Posting to say my rabbits (Binky and Laser) have finally bonded. We have had them for 9 months (since August last year), and last night they spent the night together for the first time. Will post cute pics in the near future.
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# ? May 4, 2008 12:50 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:30 |
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A story to liven up the thread. Last week I was laying on the floor with a blanket watching TV and Creme hopped into my lap. She stayed there a while and I was thinking about how adorable it was that she came to visit. After she left I realized that she'd pissed all over me.
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# ? May 6, 2008 23:04 |
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Baitu posted:A story to liven up the thread. Heh. My aunt's rabbit was such a little rascal. If he was angry with her he'd run past and leap in the air, twisting juuuust right to do a fly-by piss to get her. Did you bug your bun recently?
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# ? May 7, 2008 08:27 |
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Okay... so it's that time of the year when the weather's going to be getting hot really soon, and my poor rabbit has a LOT of fur. It's probably a terrible idea to put a fan on him all day so I'm wondering just what to do here. I read somewhere (probably rabbit.org) that freezing a bottle of water and leaving it in the cage is a good idea. My rabbit doesn't seem particularly interested in it but I'm going to keep doing it for my own peace of mind. I just wonder if there's anything else I can do... Any tips for responsibly cooling down a rabbit?
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# ? May 8, 2008 16:40 |
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DS at Night posted:Any tips for responsibly cooling down a rabbit? Put a piece of marble or tile in her cage that she can lay down on. Freezing a 2-liter full of water does help as well.
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# ? May 8, 2008 17:13 |
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candeh posted:Put a piece of marble or tile in her cage that she can lay down on. Freezing a 2-liter full of water does help as well. These work great. I got several of those 18" concrete step stones for garden walkways and the buns love them. You can even put them in the fridge overnight if you want them extra cool.
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# ? May 8, 2008 17:27 |
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Okay that's a good tip I can work with, I'll get one soon, thanks. I'm also trying a bowl of refrigerated water which he seems to love. Messy as hell but pretty adorable to watch him stick his face in it and then act amazed at being wet. (I usually only have water from a rabbit drinking bottle around).
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# ? May 8, 2008 17:30 |
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DS at Night posted:Okay that's a good tip I can work with, I'll get one soon, thanks. It's really best to use a bottle and bowl, or just a bowl so they can dip their paws in and wash their face. It keeps them clean (especially if they live alone) and It's so darn adorable. I plan on getting a couple marble tiles as well, my overweight bunny gets so freaking hot in the summer.
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# ? May 9, 2008 03:02 |
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Double post.
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# ? May 9, 2008 03:02 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:It's really best to use a bottle and bowl, or just a bowl so they can dip their paws in and wash their face. It keeps them clean (especially if they live alone) and It's so darn adorable. My rabbits don't like bowls. Or rather one rabbit likes themm too much and throws the bowl of water around so the other oone who would otherwise actually drink from the bowl can't get any water as it's all over the floor. If the bowl is too heavy for her to throw, she throws crap in it (including pellets) and it gets all mushy and gross. Thankfully she taught him how to use the water bottle. She's a pain in the rear end. It's a good thing she's cute. I will need to remember that frozen water bottle thing. I think I'll also be getting them a little garden stone. I think they'd like that.
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# ? May 9, 2008 03:26 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:It's really best to use a bottle and bowl, or just a bowl so they can dip their paws in and wash their face. It keeps them clean (especially if they live alone) and It's so darn adorable. Mine wont use a bottle. They get some hay in their bowl at times, but we empty it out and refill it several times a day. Our cats like the bunnies bowl better than theirs, and meow at me until I open the rabbit cage in the morning. Bunny spit must add a special something.
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# ? May 9, 2008 18:58 |
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Baitu posted:Mine wont use a bottle. They get some hay in their bowl at times, but we empty it out and refill it several times a day. Our cats like the bunnies bowl better than theirs, and meow at me until I open the rabbit cage in the morning. Bunny spit must add a special something. Really? I've never seen either of mine drink from the bowl. It's more like a splashy mess-making tool for them.
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# ? May 10, 2008 02:20 |
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Murphy won't use a bottle, so I got a dish that attaches to the side of the pen. Since it's elevated he can't toss it around and doesn't get too much crap in there, but I do clean it out every other day or so since he's shedding really bad right now.
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# ? May 10, 2008 02:38 |
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I don't know if my buns know how to use a bottle. They will tip over a bowl if it's not heavy enough. I just rinse it out every day, There's occasionally a poop in there, but that's usually the worst. If they're shedding badly there will be some fur.
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# ? May 10, 2008 02:50 |
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We have a super heavy, big dog bowl. Creme's a bowl tipper, so we couldn't do anything too light. Plus with 4 animals drinking from it, we need a larger volume.
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# ? May 10, 2008 05:57 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:It's really best to use a bottle and bowl, or just a bowl so they can dip their paws in and wash their face. It keeps them clean (especially if they live alone) and It's so darn adorable. I'd give him a bowl if his favourite pastime wasn't "knocking poo poo over". The mess would be enormous. But maybe when he gets a bigger cage I'll go for the heavy dog bowl. Ok I got him a tile and he's trying to take bites out of it. I think we're in for a loooong summer.
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# ? May 10, 2008 11:31 |
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DS at Night posted:Ok I got him a tile and he's trying to take bites out of it. I think we're in for a loooong summer. I work at a tile store so I picked out some 16 x 16 ultra dense slate. Occasionally ben will nip at it, but Annie just loves the thing, she's laying on one of the 3 almost every time I come home. I wouldn't worry too much about him biting it. He'll figure out it's not edible real fast.
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# ? May 11, 2008 02:43 |
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Well he still occasionally tries to eat it but now at least I think he's figured out what it's for. He's taking a nap snuggled up to it right now. That's a lot cuter than it should be. A boy and his brick.
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# ? May 11, 2008 11:26 |
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I really am going to try to convince the boyfriend to let me get a dog again. Now we have a new house, with a good sized yard for him/her to play in. The pet policy is under 35lbs full grown. I am wondering what breeds would do better with a rabbit and which breeds are BIG no no (like a beagle...pretty much all hunting dogs). Obviously I would never leave the dog and rabbit alone together, but I don't want the dog seeking out to eat the rabbits constantly.
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# ? May 11, 2008 15:19 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:I really am going to try to convince the boyfriend to let me get a dog again. Now we have a new house, with a good sized yard for him/her to play in. The pet policy is under 35lbs full grown. I am wondering what breeds would do better with a rabbit and which breeds are BIG no no (like a beagle...pretty much all hunting dogs). Obviously I would never leave the dog and rabbit alone together, but I don't want the dog seeking out to eat the rabbits constantly. I think this is a terrible idea. You don't have the money to take care of a sick cat, what would happen if your dog got sick?
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# ? May 11, 2008 16:20 |
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Dr. Housecat MD posted:I think this is a terrible idea. You don't have the money to take care of a sick cat, what would happen if your dog got sick? I'm not saying this is something I'm doing immediately. I just wanted input.
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# ? May 11, 2008 17:26 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:I'm not saying this is something I'm doing immediately. I just wanted input. And you got it.
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# ? May 12, 2008 01:46 |
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Ok so with the bunny hair, and the hay box in the room, vacuuming isn't really cutting it anymore, and I'm wondering if any of you have an air purifier? I hear that a good one can be great for getting dust out of the air and I'm thinking about getting one. Any recommendations?
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# ? May 13, 2008 20:28 |
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Deceptor101 posted:Ok so with the bunny hair, and the hay box in the room, vacuuming isn't really cutting it anymore, and I'm wondering if any of you have an air purifier? I hear that a good one can be great for getting dust out of the air and I'm thinking about getting one. Any recommendations? I've been wanting to get one as well. No brand recommendations though, sorry.
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# ? May 13, 2008 23:23 |
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Deceptor101 posted:Ok so with the bunny hair, and the hay box in the room, vacuuming isn't really cutting it anymore, and I'm wondering if any of you have an air purifier? I hear that a good one can be great for getting dust out of the air and I'm thinking about getting one. Any recommendations? I have a cheap walmart one. Most of the fur just sticks to the front of it but then you can wipe the fur off the front and it's that much more fur that's not in the air, carpet, etc. I'd like to know if one of those ionic breeze things work...I always wanted one of those.
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# ? May 14, 2008 03:15 |
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DOOM Rabbit posted:I have a cheap walmart one. Most of the fur just sticks to the front of it but then you can wipe the fur off the front and it's that much more fur that's not in the air, carpet, etc. I'd like to know if one of those ionic breeze things work...I always wanted one of those. We had one growing up, it was always getting covered with nasty dust and dirt you never knew was in the air. I have no idea how it would do with animal hair, we had dogs and cats at the time, but I don't remember it reducing the hair that much.
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# ? May 14, 2008 03:20 |
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The ionic breeze is a scam. Via msnbc, consumer reports states "Sharper Image’s Ionic Breeze Quadra Silent Air Purifier and four other similar machines fail to significantly clean the air — but also release potentially unhealthy levels of ozone." Here's the link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7391185/ I would go with a hepa filter, make sure you get one that is rated to the size of the room you are putting it in. The filters have to be replaced every so often but I think that time is measured in years.
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# ? May 14, 2008 04:05 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:We had one growing up, it was always getting covered with nasty dust and dirt you never knew was in the air. I have no idea how it would do with animal hair, we had dogs and cats at the time, but I don't remember it reducing the hair that much. Well my computer case fans already have to be wiped off every 2 days of bun-fuzz, so I actually don't have much of that elsewhere, it's just the dust that is on top of every damned thing in the room. I think i just found a good one on craigslist tho, 45$, 110 SF, HEPA filter, brand new, hopefully picking it up tomorrow.
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# ? May 14, 2008 08:44 |
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How often do you bathe your buns and clean their little paws? What soaps are safe to use? Any methods on training and discipline? How do you punish your buns or say "knock it off" when they do something naughty? I've heard you can make a loud noise, use a spray bottle, or put them in a time-out box.
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# ? May 14, 2008 17:54 |
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ShadowCatboy posted:How often do you bathe your buns and clean their little paws? What soaps are safe to use? What is he dirty with? Paint, motor oil, glue? Unless it's something like above, you should never have to clean your rabbit. They clean themselves like cats. If the paws are getting dirty, your cage is too dirty. Even rabbits who like sitting in a dirty litterbox won't get dirty, unless they have no other place to go. ShadowCatboy posted:Any methods on training and discipline? How do you punish your buns or say "knock it off" when they do something naughty? I've heard you can make a loud noise, use a spray bottle, or put them in a time-out box. No. Rabbits don't understand punishment. It's the responsibility of the owner to set up their area so that they can't do anything unapproved. A loud noise, which may startle them away from their "bad" behavior, won't actually teach them anything about future behaviors. Rabbits simply do not seem to be good at operant conditioning where a negative response reduces future behaviors. If anything, with my guys a punishment (like HEY GET OUT OF THERE) makes the forbidden area much more attractive and repeats of the undesired behavior become MORE likely.
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# ? May 14, 2008 19:48 |
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ShadowCatboy posted:How often do you bathe your buns and clean their little paws? What soaps are safe to use? Like alucinor said, you shouldn't have to clean them unless they got into something or your cage is too dirty. Again, like alucinor said, you can't. They don't understand it, you just have to make their environment where they can't get into trouble. A time out box? Wtf. No animal understands "time out" ...some children don't even.
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# ? May 14, 2008 22:11 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:They don't understand it, you just have to make their environment where they can't get into trouble. This is exactly my experience. You don't train the rabbit - the rabbit trains you. For example, you have to learn to keep things he wants to chew out of reach. Making noises only deters them momentarily in my experience. Mocha was really into carpet chewing when we got him (not good). Clapping startled him for a second initially, but was completely ineffective in a few days. Now we just keep the particular area he liked covered with some cheap carpet runner from the local hardware store.
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# ? May 14, 2008 23:40 |
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What exactly is my bun trying to do when she licks my pillow? I get the digging at my clothes, I get the chewing on my drawstring pants, but I can't imagine what behavior is emulated by licking a pillow. It's not damp, and it's just a plain medium threadcount pillowcase.
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# ? May 15, 2008 00:32 |
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angelicism posted:What exactly is my bun trying to do when she licks my pillow? I get the digging at my clothes, I get the chewing on my drawstring pants, but I can't imagine what behavior is emulated by licking a pillow. It's not damp, and it's just a plain medium threadcount pillowcase. She probably just loves your scent. Pillows really absorb a lot of that stuff. Either that or she's trying to savor the sweet, sweet taste of your flesh.
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# ? May 15, 2008 00:59 |
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angelicism posted:What exactly is my bun trying to do when she licks my pillow? I get the digging at my clothes, I get the chewing on my drawstring pants, but I can't imagine what behavior is emulated by licking a pillow. It's not damp, and it's just a plain medium threadcount pillowcase. Both mine do this, I find it hilarious. I'm guessing they're licking the salt from sweat perhaps? Gross, but hilarious. I had a video of Lucy doing that on my phone, but it disappeared when the phone died.
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# ? May 15, 2008 01:56 |
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girlscoutdropout posted:I really am going to try to convince the boyfriend to let me get a dog again. Now we have a new house, with a good sized yard for him/her to play in. The pet policy is under 35lbs full grown. I am wondering what breeds would do better with a rabbit and which breeds are BIG no no (like a beagle...pretty much all hunting dogs). Obviously I would never leave the dog and rabbit alone together, but I don't want the dog seeking out to eat the rabbits constantly. Only had much experience with my girlfriend's golden retriever, who just looks really interested but otherwise leaves them alone. A lot of dogs I've seen who are purely pet/indoor dogs seem to ignore or get along with rabbits okay.
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# ? May 15, 2008 02:46 |
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ShadowCatboy posted:She probably just loves your scent. Pillows really absorb a lot of that stuff. I've always wondered about the scent thing. I wear like half a dozen different perfumes given the season and the weather and day/night. I wonder if she thinks I turn into a different person between fall/winter and spring/summer.
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# ? May 16, 2008 17:34 |
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We've really been considering getting a bunny but all the local pet shops have either full growns that get spooked to hell when anyone pets them or babies that freeze up and shake when you handle them and don't seem interested at all. All except for today, while my girlfriend and I were out looking around today I found the most odd little bunny ever. He had a white coat and black circles around his eyes and practically no whiskers at all (they were all extremely short and curled/singed looking). I was petting another little bunny trying to snack when he caught scent of my hand and started licking my finger furiously (almost aggressive I'd guess). Which was fine, girlfriend assured me it was normal and affectionate behavior. Until he got a good enough taste in his mouth and decided to bite the little bit of dead skin around my fingernail. It didn't hurt I could only tell what he was doing when he tried to tug it off my finger (to eat I guess ). He did draw a little bit of blood so I started to take my hand away and he followed it. And he kept following it even when I took it out his range (he climbed on top of one of the plastic houses and stood on his hind legs). He followed my hand all around the cage and even came to the edge when I tried to walk away, I was kinda sketchy about giving him my hand again because I couldn't tell if he was going to be licky or bitey. Tested it with my girlfriends hand but he wasn't as enthusiastic about chasing her. Normal behavior? aggressive? Good or Bad?
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# ? May 16, 2008 23:05 |
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Necron Vs. World posted:We've really been considering getting a bunny but all the local pet shops have either full growns that get spooked to hell when anyone pets them or babies that freeze up and shake when you handle them and don't seem interested at all. All except for today, while my girlfriend and I were out looking around today I found the most odd little bunny ever. He had a white coat and black circles around his eyes and practically no whiskers at all (they were all extremely short and curled/singed looking). I was petting another little bunny trying to snack when he caught scent of my hand and started licking my finger furiously (almost aggressive I'd guess). Which was fine, girlfriend assured me it was normal and affectionate behavior. Until he got a good enough taste in his mouth and decided to bite the little bit of dead skin around my fingernail. It didn't hurt I could only tell what he was doing when he tried to tug it off my finger (to eat I guess ). He did draw a little bit of blood so I started to take my hand away and he followed it. And he kept following it even when I took it out his range (he climbed on top of one of the plastic houses and stood on his hind legs). He followed my hand all around the cage and even came to the edge when I tried to walk away, I was kinda sketchy about giving him my hand again because I couldn't tell if he was going to be licky or bitey. Tested it with my girlfriends hand but he wasn't as enthusiastic about chasing her. Normal behavior? aggressive? Good or Bad? Normal. He was basically saying "hey, why did you stop paying me attention?" (or as my girlfriend said when she read this, "hey, play with ME!" bunnies will nip at you to get your attention... you can usually train them to realize that they're hurting you. Milly used to nip me all the time, now she just gives me a good lick or bumps her nose against me if she wants attention.
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# ? May 16, 2008 23:37 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:30 |
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I've read that to train them not to be bitey just make a light yelp and they'll get the idea that they're hurting you. I'm glad that bunny likes you, though. I get curious nips all the time from squirrels.
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# ? May 17, 2008 03:15 |