbits, makes it all worth it…I guess.

To see more of my Farm Friday series, click here.

When’s the last time you ‘caved’ for the animal they had to have?

grateful

to see how much joy a rabbit brings to my girl

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