Life
span - Rabbits can live up to 10-12 years and most children will
get bored of them within the first year, it will be you (the parents) that will
need to take over when/if this happens therefore getting pet rabbits should be
a family decision, not just the children’s.
Behaviour – Most people look at rabbits as being cuddly animals but rabbits are prey animals so most don’t really like to be picked up and must be picked up correctly by always holding their back legs to prevent them hurting themselves. They will however come to you when sitting in their play are with them and enjoy being stroked once they get used to you.
Baby rabbits can be nippy and stroppy in their teenage stage, those that aren’t could develop this at an older age so the only way to guarantee you are getting a suitable, friendly pet is too get one 1yr or above; we advise this especially when adopting for children.
Rabbits can be litter trained therefore can make good house pets!
Company – Lots of people think its ok to put guinea pig in with a rabbit for company but for reasons of disease, different living requirements and different communication, rabbits and guinea pigs should not live together. Like people rabbits need the company of their own species to interact with, they can get very depressed and lonely when on their own so it’s always best to have at least a pair, which is why we don’t home rabbits to live on their own. Having two a rabbit doesn’t cost much more than having one and the benefits you will see are great!
The best rabbits to keep are a neutered male/female pair. Males and females form very strong, unbreakable bonds where even two males or two females that have been together all their lives could fall out with each other and not re-bond.
Bonding - If you have a rabbit already and are thinking about getting him/her a friend you are making the right decision, however you must know that it’s not a case of getting a rabbit and putting it straight in. Bonding can be tricky and should be done very gradually by people who are experienced with bonding. In most cases bonding takes a minimum of 4 weeks.
Health – We won’t go into great detail but we should mention that like cats and dogs there are diseases and parasites that rabbits can get however most potential health problems can be avoided or treated if caught early. To keep your rabbits healthy you should, feed a correct diet, keep them clean, have them vaccinated regularly and take them for a routine health check at your vets at least once a year. It’s often a good idea to set up a monthly payment plan or have your pets insured.
Neutering is important as it prevents unwanted pregnancies, can reduce hormones that may cause fighting, and in females prevents uterine cancer.
Environment – Rabbits need to be able to hop 3 times before getting into their bed area and also have room the stretch up on their back legs. It is recommended that a pair of rabbits should have access to a hutch space of 6ft x 2ft single or 5ft x 2ft double and an exercise space of at least 8ft x 4ft at all times. They should also have various toys to prevent them getting bored and to chew on. Things such as toilet roll tubes with hay in are good non-expensive boredom breakers. The best bedding to use for rabbits is sawdust, hay and/or straw however sawdust can be messy if kept indoors so you can use newspaper with paper litter in their tray and hay in a hay rack.
Rabbits can live in or outdoors but those that live in should also have playtime outside when it’s warm so that they can get Vitamin D from the sun.
A lot of people think that it’s necessary to bring their rabbits in on a night when it’s cold; however this is not the case as rabbits can deal with the cold but not with change in temperature so to protect them from weather you should just use a protective cover. Rabbits also don’t like heat so try to keep your rabbits cool especially if indoors.
Diet - Contrary to belief rabbits do not live on carrots and lettuce. Carrots are very high in sugar and should only ever be fed as an occasional treat and lettuce does not hold much/if any nutritional value as it is made up of mainly water. Rabbits are not allowed to have iceberg lettuce as it can be poisonous to them but lettuce such as rocket or romaine can be fed again as a treat.
Rabbits are fibrevores so need to have a high fibre diet, this diet should be made up of 80% hay so they must always have fresh timothy hay available to them every day (avoid alfalfa hay as this is fattening).
Alongside their hay they should be fed 25g per kilogram of body weight of a high fibre pellet such as Selective Science or Excel. Muesli food such as Wagg can cause bad dental problems in rabbits as it’s a sugary food so like feeding your children sweets for every meal and rabbits need to constantly grind their teeth down; muesli food is too easy to eat. Muesli food can also promote selective feeding which means that the rabbits only eat the bits they like, this is no good as they need to eat it all to get the nutrients they need into them, pellets have everything clumped into one so they get all their nutrients with each one.
Lastly rabbits should have a small amount of fresh veg (the equivalent of a handful per day). It’s always best to think green when buying veg as the greener veg such as broccoli and dark green cabbage have the most nutrients in. There are lots of do’s and don’ts to feed so if unsure of anything its best to ask a rescue or rabbit savvy vet.
Rescuing Rabbits - We don’t need to give you any sob stories, most of you will already know of some of the bad circumstances rabbits can come from. What we will tell you is that if looked after correctly rabbits are amazing creatures and far from boring so adopting a rescue rabbit can be very rewarding! There are benefits for you, the rabbit that is adopted and other rabbits that can be rescued because you have adopted.
The benefits for you include: Having the most suitable new pet, instant returns if it doesn’t fit in, unlimited advice, a free bonding service, we can give you all of the rabbit’s background info, we can guarantee sexes and males have been neutered meaning no unwanted babies.
Behaviour – Most people look at rabbits as being cuddly animals but rabbits are prey animals so most don’t really like to be picked up and must be picked up correctly by always holding their back legs to prevent them hurting themselves. They will however come to you when sitting in their play are with them and enjoy being stroked once they get used to you.
Baby rabbits can be nippy and stroppy in their teenage stage, those that aren’t could develop this at an older age so the only way to guarantee you are getting a suitable, friendly pet is too get one 1yr or above; we advise this especially when adopting for children.
Rabbits can be litter trained therefore can make good house pets!
Company – Lots of people think its ok to put guinea pig in with a rabbit for company but for reasons of disease, different living requirements and different communication, rabbits and guinea pigs should not live together. Like people rabbits need the company of their own species to interact with, they can get very depressed and lonely when on their own so it’s always best to have at least a pair, which is why we don’t home rabbits to live on their own. Having two a rabbit doesn’t cost much more than having one and the benefits you will see are great!
The best rabbits to keep are a neutered male/female pair. Males and females form very strong, unbreakable bonds where even two males or two females that have been together all their lives could fall out with each other and not re-bond.
Bonding - If you have a rabbit already and are thinking about getting him/her a friend you are making the right decision, however you must know that it’s not a case of getting a rabbit and putting it straight in. Bonding can be tricky and should be done very gradually by people who are experienced with bonding. In most cases bonding takes a minimum of 4 weeks.
Health – We won’t go into great detail but we should mention that like cats and dogs there are diseases and parasites that rabbits can get however most potential health problems can be avoided or treated if caught early. To keep your rabbits healthy you should, feed a correct diet, keep them clean, have them vaccinated regularly and take them for a routine health check at your vets at least once a year. It’s often a good idea to set up a monthly payment plan or have your pets insured.
Neutering is important as it prevents unwanted pregnancies, can reduce hormones that may cause fighting, and in females prevents uterine cancer.
Environment – Rabbits need to be able to hop 3 times before getting into their bed area and also have room the stretch up on their back legs. It is recommended that a pair of rabbits should have access to a hutch space of 6ft x 2ft single or 5ft x 2ft double and an exercise space of at least 8ft x 4ft at all times. They should also have various toys to prevent them getting bored and to chew on. Things such as toilet roll tubes with hay in are good non-expensive boredom breakers. The best bedding to use for rabbits is sawdust, hay and/or straw however sawdust can be messy if kept indoors so you can use newspaper with paper litter in their tray and hay in a hay rack.
Rabbits can live in or outdoors but those that live in should also have playtime outside when it’s warm so that they can get Vitamin D from the sun.
A lot of people think that it’s necessary to bring their rabbits in on a night when it’s cold; however this is not the case as rabbits can deal with the cold but not with change in temperature so to protect them from weather you should just use a protective cover. Rabbits also don’t like heat so try to keep your rabbits cool especially if indoors.
Diet - Contrary to belief rabbits do not live on carrots and lettuce. Carrots are very high in sugar and should only ever be fed as an occasional treat and lettuce does not hold much/if any nutritional value as it is made up of mainly water. Rabbits are not allowed to have iceberg lettuce as it can be poisonous to them but lettuce such as rocket or romaine can be fed again as a treat.
Rabbits are fibrevores so need to have a high fibre diet, this diet should be made up of 80% hay so they must always have fresh timothy hay available to them every day (avoid alfalfa hay as this is fattening).
Alongside their hay they should be fed 25g per kilogram of body weight of a high fibre pellet such as Selective Science or Excel. Muesli food such as Wagg can cause bad dental problems in rabbits as it’s a sugary food so like feeding your children sweets for every meal and rabbits need to constantly grind their teeth down; muesli food is too easy to eat. Muesli food can also promote selective feeding which means that the rabbits only eat the bits they like, this is no good as they need to eat it all to get the nutrients they need into them, pellets have everything clumped into one so they get all their nutrients with each one.
Lastly rabbits should have a small amount of fresh veg (the equivalent of a handful per day). It’s always best to think green when buying veg as the greener veg such as broccoli and dark green cabbage have the most nutrients in. There are lots of do’s and don’ts to feed so if unsure of anything its best to ask a rescue or rabbit savvy vet.
Rescuing Rabbits - We don’t need to give you any sob stories, most of you will already know of some of the bad circumstances rabbits can come from. What we will tell you is that if looked after correctly rabbits are amazing creatures and far from boring so adopting a rescue rabbit can be very rewarding! There are benefits for you, the rabbit that is adopted and other rabbits that can be rescued because you have adopted.
The benefits for you include: Having the most suitable new pet, instant returns if it doesn’t fit in, unlimited advice, a free bonding service, we can give you all of the rabbit’s background info, we can guarantee sexes and males have been neutered meaning no unwanted babies.
Below is a slide show of images of perfect housing for 3 lucky bunnies.
Welcome to Thumper Towers. this is one of our adaptors set ups.