Welcome to the Bend Bunny Lops family!
Welcome to the Bend Bunny Lops family!
We are sure glad you are here. Are you new to bunny ownership? I was once new too. Has it been a long time since you last cared for a furry friend? Well let me help remind you of what to do when you first bring home your buns!
Food, water, cage:
Bunnies need a high fiber pellet offered to them at least once a day. We feed our herd every morning offering them ¼ cup per feeding. Currently, your bunny has been eating Haystack Farm & Feed Rabbit Food from Oregon Feed & Irrigation & Coastal Ranch & Farm in Redmond. Unfortunately, the Bend store has recently closed but we are committed to this food because it is a high quality rabbit food so for us, it is worth the drive to get the feed at the Redmond store.
When your bunny goes home with you, they will have a bag of a week’s worth of transition food. Over the course of that week, slowly add your bun’s new food to a mixture of old food. Slowly is key as if you change their food too quickly, they can have trouble. If you plan on keeping your bunny on the food we have been using, please disregard this part. You may just continue to give them ¼ cup of food the day you bring home your new buns. Please see image below to help with transition to new food.
HAY! Did someone say hay? There will be HAY! Lots and lots of HAY! Your bunny needs unlimited access to hay …. Orchard or Tiomthy Hay to be exact. Hay helps the bunny digestive system and it also helps to keep your bunny’s poop hard. Make sure your bunny has HAY! Hay also helps with the teeth of your bunny, as they eat, they file down their teeth (fun fact … a bunny’s teeth never stop growing. It is extremely important that your bunny has access to chew toys and unlimited hay to keep their teeth healthy). If you notice your bunny’s poop is soft or mushy, please up the hay intake. You may even consider removing food pellets for 24-48 hours to make your buns hungry enough to eat the hay provided. If you remove the pellets for a day or two, be sure your buns has unlimited amount of hay during that time. Often times, the stress of a move to their new home can cause bunnies to have looser poop pellets. Offer LOTS of hay from day one. Please note, bagged hay is best! If you go to a feed store, please be careful not to accept hay from the back of their store if offered. Things like ringworm and mites can live in hay and you do not want to bring that home to your baby buns.
Water needs to be offered to your bunny at all times. You might be surprised at how much your bunny drinks as they do drink a lot. Check the water often and refill as needed.
Your bunny needs space to run, jump and do lots of binkies (new word for you new to bunny owners! Binkies means to jump with joy!). The best setup is one that allows your bunny space to move around. Your bunny needs at least a 30x30” run! An Xpen is a great way to house your bunny.
Litter Box! Your bunny will come already learning how to use their litter box. Consistency is key! Start small. Allow your bunny to get used to his or her new surrounding and then slowly open up their space to more. Rabbits are naturally clean animals, they like to go to the bathroom in their litter box. Put their hay, water and pellets in or by litter box so that your bunny has to stand on their litter box while they eat and drink. Bunnies like to eat and drink where they poop and pee. This will help with litter training. Please remember, peeing inside a litter box for a baby is considered potty trained. Poop outside the litter box can be eliminated but only after your bunny is spayed or neutered.
Rabbit urine has a strong smell. Be prepared. A thin layer of pine pellets covered by a layer of hay in their litter box is the easiest way to remove the smell of urine.
Bunnies are prey animals. This means that their instincts are to keep themselves safe from predators. Give your bunny a place to hide. Hide-aways in their cage is a great way for them to feel safe in their new home. I often find my buns sleeping on top and below their hideaways and they are their most favorite spot in their cage.
Outdoor Runs!
Bunnies love to be outdoors! Remember, they love to run and jump and do lots of binkies! We have set up runs throughout our property for our bunnies to explore new places!
Be sure your outdoor runs are completely covered so that birds and other animals cannot reach your buns.
Bunnies like to dig! Be sure your run is dig proof! In our runs, we have concrete blocks on the ground of their cage. These blocks help to keep nails filed as well as keeps our buns from digging their way out of their cage.
Bunnies need access to water while outside in their runs.
Runs should not be anywhere in direct sunlight. Rabbits can handle the cold better than they can handle the heat. Be sure your bunny is not in direct sunlight OR wind. Our outdoor runs have a hutch in them to give our bunnies a place to go for food, water, litter box and hay. It also provides them a place to feel safe and secure while outside in their runs.
Provide some fun toys, tunnels, stacking cups etc in your outdoor run.
Please read up on and educate yourself on RHDV (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus). Know the risks and educate yourself on how to keep your buns safe! A simple google search will provide you with a whole lot of information you will need to make the best decision for your buns.
Bringing your buns home!
Bunnies are very sensitive to new environments. It may take a few hours or a whole month for your bunny to open up to their new home! Don’t be discouraged. Take the time to bond with your bunny. Sit on the floor with them and allow them the space to come to you. Let them sniff you, let them jump in your lap. Pet them and hand feed them to help build trust with your buns. They need to know they are safe and that too are safe.
Bunnies are like any other animal, most hate to be held while some love to snuggle. Your bunny’s personality will grow as they grow. Don’t force them to do something they don’t want to do. If your bunny doesn’t like to be held, find a place to sit with them to pet them instead.
All our buns come full socialized. Continue the work we have started and be sure to spend lots of time with your buns. If you aren’t spending time with them, they won’t learn to trust you! The key to raising a sweet buns is the time spent with that buns especially in the beginning. It is worth it, I promise!
Children and buns!
Here at Bend Bunny Lops, our buns are handled daily by our entire family. This includes our adoring children.
Teach your child(ren) how to gently pet your new furry friend and teach them how to hold them. It is important for your child(ren) to know that slow and gentle touch is the way to gain the trust of your bunny.
Have your child lay on the floor and allow your new bunny to hop and jump around them.
Have your child(ren) hand feed your bunny. This allows trust to be built with them and your new furry friend.
Visit your bunny often! They love to be around their people. The more time you spend with your bunny when they first arrive home, the more that bunny will be bonded to you. Spend lots of time with your bunny!
Spaying and Neutering:
Spaying and neutering your buns is important! Around 4-6 months of age, your buns will reach sexual maturity and they will welcome in their adolescent years. This means, they will get hormonal and will be ready to mate. Spaying and neutering your bunny will help to remove most of those hormones and keep your furry friend sweet.
Spaying and neutering will also help with litter box training.
Males spray urine and poop to mark their territory. Females will sometimes bite and seem aggressive when they are ready to mate. Reducing these hormones makes the adolescent years much easier and way more fun. It will also protect against unwanted pregnancies and help to ensure a long healthy life for your buns.
Contact your bunny savvy vet to talk more about spaying and neutering!
HAY AND POOP!
If I am being honest here, when I first fell in love with bunnies I didn’t realize how much poop and hay there would be. This is an important piece of information to have. Set up a place for your bunny to live freely, knowing that there will be always be poop and hay. For us, that means we have a cage set up in our garage with a broom and dustpan close by. We sweep up extra hay and those runaway poop nuggets. When our bunnies come inside, I block off the area to which I am okay with them going in. Our living room and kitchen is that space inside our home. After our buns have had some time indoors, we do a quick run through with our lovely shopvac (if you don’t have one, might I suggest you get one now) vacuum to pick up leftover poop and hay. We have a litter box in our home where our bunnies know they have access to while indoors. For outdoors, we have a covered cage for our front lawn. If you don’t already know, rabbit poop is great fertilizer! I love it when my buns are outside on our lawn. They fertilize it and have fun on it all at the same time. Be sure not to treat your grass with harsh chemicals because that can hurt and possibly kill your buns.
Important Info:
Do not bathe your bunny! Bunnies are really clean animals. They will clean themselves well. Bunnies
have a hard time regulating their body temps so something as simple as getting wet can really harm your buns (or even worse, kill them).
Trim your bun’s nails once every few weeks especially when they are young to help them get used to doing this when they are older.
Bunnies are very sensitive to extreme heat. The perfect climate for your buns is between 35-75 degrees. Be sure your bunny’s cage (if kept outdoors) is free from direct sunlight and or wind / rain. If its below 32 degrees, be sure to give you bunny extra food and hay to burrow in to stay warm and don’t forget to check the bunny’s water often to ensure their water has not frozen. If it gets above 75, be sure to give your bunny a safe and cool place to rest. Ice cubes to snuggle up to, cement blocks that stay cool are a great way to keep your bunny cool while its hot outside.
BUNNIES CHEW EVERYTHING!!!! This is in all caps for a reason friends. Bunnies chew. Do not allow them to be in a space where there are opportunities to chew (think wires and baseboards and carpet and rugs). Again, be sure to create a space where your bunny can explore that is safe and works well for you the bunny owner.
And finally, enjoy this time with your buns. Bunnies are animals and just like with any other animal, the more time you spend with your buns the better pet they will be. As they grow, their personalities will grow too. Never force your bunny to cuddle if he or she isn’t a cuddler. Going at the bunny’s pace and allowing your buns to lead will create a super special bond between you and your newest furry friend.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concern!
