What To Look For In A Rabbit
Where possible, ask to see the mother of the litter as this will give you a guide to the size your rabbit will grow to when mature. Also if the mother is healthy, happy and friendly, the babies should have a good start and stand a better chance of making a good pet.
Check that the baby rabbit’s eyes and nose are clean and that its breathing is not laboured. It should have a good coat (part the hair to see if there is any scurf on the skin) and a clean bottom with no signs of diarrhoea.
A baby rabbit should feel relatively solid so run your hand along its back to make sure that you cannot feel individual bones. Watch the rabbit in the hutch – is it active or is it sitting hunched in a corner on its own? It is not fully weaned till 7-8 weeks so do not collect your rabbit if it should still be with it’s mother.
Housing Your Rabbit
Once you have your hutch, bear in mind the following when deciding where to position it:
Make sure the rain can’t blow in. Make sure it is out of direct sunlight. Check that the door mesh and catches are securely fixed. Most hutches have a sleeping compartment so that the rabbit can get in out of the cold.
However, a hutch cover or a polythene sheet suspended from the roof can be useful in really wet weather (but remember to raise it as soon as the rain has stopped to prevent the temperature inside the hutch rising).
Your Rabbit’s Bedding
Your rabbit’s hutch will be it’s home so make sure it is really comfortable. For bedding, woodshavings are ideal as they are clean and absorbent. Straw can be put on top of the shavings to help with insulation and freely available hay should be provided. Newspaper is absorbent and can be used under the woodshavings but will stain white feet. Sawdust is not recommended as the dust can get into the eyes and nose and cause irritation. Dusty or old hay can also cause the same problem so check it before you buy (good hay should always smell sweet). When bedded with straw the rabbit will probably eat some, but don’t worry, this is natural roughage.Cleaning The Hutch
Rabbits should have their bedding changed completely at least once a week. Rabbits like to use one or more corners as their toilet area so you will need to clean out these areas more frequently, perhaps every third day. Clean and wash the food bowls and water bottles. If the water bottle has turned green due to algae you will need to give it a thorough clean using a bottlebrush and warm soapy water.
The hutch should be scrubbed thoroughly with disinfectant once a month whilst the rabbit is either in a spare hutch or the run. When the hutch is dry, replace the bedding.
Make sure that you have rinsed everything thoroughly before you replace it in the hutch.
Feeding Your Rabbit
When you collect your rabbit find out which food he was fed on and continue this for the first few days to avoid digestive upsets. If you wish to change your rabbit to a different food, do so by gradually mixing the old food with the new over a course of a week. Whether you feed your rabbit once or twice a day, it is important to refill your rabbit’s bowl at the same time each day. Rabbit’s should have access to quality hay at all times I prefer to give my rabbits Readigrass which I mix in with their food. Remember that your rabbit should have clean fresh water at all times so check bottles at least twice a day.
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