| BUNNY CARE TIPS It is extremely important to take proper care of your rabbit. He depends on you for everything! Shelter: Make sure the rabbit is out of the wind and rain. Cage size should be 1 square foot for every pound of rabbits. For example, a holland lop averages four pounds, so the cage should be four square feet. An all wire cage is easier to clean and keep free of germs and molds. Cages can be made quickly from instructions found online or in rabbit care books. They can also be purchased ready made from a number of dealers. Remember this also - each rabbit needs it's own cage. Food: Feed a good quality pellet purchased from a feed store. We feed, according to directions, 1 ounce of food for every pound of rabbit. Therefore, since our HL's weigh around four pounds, we feed 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup in the evening - a total of 1/2 cup or four ounces. Do not free-feed pellets to your holland lops. You should free-feed hay though. They can eat any kind of grass hay that is fed to horses. They do NOT need alfalfa hay, since there is plenty of alfalfa in the pellets. Spoil your rabbit with attention, not food. He will love you for it! Water: We use crocks for water. They are much easier to fill and clean. Rabbits need clean water every day or they will stop eating and die within days or even hours. If you use bottles for water, be sure to clean them frequently. If you wouldn't drink out of it, neither should they. When taking a trip, such as attending a rabbit show, be sure to take a jug of your own water with you for the rabbits. Toys: Rabbits love to play! We use shower curtain rings that we buy at the dollar store. We hook together three rings to make a chain for each rabbit. For easy clean-up of these toys we toss them in the washing machine. Toilet paper tubes crammed with hay make fun toys too, but are a little bit messy to clean up! Responsible breeding: Please do NOT breed your rabbits just to sell them as pets!!! There are enough unwanted animals in the world already. Do not place doe and buck cages right beside each other - they can and WILL breed through the cages. Further reading: "Rabbit Production" by McNitt, Patton, Lukefahr and Cheeke is an excellent source of information for raising rabbits. It covers such subjects as breed selection, rabbitry equipment and management, nutrition and feeding, health issues, genetics, behaviors, showing and much more. I highly recommend this book to every rabbit owner/breeder. Back to Index Show Wins Bunny Bio's |