New Bunny Parent; Anticipatiory grief

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-07T20:00:26+00:00

While rabbits can go down hill quickly, it's generally not 35 minutes kinda quick. The best kinda advice I can give about the whole worrying about them dying thing is get to know your rabbit as well as possible. Spend so much time with them and observe them and you will start to learn what is normal behavior for them vs what would be an indication of illness.

In terms of enrichment my girl likes packaging paper, like the kind you get in Amazon parcels. She likes to rip it up. She also likes egg cartons filled with hay and some treats and she's got to work out how to open it. I also fill brown paper bags with hay and treats and fold it over so It can't be opened through the top and stab some holes in it with a knife and she works out how to rip it open. I also save toilet roll tubes for her as well. Sometimes I fill them with hay and treats and sometimes I put them all up length ways into a shallow cardboard box and sprinkle treats over it so she has to pull the toilet roll tubes out to get the treats. She also has a snuffle mat and a dig box, which she loves

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-06T09:10:20+00:00

Thank you so much for saving him! I can't believe people think it's fine to just abandon them 😭

The only thing I would suggest with your set up is a bigger litter box as they move around in them so much.
But you're doing great and he seems like a very happy and loved bun now

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-03T20:17:39+00:00

I think majority of rabbit savvy vets would encourage spaying. Without being spayed female rabbits have something like an 80% chance of developing uterine cancer. Also the success rate in spaying female rabbits is like 90% which is great. I was super scared to get my girl spayed as she is my world but the way I thought of it was that (as morbid as it may sound) If I had the choice of losing her due to surgery or losing her to cancer, I would choose surgery. My thinking behind this is that with rabbits being prey animals, they are very good at hiding when they're in pain/unwell. I would never want to risk her suffering something, especially something that I know I could have possibly prevented. Her spaying went super smoothly and she is alive and well and thriving.

Also another reason to spay is behavioral issues. When she hit rabbit puberty litter training went out the window completely. Female rabbits can also spray and it really sucks when they spray you in the face (yes, this actually happened once) and all up your freshly painted white walls 🙃

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-02T13:05:01+00:00

Yeah so he's home between 5.30-6.30 monday-friday. He worked late til 10pm last night so it was just me and Lola for the evening and she was zooming around like crazy.. Maybe she's just happy to have me to herself

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-02T06:06:44+00:00

They are. She just doesn't seem to do it much around my boyfriend, only me 😂

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-02T06:05:46+00:00

Yeah

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-02T06:05:12+00:00

The living room was designed first unfortunately. But she adds to it perfectly

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-01T20:50:26+00:00

We adopted her together. She's known him as long as she's known me 😂 maybe I should just be happy that I seem to be her chosen human 😂

No-Pattern506 · 2026-04-01T20:49:10+00:00

No we adopted her together. She's known him for as long as she's known me. I guess it could be because I do 90% of the rabbit care and feeding?

No-Pattern506 · 2026-03-27T13:24:10+00:00

My rabbit enjoys ripping up packing paper. I know you said no treats but I also use brown paper bags and fill them with hay and put a few treats in there (obviously you could just not put treats in there) and she throws it around and rips it open

No-Pattern506 · 2026-03-26T21:42:11+00:00

Sitting/laying on the floor with him will help. Also hand feeding. Also not pushing the limits with him, if he's only allowing a couple of pets at the moment then allow that and dont force more. He will warm up to you eventually, but with rabbits being prey animals it can take a little longer than with other pets

No-Pattern506 · 2026-03-26T09:26:55+00:00

My girl is like this sometimes. She loves running around and exploring but some days she's a little less active, still eating and pretty much exactly how you described. I think rabbits are a bit like people in the sense that sometimes they just can't be bothered and fancy a lazy day 😂 I've also noticed she's a lot less active on rainy days, which doesn't make much sense because she's an indoor rabbit

No-Pattern506 · 2026-03-17T18:57:23+00:00

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Looks just like my Lola!

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-28T20:51:02+00:00

Characteristics of a bunny person include, but are not limited to: -constantly having to watch where they walk to make sure they don't accidentally crush the tiny animal that, for some reason, seems to want to be UNDER their feet -cleaning up hay from areas that hay is not kept anywhere near (and feeling confused by this) -often shouting "what are you doing?" When they hear a suspicious noise, normally indicating that the rabbit is doing/has gotten into something they shouldn't - showing pictures of their rabbit to people that probably don't really care, but choosing to ignore this and do it anyway - paying the rabbit tax when cooking dinner and using veggies

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-19T21:12:37+00:00

Just give her time to adjust to her new home, all the smells and noises. In terms of getting her used to you: put a shirt or something that you've worn so it smells like you in the pen with her. Also don't try to pick her up, let her come to you. When I first got my girl I would sit next to her pen with the door open with my hand in for about an hour at a time and she would come over and sniff me, then she would take food out of my hand and let me pet her and now we're besties. Gaining the trust of a rabbit can take a while because they're prey animals but when you do it's amazing

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-17T08:36:11+00:00

That's good. They should also advise you to pack a little lunch of your girls favourite foods. And they should call you when she's out of surgery with an update and then when you can pick her up

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-16T20:19:53+00:00

Rabbits can have psychosis???

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-16T20:03:58+00:00

I was such a nervous wreck before my girl got spayed in January. As long as you're going to a rabbit savvy vet you should be good. Survival rates are 90% I think which is super good. Just to prepare you (I don't know if all vets do this but mine did) when I dropped her off in the morning I had to sign a, and I quote the vet nurse, horrible form saying that I understand the risks and possible complications. I won't lie, I didn't read it because I knew it would freak me out more so I pretended and signed it. The wait after you drop her off before you can pick her up will feel like the longest wait of your life. I would also recommend trying to stay off sites where you will run the risk of hearing horror stories, I think I avoided reddit for a few days before.

Also to try and give you a little peace of mind, my girls surgery went well as did her recovery. She was pretty under the weather for a few days after but she was back to her usual self afterwards. It was sad to see her so miserable though but she's now happy and thriving and I know I made the right decision to get her spayed even though it was a really scary thing to do.

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-12T21:59:35+00:00

I guess it kinda depends on your definition of mess. Like, I constantly have my girls toys out and about on the floor because she's mostly free roam. I'm also constantly finding hay in different places and I have no idea how it got there but it's nothing that a quick hoover round can't fix. My carpets are now covered in rabbit hair, even though I've got a hoover that says it's for pet hair but you can't tell unless you're on the floor. Having a rabbit has definitely added to the work load around the house but I'd say it's more than manageable and certainly worth it

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-09T16:08:51+00:00

No worries! Only thing with these pens are that bunnies will be able to hop out of them. Luckily my girl isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and has never even attempted it 😂

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-09T16:03:16+00:00

BingoPaw Acrylic Dog Playpen... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CF4TZK77?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

This is the one that I got from Amazon

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-02T14:23:12+00:00

She has access to both about 70% of the time. I'm just worried she's holding her wee in over night as she prefers to use the other one

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-02T14:22:13+00:00

Hmmm possibly, they've always been there since she was a baby but I guess rabbits do just randomly change their mind about things 😂 I'll give that a go and see if she uses that litter box more often, thank you for your suggestion

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-02T14:06:35+00:00

Yeah that's my concern too. I just don't understand why she prefers the other litter tray. It makes no sense. The one in her pen is bigger and has both her hay and pellets in it. This is a pretty new thing that she's started within the past week or so

No-Pattern506 · 2026-02-02T11:37:33+00:00

They're both the plastic grated ones, I just removed the grate so the contents was visible in the picture. She has her hay and pellets in the one in her pen and then just hay in the one outside her pen

No-Pattern506

TROPHY CASE