Welcome to rabbits 101!
In this website you will be able to find bunny tips and tricks! If you have any questions, suggestions on what to add to the website, or need any help feel free to email me at [email protected] or dm me over Instagram. Keep in mind that I will continue to add on to this website in the future!
Let us know what you want to see added!
Hay
Why is hay so important in a rabbits diet?
The main source of a rabbits diet should be hay but, why is it so important? Hay provides fiber to keep the digestive system healthy and motile! Their digestive system is super sensitive and anything that disrupts it can cause gastrointestinal (GI) stasis. This is a condition where the contents of the digestive tract becomes compact and the rabbit has difficulties passing the mass through, this is very deadly. Feeding your rabbit unlimited fresh hay can help prevent GI stasis. It will also help prevent fur blockage, this is especially important for longer haired breeds.
Providing hay can also help in keeping your rabbits teeth nice and healthy! Rabbits teeth never stop growing which can lead to having sharp hooks if not worn down. This can be super painful to your rabbit and cause them to stop eating, leading to GI stasis. The repetitive, rapid chewing movement of eating hay helps wear down their teeth, as well as satisfying natural chewing urges.
What type of hay should I get?
Baby bunnies, 6 months and under, should be eating alfalfa hay. Alfalfa hay provides high caloric content necessary for their development. Once your rabbit is 7 months old, you can start to transition them over to timothy, orchard grass, oat hay, etc.
For older rabbits, 7 months and above, you can feed them bluegrass, brome, fescue, marsh, orchard, timothy, oat and ryegrass hay. Keep in mind that grass hays are the best because they are low in protein and calcium. Also note that having multiple different types of hay is important nutritionally. Having a variety can also desensitize your rabbit in small changes in texture and smell. Just find what works best for you!
You can buy hay from any of the sites linked below as well as pet stores and local farms. I personally like the brand oxbow and small pet select hay!
Small Pet Select
Fresh hay
(USA)
Binky Bunny
Hay bales & Oxbow brand
(USA)
Chewy.com
Oxbow Brand
(USA)
Zoey and Lilo's Toy Box
Oxbow Brand
Price is in Canadian dollars but can be converted into USA dollars!
(Canada)
Just4Rabbits
Fresh hay
(UK)
A Rabbits Diet
What should a rabbits diet includ?
Your rabbits diet should include pellets, a variety of veggies, and lots of hay!
Hay should be 75-80% of their diet. Hay provides fiber, calories, stimulates gut motility, and controls cecal fermentation. Hay is extremely important to keep your rabbit healthy. I recommend using the Oxbow brand for hay. You can get hay at the pet store, binkybunny.com, smallpetselect.com, and houserabbitssocitey.com.
There are many different types of hay and any bunny under the age of 7 months should have alfalfa hay. Any age above 7 months can have any other type of hay.
High Fiber Pellets are 20% of their diet. They provide calories, protein, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids. Pellets should be limited. Pellets lack the benefits of hay and veggies and should not be fed in isolation. Bunnies that are 3 to 4 weeks can have nibbles of alfalfa and alfalfa pellets. Bunnies that are 4 to 7 weeks should have access to alfalfa and alfalfa pellets. Bunnies that are 7 weeks to 7 months should have unlimited alfalfa pellets as well as unlimited alfalfa hay. Once they are 7 months start to switch to Timothy pellets and Timothy hay.
5-15% of diet should be leafy greens. Greens provide vitamins, minerals, and water. There should be at least three different leafy greens in your bunnies salad as well as a variety. At 12 weeks you can start to introduce vegetables. Make sure they are given only one at a time, quantities under 1/2 oz. Also supervise your rabbit after any new veggie. At 7 months to a year old, increase daily vegetables gradually. Make sure your rabbit can tolerate them. Rabbits that are 1-5 years old have a minimum of 2 cups chopped vegetables per 6 lbs. body weight. Again always introduce vegetables and greens slowly to make sure your rabbit can tolerate them.
Treats should be 0-5% of their diet. Fruits, carrots, and anything beyond that is a “treat.” Avoid sugary treats and also avoid over feeding treats. Too many treats discourage the consumption of healthier foods. A diet high in sugars causes an overgrowth of harmful bacteria resulting in painful gas or GI Stasis.
Veggie List
• Alfalfa sprouts
• Anise Hyssop
• Apple twigs, leaves, and fruit, but not the seeds!
• Arugula
• Asparagus
• Banana
• Basil
• Beet Greens
• Bell Pepper, Sweet Green
• Bell Pepper, Sweet Red
• Blackberry fruit, stems, leaves
• Blueberry fruit
• Bok Choy
• Borage
• Calendula
• Carrots
• Carrot roots
• Carrot tops (II)
• Catnip/catmint
• Celery
• Chamomile
• Chicory
• Cilantro/Coriander
• Clover
• Collard greens
• Comfrey
• Cranberry
• Cucumber peels
• Dandelion greens and flowers (no pesticides)
• Daylily flowers
• Dianthus
• Dill
• Eggplant
•Endive
• English Daisy
• Escarole
• Fennel
• Frisee Lettuce
• Green peppers
• Grape fruit, leaves, and vines
• Honeysuckle
• Jasmine
• Jerusalem Artichoke
• Kale
• Kolrabi
• Lemon balm
• Lemon grass
• Lettuce: Romaine, Red or Green leaf (no iceberg or light colored leaf)
• Lilac
• Lovage
• Mango
• Marigold
• Marjoram
• Melon
• Mint Varieties
• Mustard greens
• Nasturtium
• Okra
• Orange (no peel)
• Oregano
• Pansy
• Papaya
• Parsley
• Parsnip
• Peach
• Pear
• Peas, snow (no dried or sweet peas)
• Peppermint leaves
• Pineapple
• Purslane
• Radicchio
• Radish tops
• Radish
• Raspberry leaves
• Rose
• Rosemary
• Sage/salvia
• Spinach
• Sprouts
• Squash fruit and flowers
• Strawberry
• Sweet woodruff
• Swiss chard
• Tarragon, french
• Thyme
• Turnip Greens
• Viola
• Violet
• Watercress
• Wheat Grass
• Willow
AVOID
Avocado
Bamboo shoots
Beans, dried
Beans, raw: lima, kidney, soy
Bracken Fern
Cassava
Coffee beans and plant
Whole corn kernels (can get stuck in intestines)
Grains
Lettuce, Iceberg
Millet
Nuts
Onions
Peas, dried
Potatoes, including peels
Rhubarb
Sweet peas
Sweet Potatoes
Tea leaves
Whole seeds
Most house plants (toxic)
Chocolate
Refined sugars
Yogurt drops
Honey/Seed sticks
Bunny Proofing
Bunny proofing can be tricky because of how many things your rabbits like to get their teeth on! Here are a few tips and links to help!
Things to protect:
Cords/wires
Carpet
Baseboards
Blocking areas
Plants
And making sure any dangerous objects are protected.
———————————-
Cords
Chewing cords are one of rabbits favorites. Chewing your cords actually comes from an instinct based in their burrowing roots. Wires look like roots. Your rabbit will come across something that looks like a root and think ‘Oh! I need to clean this up and get it out of the way before is grows and blocks my tunnel.’
First step in protecting your cords is to block off any areas with lots of wires. Try to consolidate as many wires as you can into just one or two spots. Then block those areas off from your rabbit. You can do this by using cube storage or even baby gates. I will link them down below!
The other option is to keep your wires off the ground. You can set up hooks along the wall and behind furniture to make sure your wires are lifted and your rabbit can’t get to them. I also recommend cord protectors! They have changed my life and it is so much harder for them to chew through. I use a bin to hold most of my main cords.
———————————-
Baseboards
Having hay as the main part of their diet is very helpful for their dental health, but rabbits also need a variety of chew toys. And even if they have enough toys, sometimes they decide they want to chew on the baseboards instead.
Rabbits prefer to dig and chew at corners. Use a flexible cat scratcher to cover the baseboards. You can also buy planks of wood and attaching them to your baseboards. This is the best long term solution, but it does take a little more skill to implement. It’s also not really an option if you live in an apartment or rent your home if you aren’t allowed to make alterations.
If you don’t have this option or who need a cheaper solution, you can set up a row of flattened cardboard boxes against the wall. It’s not the prettiest solution, but it gets the job done. One more thing you can do is set up a fence around the perimeter of your room. Get a number of those DIY storage cubes, and linked them up (using tip ties) in a full perimeter around your room so your bunny can’t chew on the wall. It’s been a very effective solution and definitely worth a shot if you’re having some trouble getting your rabbit to stop biting the baseboards.
———————-
Blocking off areas
Rabbits like to explore areas under furniture, such as sofas or beds. Sometimes they will decide that these are great places to build a home or nest and they’ll start to dig into the carpet underneath the furniture. Stop your rabbit from getting under the furniture by blocking the area with fencing. I recommend cube storage attached with zip ties.
You can use tape to protect the bottom of furniture. I recommend using packing tape for anything that’s not wood and use scotch tape for any wooden furniture. You don’t want to take the wood off when the tape is taken off.
—————————
Bunny proofing other areas
Dangerous objects
You want to keep any objects that are harmful to rabbits outside of their reach. This includes cleaning supplies and other chemical products you keep under the bathroom or kitchen sink. It also includes houseplants that are poisonous to rabbits, candles, and human food that your rabbit might get curious about.
The best and easiest way to stop your rabbit from accessing these items is to keep them behind closed doors or out of reach.
Paper and books
Rabbits love to chew on paper, and books are no exception. They’ll hop right up to the bookshelf and pull a book off, only to tear it into pieces. And there was more than one occasion growing up when my rabbit really did eat my homework (or at least shred it to pieces).
The obvious first solution is to block off your rabbit’s access to your bookshelves. But that’s not always possible, so here’s where a little reorganizing will do the trick. Put anything you need easy access to on the top shelves, and make sure your rabbit can’t reach them.
Remember, rabbits are pretty tall when they stand on their hind legs. Then you want to get some plastic bins that will fit on the lower shelves and pack them with the rest of you books. Voila! Now your rabbit can’t chew up your collection.
For all other papers, just make sure you pay attention to where you leave things. Don’t leave anything important laying around in a place your rabbit might be able to reach it.
————————-
Last tip for bunny proofing
After you’ve made sure your rabbit can’t get at anything dangerous, it’s time to give them alternatives. Digging and chewing are natural behaviors for your rabbit, so you need to give them an opportunity to use their natural instincts without being destructive.
You can make digging boxes and make sure you have many chew toys around :)
Enclosures
Here are some different types of cages to look at. The good thing to remember is that your cage should be a minimum of
4 x 4. A good way to check of your cage is to small is to see if you can comfortably lie down in their cage. If not, it is most likely to small for your rabbit. They should be able to binky, flop, and do zoomies in their pen. Make sure to include in your cage a litterbox, at least one hidy house, water bowl, lots of toys, hay, and a blanket or a warm spot for them.
Free roam
Free roaming a bunny is one of the best things to do for your bunn! It may not be the best for all bunnies though. It takes lots of work to free roam your bunny. I will have a different slide for tips for free roaming! Make sure to always bunny proof before jumping into free roaming, good luck!
X- Pens
X- pens are one of my favorite type of cages! I love that they are easy to collapse and are able to be moved around. The minimum cage size is a 4 x 4 but that is still a very small cage. If you decide to get an x-pen still make sure your bunny gets plenty of free roam time!
Home built cages
Home built cages are amazing! I love the creativity in these type of cages! If you would like to build one, I recommend using chicken wire for the sides of the cage and wood for the base. Good luck!
C & C Grids
C & C Grids are a great option for a rabbit cage! You can make it how ever you want it, you can even make a second level if you wanted too. Have fun and get creative!
Lucidium Pen
Lucidium pens are one of my favorite pens! They have a more modern look to them and there are many different shapes and colors to choose from. They can be on the more expensive side though.
Litter box training
If you didn’t know, rabbits can actually be litter trained just like cats! Here are a few tips on how to do this.
First thing is to get a big enough litter box. Do NOT use the corner litter boxes you see at pet stores because these are way to small for your rabbit. Instead use a cat litter box, and make sure your rabbit can do a full 360° spin in their litter. Having a big enough litter box will also help when trying to litter train.
Once you have a big enough litter box, place it in the corner of their cage, room, etc. Bunnies like to go to corners to do their business so by putting it in the corner of the room, it will tell them to go “here”. Sometimes it will help to even have multiple litter boxes in different areas. You can go back down to one litter once they are litter trained though!
As rabbits eat, they poop. So by placing a hay rack above the litter, it will help contain their poop. You can also place their food bowl in the front corner of the litter as well! I also like to put hay in the litter box as well as having a hay rack.
As you probably have noticed, your rabbit might have had a few accidents already. If you see any loose poops, pick them up and put them in their litter. This will tell your rabbit that they should go “here” instead of on the floor. If your rabbit pees outside of the litter, take a small piece of paper towel and soak it up, then place it in their litter. Then make right away remove any smell of the pee and make the area neutral.
Most rabbits are being territorial when they do their business outside the litter. This is why you will need to remove any smell of pee right away. This tells them that this is not your space to go to the bathroom. I recommend using a half and half mixture of water and half vinegar to help remove any smell.
If your rabbit is still not using the litter, it is probably because they are not nurtured or spayed yet. Once they become fixed, it will help a LOT with litter training.
Make sure to be patient with this process and good luck!
OH HEY, FOR BEST VIEWING, YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR PHONE