On this page you will learn of some different ways of locating a bunny and how to go about finding the bunny that is good for you and your children. At the middle of this page is a list of breeds that I would recommend and the breeds that I would stay away from.

Make sure that you have everything you will need for your new bunny before you buy one. Make surethat it is set up before you bring your new bunnyhome. It will make for an easier adjustment for your bunny.

Things that you will need is;

A Cage that is suitable for where your bunny is going to be at, (indoors/outdoors), 1 bunny per cage

A Water Bottle

A Feed Dish

Bunnies take very little care in comparison to other animals but the care that they do require is a must. That care includes, cleaning the cage on a routine basis, (every other day to every 3 days max, IMO), trimming the toenails routinely,( approx., once a month), fresh food and water daily, good ventalation always, varmit and fly control, keeping the rabbit cool in the summer, out of drafts in the cooler months and always protected from the eliments of weather, wind, rain, sun, dampness, etc.

Your intial set up cost will be approximately for 1 bunny, depending on the size of cage, your bunny, the extra equipment and most of all, where you buy these items at, Petstore vs Breeder. To feed a rabbit will cost you approximately .00 per year if you buy your feed from a feed store and not a pet store. Most pet stores sell feed that has a lot pretty colored stuff in it to make it look like you are giving your rabbit only the best. That stuff is like feeding your bunny 75% candy and 25% nutritional stuff. Sooner or later, you have a fat bunny that is very unhealthy. When you are done reading this page, go to our page on Basic Care for Bunnies and read about feeds/treats that are ok to give your bunny that won't hurt them if given properly.

I would strongly suggest getting a bunny directly from a breeder. By doing this, you are going to be, more than likely, guarenteed, what breed your bunny is. Most Pet Stores can only tell you what they think they know, which in most cases isn't much. Pet Stores will tell you that almost every small breed of rabbit is a Dwarf of some kind. There are actually quite a few breeds that are small in size but only one breed that actually has the word 'Dwarf' in its breed title and that is a Netherland Dwarf. A breeder can also help you by giving you experienced information on the breed that you are buying. Some breeders will also give you the pedigree with the purchase of a bunny directly from them. We sell all our bunnies 2-3 months of age for .00 pet of show quality, with a health guarentee, and a pedigree. This way we know that the new owner knows exactly what breed that they have and that it is a purebred animal.

One way of finding a breeder is to go to your local 4-H office and ask for the name and number of the rabbit leader. Another way is to go to the feed stores in your area and ask for some names of breeders that buy feed at that store. Look on the bulletine boards at the feed stores. When you find a breeder, ask them what breeds that they raise and tell them what your are looking for. If they don't have what you are looking for, then ask them for the name of a breeder that might be able to help you. Don't ever buy something that is not what you are looking for. The reason being, if it is not what you want, and you are just settling for it, you will not be as happy and the bunny in the long run will suffer from it. What I mean by this is, if it is not what you set out for, you are not as apt to give it as much attention, care and love as you might have a bunny that you REALLY wanted in the first place. Whatever you do, don't buy the first bunny that you touch or see. Look around and make sure that is the one that you really want for the next 7-11 yrs.

Belgian Hare, Britannia Petite, Dwarf Hotot, Hotot, New Zealand, Rex, Checkerd Giant, Rhinelander, Silver Marten

2. Rabbits do not need vitamins other than what is provided in their rabbit feed. Rabbit feed is specially formutated to make sure that your rabbit is getting the correct amount of protein, fiber,fat and vitamins.

3. Rabbits do not need alfalfa hay in addition to their regular feed but do need grass hay to keep things flowing properly in their gut. Grass hay is also a good source of fiber that can help a bunny get through a bout of diarrhea.

4. Bunnies are not a host for fleas although if no other host is around, (cats, dogs, etc) a rabbit can host fleas until a preferred host comes around. If your rabbit does become a host for fleas, just use a Cat or Kitten Shampoo to give your rabbit a bath. DO NOT use a dog product, as they are to strong for your rabbit and can harm your bunny.

4. Rabbits do not need to have a bath on a routine basis. If you find that your rabbit has a real need for a bath, please make sure that your rabbit is completely dry before the cool evening air comes. Rabbits that have wet tummies can get sick rather easy. You can use a blow dryer to dry your rabbit off. Just use a low setting.

5. Rabbits do not in general need to go to a vet. About the only time rabbits need to go to a vet is when your rabbit has an injury, a lump of some kind, is really sick and dehydrated or you are having him/her altered.

Bunnies are not like on TV, do not give them lettuce and tons of other treats. Treats such as onour "grains and treats page", are ok in moderation but only after the bunny is at least 3-4 monthsof age. You can almost bet that if you got your bunny from a pet store, that bunny will only be between 4-8 weeks of age, depending on your state laws governing the sale age of rabbits.

Rabbits require an adequate size cage also. I believe that if you have the room, then it is better to have a cage that is to big rather than to small. Bunnies like to run around for excercise and for the fun of it. Please visit "Basic Care" page for more info on what size cage you might want to consider for your new bunny. Please remember that it is only 1 rabbit per cage and that 2 males should never, never be put together in the same cage/area.

Rabbits can get diarrhea from time to time for various reasons. Changes in the rabbit daily routine
or feed can cause just enough stress to give a rabbit diarrhea. There is also some called Coprophagy, which is the eating of night feces. This seems gross, but it is very important for the
digestive system of the rabbit. You can tell the difference of Diarrhea and Coprophagy by going to our page on "common concerns and questions, treatments and preventions".

Never, never, never leave your bunny in a room unattended even if you do have it bunny proofed. It only takes a second for the bunny to get hurt on something that you may have overlooked.

Bunnies can be worse than kids at times. You will need to really bunny proof your house if you are ever planning on letting your bunny run through the house. Rabbits will chew and scratch on everything including electrical cords. Unless you want fried rabbit, you will need to take some precautions so that this doesn't happen. I suggest using PVC piping. It is by far less expensive than replacing cords, wires and bunnies. The way that you would do this is to run your electric cords, and your phone, vcr, cable wires thru the PVC piping. Make sure that you completely hide all the wiring. Even a small amount is an open invatation for a bunny to chew on. Rabbits will also chew and scratch on the corners of your sofa and chairs. I suggest in this case, either covering the corners of the sofa or chairs with carpet squares, or a thick material stapled on or don't let the bunny run loose in the rooms that have your really nice furniture in it.

Giving your bunny some toys that are safe for rabbits can also help in destracting your bunny from chewing on the wrong things, but again, don't count on it 100%.

Rabbits can be easily litter boxed trained in just a few short days. Please visit our page on "litter box training" your bunny.

I also suggest that you alter/fix/spay/neuter, (whatever you want to call it) your pet bunny. Any animal that is not used for breeding purposes should be spayed or neutered for the health of your animal. Animals that are not used for breeding purposes are more prone to getting cancer whether they are a male or female animal. If you would like more information on spaying and neutering, please visit our page on "altering" your pet bunny or cavy.

Recommended Books to read I have read these books and highly recommend them:

Raising Rabbits the Modern Way by Bob Bennett

The Encyclopedia of Pet Rabbits by David Robinson

I would like to suggest visiting the rest of "our site" for more information as well as lots of pictures. If you have any questions about your rabbit and you have not found the answer here, then you can either email me (addy at top of this page) or you can visit the "Rabbit Web Discussion Board" for just about any rabbit related question

When giving your rabbit hay, please make sure that it is a grass hay. You don't want to give your rabbit Alfalfa Hay. Your bunny already gets plenty of alfalfa in his regular feed pellets. If you dogive alfalfa hay in addition to pellets, your bunny could get to much protien and not enough fibercausing your bunny to get diarrhea.

Rabbits that have long toenails can cause the rabbits feet to sit in a way that causes the rabbits feet to tilt backwards. This in turn putspressure on the rabbits feet that is not very comfortable on the rabbit. Having this pressure for very long can break down the padding on the hock. Since rabbit are constantly standing on its feetthe prolonged pressure in an un-natural position cause the hock to become sore. This is one of the leading causes to Sore Hocks. Rabbits that have long nails can also loose their toenails easier. The
longer toenails seem to get snagged easier causing in some cases, the toenail to be completely ripped out. In a lot of cases the toenail will then either not come back in or it will grow back in the wrongcolor. Once a toenail gets to long, it can also start to curl. This too will put the rabbits feet in an un-natural position.

Over the years I have tried various toenail cutting tools. I have tried the toenail cutters made for dogs and cats that look somewhat like a pair of scissors, didn't like those at all. I felt that they were very deceptive in getting the cut in the right spot. I have tried using human toenail clippers with little success. I found those to work ok for the smaller breeds but useless in the bigger breeds. I have tried the kind that you place the toenail into a little hole and then squeeze the handle like a guillotine, and actually ripped the nail out by accident. I prefer using straight edge wire cutters. They are easy to use, easy to see exactly where you are cutting at and they are also very easy to sharpen. They will also cut thru thin and thick toenails with great ease.

If you are cutting the nails by yourself, then I prefer to sit down and hold the rabbit on its back in my lap. If you have help, then just have someone hold the rabbit on its back in a comfortable hold. I also like to make sure that you have good lighting while cutting nails. On the darker colored rabbits, it can be hard to see the quick in poor lighting. If you have to, hold a flashlight up to the rabbits toenails so that you can really get a good look at where that quick is. If you cut into the quick, the rabbit will bleed. You need to stop this bleeding right away. It is a good idea to have on hand some *Stop Bleed* septick powder. It comes in various brand names, but all does the same thing. If you do cut into the quick, then apply a pinch of the septic powder and apply pressure until the bleeding stops.

2. Septic Powder

3. A flashlight to see exactly where the quick is

A litterbox, (a kitty litterbox is fine)

Non Clumping Kitty litter

Cage

Bitter Apple Spray

Reward Treats of somekind

Rabbit

I hope that the information below will help make it easier to understand how to train your house rabbit to use the litter box rather than your floor.

How to go about litterbox training your. The best way to litterbox train your rabbit is over the period of a few days. Training a rabbit is just like any other animal in the aspect that nothing happens overnite.

The first that you are going to want to do is to pick a room where you are going to want the litter box and then block that room off with the rabbit, the litterbox and the rabbits cage in that room. Place the litterbox next to or near the outside of the cage. Make sure to place the cage on the floor. It is really important to have the cage on the floor so that the rabbit can come in and out on his/her own free will when the door is open. The rabbits cage to him/her is their own personal space. Try to not take your rabbit out of the cage. Let them come out on there own.

Now you would want to try to keep an eye on your bunny. If you notice that your bunny does his duty on the floor then you need to sorta coax your bunny slowly but firmly to the litterbox without shoving him/her. Once you have gotton close to the litterbox try to get the bunny to jump into the litterbox without you putting them in the box. Once the rabbit is in the box, then place the rabbits poo pellets in the litterbox.

Talk nicely to your rabbit while they are in the litterbox. Think about how you would like to be talked to. If your rabbit uses the litterbox in the way intended, reward them with a treat.

Soon your rabbit will get the hint that the litterbox is their own personal bathroom and they will try to use it always, but, if your rabbit does have an accident somewhere outside the litterbox, coax them back to the box and place the poo pellets in the litterbox so as they can see you doing this.

At night time you are going to want to put the litterbox in the cage with your rabbit. Try to put the litterbox in the corner of the cage that you notice the rabbit has been using to go to the bathroom in. This will help condition them to using the litterbox. In the morning you will need to put the litterbox back in the same location as the day before. Try not to move the litterbox in other locations other than the same spot outside and inside the cage. This too will help the rabbit in remembering to use the box a little bit better.

If you notice your rabbit starting to use a particular area other than the litterbox as a bathroom, then you need to spray that area with bitter apple spray. If you notice that the rabbit is having to many accidents outside the litterbox, then you will need to go through the training process over again.

It is also essential that if you are going to litter box train your rabbits, that each rabbit has its own cage during the training process.

You should notice that with in a couple of days or so, your bunny should be litterbox trained.

Always reward your bunny with a treat when they have used the litterbox properly

Always talk nicely to your rabbit while he/she is in the litterbox

Always put the litterbox in the same location

Never punish the rabbit while he/she is in the litterbox (a rabbit is like a child and learns more thru praise than reprimand)

You may say things like, I only have one, so it can't get pregnant or he is never around a doe, or I only let one out of the cage at a time, or any other various reason why you shouldn't get your animal altered.

The reason that I suggest that you get your animal altered is for its own health sake. Rabbits and Guinea Pigs that are not use for breeding and remain in tack are more likely to get cancer. Getting your rabbit or guinea pig fixed can reduce this possiblity greatly. It can also help with the mood swings that your pet can have.

The cost of altering your pet can range from 50 to 100 dollars, but the cost of treating Cancer in an unbred, unaltered pet can range from - start to finish treatment. Altering your pet is uncomfortable for them for a couple of days. Cancer can make your pet uncomfortable for a lifetime.

I have been told by lots of pet owners that their pets have actually made better pets once they were fixed. Their animals haven't been so tempermental and moody.

I do suggest though, that you do this before your rabbit or guinea pig reaches sexual maturity, especially for your bucks. This can be as early as 4 months. By altering the bucks before they start spraying can prevent them from ever getting into the habit. Once they have started that habit though, altering them may not fix that spraying habit.

Before you make the descission to fix your pet, make sure that you talk to vets in your area. Make sure that you find a rabbit/guinea pig friendly vet. Make sure that the vet has done this proceedure before successfully. Rabbits and guinea pigs don't handle going under anesthia very well, this is why it is so important to find a good vet knowledgeable with doing this delicate proceedure.

*Please note.... Even with very experience Vets, not all animals make it through being altered but the risk of this happening are well worth the prevention of Cancer paining your pet.

For the first couple of days after having the proceedure, your pet may not be as perky in his/her actions.

They also may not eat nor drink very well. As long as they are drinking though, I wouldn't worry to much for the first few days.

Your rabbits poo pellets may be a lot smaller also. When they start to eat more,the poo pellets will get back to normal size.

If you are altering an older rabbit, (one that has already shown signs of sexual maturity)then don't expect him/her to stop right away the outward signs of wanting to mate. Some bucks will circle around your feet, but this should stop when the hormones have leveled out.