Today is a more simple concept. Many people will use the same sorts of tactics as they would on other situations and animals, but I think that rabbits are a little different. People constantly underestimate the amount of work and effort that is needed while owning a rabbit, which is what I will be explaining today.

The 5 Main Steps…

Research. You will be told by pretty much every rabbit owner, if not all, that research is the #1 step before ever getting a rabbit, which is my job to help you with.

• While you research, make sure to look for things such as care, feeding, breeds, adoption, and any possible situation you would need to know about.

Situation. If you are in a situation that you won’t be able to take care of a rabbit properly, do not get a rabbit. You will want to look into…

• Housing, bunny proofing ( I will be bringing that up soon), etc.

Life-style. Do you have any animals that could be potentially dangerous, or something going on that may be dangerous?

• Make sure that if you have any other animal, that they will stay away from each other. I would recommend looking into prey and predator relations with these two pets.

Preparation. Preparation is key when owning any animal. If you want to look good and feel confident that a rabbit is right for you, you will have to show that you know what you need and that you have back-up.

• I recommend looking into ways to convince your parents by looking into articles, videos, etc. that talk about convincing to really  make you feel that you have things down pat. You will want to think of where your rabbit is going to live, situations, and how things will work out.

Presentation. When you really present your idea to your parents, make sure that you look for all of the positives. I find that when you show all of the good things from rabbits, that they will throw away the thought of problems that may come up which they will just have to ask you about.

• Be prepared to have a small argument. If you want a rabbit, you will have to wiggle in time to talk to your parent and really show the good in owning rabbits. Don’t forget to be respectful, even through arguments.

Good Signs

When looking to get something that you want through convincing sounds like the only way, all you want is for your parents to agree and that you just get what you want. Even if your parents don’t agree, here are some good signs that your parents are starting to like the idea.

1. They talk to you about it. When your parents don’t want you to have something, they will just stop talking about it, hoping that you forgot, which probably wouldn’t happen because you want what you want. You know things are good when your parents bring it up, even if they bring up negatives, they just want to work through them.
2. Your parents start looking through your research. One day, you may either find your parents looking through them even if they didn’t ask, or they may just come and be like, “Hey Billy, can you show me that research you’ve been working on?”
3. You parents start to talk to you about where you are going to keep them. This is the biggest hint of all time. As soon as our parents ask where you want to keep them, you know they plan to let you get a rabbit.

Bad Signs

Sometimes your parents just aren’t ready for you to take on a huge commitment for an animal and find it better to stay away from animals entertaining you. I honestly feel bad for anyone who has been told no from the start.

1. Your parents don’t talk to you about it. They are waiting for you to get over it and hope you just forget. Obviously, you should never give up because they might eventually give in.
2. When you ask them a question, they try to ignore you. This is what would always happen to me. I would ask my mom if it was fine to keep a rabbit, or adopt this rabbit, etc. and it would result in her trying to ignore it, yeah, she gave in.
3. When the answer to everything becomes no, similar to when you were a preschooler. With my experience, it would usually go like this. I ask my mother if she’s fine with me getting a rabbit, she doesn’t answer. So then when she finally responds and makes something up like, “Sure you can get one in spring,” and it turns out to be true, yeah, they can’t take it back.

The thing with wanting something is that you just keep going for it. That’s what I encourage you to do. I encourage all of you to go and reach for your dreams. I never though I would get a rabbit. It took two years of research, convincing, and working things out for things to work, it was 100% worth it. Feel free to check out my test on whether you are ready for a rabbit. Anyway, I’ll talk to you next time, bye.

For this little test, I will be asking multiple choice or yes/no questions. I will say how many points each answer is at the end of each question. I would recommend having a piece of paper beside you to write down your answer and to count up your points at the end. This test will consist of ten questions.

Question 1): Do you have 30 minutes or more in the morning, afternoon, and night on work/school days to spend with your rabbit and do you have many chunks of weekend days to spend with them?

1. I have a lot of time to spend on week and weekend days. (A couple hours per day)
2. I have enough time to feed them and get out.
3. I don’t know if I have enough time.
4. I will find time to spend with them along with extra bonding time.

Answer 1: 4 points               Answer 2: 2 points

Answer 3: 1 point                 Answer 4: 3 points

Question 2): Do you have the money to get the correct items needed?

1. Yes, I have all of the money saved up to buy proper items.
2. No, I don’t have the money for the items needed.

Answer 1: 2 points              Answer 2: 1 point

Question 3): Do you have proper housing to assure a long, healthy lifestyle for your bunny?

1. Yes, I have a room made just for them, bunny proofed and everything.
2. No, I don’t have any plans and don’t know if they will be that safe where they could go.

Answer 1: 2 points               Answer 2: 1 point

Question 4): Do you have a rabbit certified vet nearby for checkups and an emergency vet in case of any troubles?

1. I have a rabbit certified vet and an emergency rabbit certified clinic as well.
2. I have a vet and an emergency center nearby that I don’t know that has any exotic animal vets.
3. I don’t have a vet that I have looked into.
4. I don’t have any vet nearby and don’t care for having a vet (Even though my rabbit needs one).

Answer 1: 3 points                Answer 2: 2 points

Answer 3 & 4: 1 point

Question 5): Do you have someone to look after your rabbit while your away?

1. Yes, I have a friend or neighbor who knows proper care to take care of them.
2. Yes, I have them staying at a rabbit certified place w/ some dogs there too.
3. I don’t know who will be taking care of them.
4. I have a bunny sitter hired for my bunny.

Answer 1: 4 points                Answer 2: 2 points

Answer 3: 1 point                 Answer 4: 3 points

Question 6): If you decide to take your rabbit somewhere, do you know the proper traveling essentials, care, tips, and necessities for that trip?

1. Yes, I know all of the things needed.
2. No, I’m not completely sure.

Answer 1: 2 points              Answer 2: 1 point

Question 7): Do you have an adoption center that you can trust to adopt your rabbit from?

1. Yes and they take great care of them.
2. Yes, but I’m not sure how well they are taken care of.
3. No, but I’m looking for one.
4. No, I’ve looked and gave up, they didn’t have good care.

Answer 1: 4 points                Answer 2: 3 points

Answer 3: 2 points                Answer 4: 1 point

Question 8): Is your rabbit spayed/neutered?

1. Yes, they are/they will be soon and the appointment is scheduled.
2. No, they will need to be.

Answer 1: 2 points               Answer 2: 1 point

Question 9): Is your family fine with you getting a rabbit?

1. Yes, we worked it out.
2. No, we haven’t talked about it/they don’t want me to have one.

Answer 1: 2 points               Answer 2: 1 point

Question 10): How bad do you want a rabbit?

1. I would do so much to have one.
2. They are on the list to have.
3. They would be nice to have.
4. I just did this test for fun and don’t want a rabbit.
5. Ewwwww…. no.

Answer 1: 5 points               Answer 2: 4 points

Answer 3: 3 points               Answer 4/5: 1 point

Results:

25-30 points: You are ready to have a rabbit. You have worked hard to get to this point and would like to add them as a new member of your family.

24-19 points: You getting there. You sort of want a rabbit but haven’t put that much thought into it all.

18-13 points: Rabbits aren’t that much to you. You probably won’t end up with a rabbit or less you put more to it.

12 or less: You don’t care about rabbits. You probably did this test for fun just to see if you would do decent, well you didn’t do too hot.

Thank you for taking this test. Feel free to comment your results below. If you would like me to do more tests like this, feel free to let me know. If you felt that the results weren’t accurate, I’m sorry and try at it more to get where you want. Feel free to comment if you would like me to do anything on any of these topics.

Bunnysitters, the nice topic of whether your rabbit will be getting the care needed while you’re away. Make sure to stick around to see what will work best for your bunny. Find out the best way for you and your bunny.

Ask Your Neighbor

You can simply have a neighbor come over some day to learn about your rabbits, meet them, and learn of how your care routine goes. If you would like to have your neighbor take care of your rabbit while you are gone, here is a list of things to prepare before you leave…

1. Prepare your veggies
2. Prepare your pellet amounts
3. Make a list of when to clean out water bowls, refill hay, take out litter boxes, feeding times, etc.

An example of a List…

Day 1…

Morning

• Give veggies
• Refill and clean water bowls
• Refill hay if needed
• Let the bunnies out from now until later

Night

• Give pellets
• Refill and clean bowls (if necessary)
• Refill hay
• Let bunnies in before you leave

Day 2…

Morning

• Give veggies
• Refill and clean bowls
• Refill hay
• Let bunnies out
• Take out and clean litter boxes

Night

• Give pellets
• Refill and clean bowls (if needed)
• Refill hay
• Let bunnies in before you leave

That was obviously a small routine and only a portion of what you may need to put down. For example, if you would like your neighbor to change the fleece or give your rabbits medication. I just made this example to give you an outline for what it may look like.

• This is the same for if you would like your friend to take care of your rabbit.

A Shelter

A shelter is a good way to go if you have one near you and you don’t have a friend around to help you out. Obviously the shelter will take care of your rabbit as always, but I would recommend writing down your routine and any notes such as allergies, medication needs, or and details that you missed during the routine.

Things to keep in mind with a shelter…

1. In a shelter, a lot of the time there will be dogs and cats staying there. If you haven’t been to a day care pet area, you wouldn’t know how much barking goes on. Cats will usually meow like crazy and dogs constantly bark at all times of the day, causing stress for your bunny.
2. It is way more expensive than you would think. Even better, they may charge you extra for having to care for an exotic pet.
3. Many pet centers don’t have employees who have experience with rabbits, causing many possibilities for problems.

Hiring

If you were to hire someone to specifically come to your house and take care of your rabbit just as you have written on a note, your pretty much covered. It will be very expensive, but they will send you updates and it’s a great way to make sure your rabbit is getting the care needed, even if you don’t have anyone else nearby to take care of them.

Thank you for coming back again and I will be talking to you again in two days. I have a test set up to be posted soon to test whether you are ready for a rabbit, so be prepared for that.

First of all, I would like to start off with saying that every rabbit owner should have a certified vet to check over their rabbit. I have a post on finding a vet as well.

Identifying GI Stasis…

Many rabbits will have a time in their life that they will develop GI stasis, also known as the silent killer of rabbits, which I have more info on in past posts. Overall, it’s called the silent killer because by nature, rabbits hide their weakness to survive. The rabbit will want to do everything to avoid being the weak one.

Some symptoms are…

• Pressing the stomach to the ground
• Tooth grinding
• Not eating
• Unusually not active
• Not passing food properly

These are the most common and obvious symptoms of GI stasis and if GI stasis isn’t seen to with 24 to 48 hours, your rabbit could potentially die. Find out ways to save your rabbit on my posts specifically on GI stasis.

Identifying a common sickness…

If you are wondering what I mean by a common sickness, I mean the equivalent illness to a human common cold. Sometimes rabbits just feel kind if crummy and start to get sick… here are some symptoms

Some symptoms are…

• Lack of activity
• lack of intake on water and/or food
• Tooth grinding
• Oversleeping
• Aggressiveness

In this case, just try some simple remedies like leveling out their temperature and weight and make them feel better, but still take them in to the vet for a check over.

Identifying a UTI…

Some people may think a UTI isn’t a sickness, but it can cause a sickness in rabbits if it isn’t taken care of properly. UTIs in rabbits usually come from too much calcium or a lack of other nutrients, or both. Make sure you get your rabbit taken care of before another sickness comes along.

Some symptoms are…

• Red urine
• Creamy urine
• Lack of urinating
• Tooth grinding while urinating

UTIs that are left uncured can result in bladder stones which are potentially life threatening, don’t put your rabbit in that position.

Thank you for coming back once again for another post. If you would like me to talk about more with any of these illnesses, please comment below letting me know. Go check out my past posts on these illnesses as well. Come back every other day for a new post and I will talk to you then, bye.

Since spring is coming closer and closer, I decided that it’s time to start hopping into the spring themes and focusing more on health related posts and some fun things to do heading up to spring, or in spring. In this case, today, I will be talking about an activity many people will include while owning rabbits, foraging.

Foraging Overview…

With foraging, there are so many advantages and disadvantages. With foraging, you will need to know what is safe and not safe for your rabbit to eat. A lot of the times you can eat it too!

NEVER give your rabbit forage that has been effected by gasoline. (Lawn mower, roads, etc.)

The Great Effects…

• You can save a lot of money picking dandelion greens in place of a piece of lettuce.
• You can enjoy the same fresh food that your rabbit can.
• Your rabbit will be getting food from a place that you know where it is coming from.

Gardening is the same way.  When owning a rabbit you will need a lot of veggies. By gardening, you can save money, give them fresh food, and know it’s from a reliable place. Always remember to rinse forage and veggies before feeding.

Some Things to Watch Out For…

• You will find that many things in your yard will be something you don’t even know what it is. Never take the chance, do some research until even touching it.
• Many things in your area will be contaminated with gasoline and will not be safe for a rabbit to consume. I would say if you are near an area that is very popular, make sure that the gasoline burning engine is about a couple feet away if possible, the farther the better.
• There are so many things that rabbits can’t eat. You have to do a lot of research. I have mentioned how they can’t eat much, which is very specific and is hard to find a list of things that you shouldn’t forage for.
• Never give forage that has been close to an area with other animals or fields with fertilizer.

Thank you so much for reading. I plan to continue on with this topic and I’m finally starting to add more recent photos. If you enjoyed this, make sure to share it with your friends and I will talk to you on Saturday, bye.

Many people think that as long as your rabbit has tons of play time that they don’t need a big cage. Is that true? Believe it or not, your cage selection can decide your rabbit’s struggles later in their senior years.

Some good Cages…

DIY Cages: The best of all cages. I would recommend that everyone would go for a DIY cage. This way you can get the dimensions you want, the material needed, and best of all, you could save hundreds of dollars, no joke. Many people will make them out of NIC grids and wood and will use different styles and different entrances to change it up and help accessibility. If you would like an example, check out 101rabbits or Stormyrabbits on Youtube. Make sure to tell them that I sent you!

Hutches: Hutches can be good cages. You have to make sure that your rabbit can take at least four hops across your hutch to be considered a good sized hutch. Hutches are great for just putting them in for overnight and to keep them in if they just need some down time.

In my case, I use a hutch for an area for overnight. As you can see, Oliver is posing in front of the hutch. From the angle it’s at, many people may say that it looks bigger from the way it’s facing, but you can see the size difference. If you would like me to give a link to the hutch, feel free to leave a comment saying so. I plan to do a review on it soon.

An ex-pen: I use an ex-pen for the bunnies’ 16 hours of playtime that they get a day. The more play time the better. If your rabbit lives in a play pen, you will have to keep many things in mind. Make sure that they aren’t in contact with anything or anyone dangerous, keep the heating and conditioning off from them directly, and make sure that their surroundings are calm and they won’t be disturbed by daily life.

Some Bad Cages…

Pet store cages: Pet store cages aren’t good for many reasons. One, they are the size of a litter box which many will take advantage of. Two, They can’t even stretch or exercise. If you ever think of owning a rabbit and keeping them in a pet store cage, don’t even get a rabbit. There is usually one exception for a pet store cage, A very large cage usually made at a more rural pet store. Just remember the four hops rule. The bigger the better.

Hutches: As I mentioned before, hutches can be good or bad. In this case, hutches can be bad. If your rabbit chews a lot, a hutch will not be the way to go. They will just eat your hutch for fun, but not fun for you. If your rabbit has a tendency to just make a mess of the wood, or anything that will destroy your hutch, avoid it. Many hutches will have bad instructions and will be a pain in the rear end to assemble only one piece.

Any other cage: In this, I mean a wire bottom cage, something too small for a rabbit, or any cage made that will not meet the requirements. These cages are very easy to spot and to avoid as well.

I really encourage you to take a trip on over to some good quality rabbit sites and find some good rabbit cages. Share those to your friends along with this post. Make sure to leave a comment and come back every other day for a new post, bye.

1. They keep me actively off my electronics. If you know proper care and your parents want you off electronics, see if you can convince your parents to allow you to get a rabbit.

2. They are ADORABLE! Every single rabbit owner can agree on this one. All rabbits are adorable, especially when they flop, yawn, or lick you.

3. They keep me in a good mood. When I am having a rough time, I immediately go down to our bunnies. They cheer me up soooooo much. I’ve found that I have a more sweet mood when I’ve had a good time with them.

4. You can’t stop kissing their nose. When you see a sweet, innocent rabbit that loves attention, you want to keep them forever. In my case, Oliver is the sweetest little boy ever. I make sure to give him a little nose scratch, a kiss, and a treat before putting him to bed. These are the sweetest things, especially coming down to see them flopped and sleeping.

5. They are entertaining. Rabbits are absolute dorks, it just makes it better. They will have very derpy faces at times to the point that you will take a picture and laugh at it for hours… this is from experience.

6. They give you so many things to do. When you are bored, you can go to your rabbit and give yourself something to do. You can clean their cage, pen, room, and anything else. Or if you want more fun, bake for them!

7. You can be creative. When you are getting toys and experimenting what your rabbit does and doesn’t like, feel free to make you own toys, along with making hay rack for them and more!

8. They don’t judge you. When you feel like you look bad, or feel bad, or maybe just want comfort, they will still love you more than ever. You could look super awesome or different and they will still find comfort in your presence.

9. Photoshoots are unlimited. When owning rabbits, there is literally no such thing called too many pictures. I have a separate folder for all of my bunny pictures, about as many as vacation pictures and I take a lot of vacation pictures. Rabbits are natural posers and always look cute in some way.

10. They add more to you. I find that by owning my bunnies, I have a soft side and find perspective in everything. I encourage you to think of what it’s like to be a rabbit, dog, cat, or maybe someone that you don’t treat as well as you should. It could change your thoughts and actions.

Thank you so much for the support you have given me. I plan to go on with posting these top 10 lists every here and then, but for now I plan to go back to the usual posts. I will still post like usual, but may throw in an extra post every here and there. Thank you so much for reading and I will talk to you next time, bye!

First of all, I would like to note that if any of you own a blog channel or a site of information and you have people asking about rabbit care or think some people may like to know proper rabbit care, feel free to shout my site out.

Finding Time…

1. Plan ahead. All animal owners have some sort of agenda, but rabbits can really interfere with your schedule. Sort out times that will work well for your schedule in case of any situation, in other words, do NOT procrastinate.

2. You know how I just said make a schedule… yeah, maybe listen to that. It can help you figure out situations and if you will need a friend (with experience) to take care of your rabbit in case you can’t get to your rabbits for what ever reason.

3. Find spare time. When your around home with a day off and you have nothing to do, bond with your rabbit. These are the best times to bond with your rabbit because your mood will become so much better after paying a visit to them, making them more happy. The more time you can find that you waste doing nothing but watch TV, the better your bond will become. Before you know it, you will be spending time with your rabbit instead of watching TV.

4. Consider their habits. When you have a rabbit, they will have a certain time that they are used to eating and when they wake up throughout the day, along with when they are crabby or nicest. Make sure that when you go down there that if they aren’t in a good mood, make sure to cheer them up before you start bonding or just hanging out with them.

5. Considering a change to your schedule/lifestyle. If you feel that you have to change you schedule, that’s fine, even though rabbits accumulate to new schedules very easy. A change in your schedule could really help, such as waking up earlier to take care of them and have some extra time for bonding.

Updates…

It wasn’t long ago that I did an update, but as I had mentioned before, I would like to get my word out to many people. In the USA alone, 2.5 million families have a rabbit. Rabbits have a lot of aspects to be covered and I would like to get that out there.

Getting the Word Out…

• I would seriously appreciate any effort by you to help me get my site out there. Millions of rabbit owners out there don’t know the proper care and are hurting their rabbit’s future. If you would like to get my word out to these rabbits and people/owners in need, here are some things you can do…

• If someone brings up that they want a rabbit or really like rabbits, feel free to mention my site and a couple facts that may help them on their way.

•  If you choose not to lead them to my site, make sure to provide them with the information they need.

• For any Youtubers, bloggers, information nerds, please get my word out there and help out those in need . Send them to my site and feel free to comment if you got my site out to someone, I would be more than grateful.

Thank you so much for the support you have provided. Come back every other day for a new post and I will talk to you next time, bye.

Our little friends supporting the growth of proper care for them and their families!

(Oliver and Luna)

1.) To use the compost in a garden. Obviously, you’ll want to use the compost for gardening, but don’t forget to grow some veggies for your rabbit.

2.) Your garage won’t smell bad after throwing out litter. When you throw out litter, you will probably stink up your garbage can with the very delightful smell of rabbit litter, their urine, and their stools… I know, very delightful.

3.) Cleaning is super easy. If your compost pile is in the backyard, all you have to do is use the hose to wash it off afterwords if it’s warm enough out.

4.) You don’t have to worry about spilling litter all over the rabbit room’s floor. I would always spill litter all over the place from trying to dump it in a plastic grocery bag, not the smartest thing if you have someone else holding the bag and they keep shaking.

5.) Your bunny room won’t smell bad… finally. When you have a compost pile, I find that man people are better about getting the litter out right away. But if you dump it in a bag, many people will procrastinate and will leave it in the bunny room, causing it to stink up.

6.) Everything seems easier. If your family has many pets that use litter, hay, straw or anything like that, you can use your compost pile for them too, like goats. you can get rid of their old straw, droppings, etc.

7.)  You can save quite a bit of money. You may find that when you use plastic bags, garbage bags, etc. to take out your rabbits nasty litter, you are using a bunch of plastic just to be thrown away. You may even use more cleaning supplies if you use a bag to get rid of litter since you won’t use the hose as a full blast cleaner.

8.) Your helping out the environment. The less plastic bags you use, the better. You are helping the environment more and more by eliminating the amount of plastic bags that you could be using, it could make a major difference.

Thank you so much for reading. Come back every other day for a new post. I plan to start using more pictures and more recently taken pictures. Share this blog with your friends and followers to get this blog channel going and I’ll talk to you on Friday, bye.

If you own a rabbit, you will understand the struggles of containing the amount of hay that will end up all over your house. Today I will be talking about organization and cleaning tips to keeping your house as clean as manageable.

Hay…. It’s Messy

1. The first thing I would always recommend is finding a way to contain the mess such as shaking out excess that may come off when you grab some, along with having a container or storage space that you may find helpful for hay. I’ve seen people use dog food containers as a storage for hay, or even a medium plastic garbage can.
2. Next, consider whether you have a high sided litter box that will contain the hay better. If not, I would get a high sided litter box. In some cases, you may have a high sided litter box but the hay still doesn’t seem all that contained. In that particular situation, I would make a DIY hay rack, which I will show soon.
3. If you grab the hay straight from the bale bag like I do, you will want to make sure that any hay that may fall on the floor is swept up as soon as possible so that it doesn’t keep piling up. The more it piles up, the worse the mess in your house will be.
4. Clean your rabbit cage out regularly, making sure that you don’t leave out washing bedding and making sure that the excess hay doesn’t end up in the washer. I find that the more you clean your bedding, the less you have to worry about hay because you start getting in a habit to keep everything clean.
5. Last, make a compost pile. You will use so much hay up through your rabbit eating it, along with wasting it. Compost piles help you in some many was such as giving you fresh soil, preventing unnecessary waste from being thrown out, and best of all, saving your nostrils from the smell of your garbage can after throwing away their old litter… I know how bad it smells… It convinced my mom to let me make a compost pile.

Organization…

1. Keep a certain spot somewhere to make sure you can keep everything organized. If you have a shelf or something that would work great for storage, take advantage.
2. Label. Labeling what everything is can really help if you choose to use containers or cubby bins. Cubby bins work great for storing toys, treats, accessories, etc. If you want to store hay in a different bin, make sure you designate it.
3. Keep it organized. Part of organization is actually making sure it stays organized and doesn’t become a disaster. Make sure to go through your items. If you find something you don’t need, don’t feel bad throwing it away, just make sure you keep the essentials.

Next post will be a continuation of this sort of topic and may take us into another series. If you appreciated this, make sure to share it with your friends and I will talk to you next time, bye.