Clik Seek Articles

by rmcnicholas

Rabbits like to often chew on something. They chew on cage bars; they chew on rugs, broom and even on hair! They do this even after they are fed. This could be interpreted as animal pica, the behavior of eating inedible stuff. It could be indicative of something serious or not. But no matter what it is, feeding rabbits must not be taken for granted. Letting your bunny loose to eat anything it wants is a sure way to kill it.

Don’t think that it’s easy to feed rabbits. They are actually more sensitive in what you give them. You might also be thinking that all vegetables and all fruits are good for them but you’re wrong. They are not that predictable. Feeding rabbits can be more complicated than just tossing them a bowl of your left-over salad for munching on. Be wise about choosing the food you give to your bunny.

What you should not give

- Lettuce
- Cabbage
- Parsnips
- Swedes
- Potato Tops
- tomato leaves
- Too much rabbit pellets
- and certain plants that can be found in your garden (best not to let your rabbit loose then)

NEVER give your bunny sweets and junk food, too.

All vegetables mentioned can give serious problems to your rabbit.

They can either cause diarrhea or gas to your bunny. Some are too high in calcium that’s unhealthy for the rabbit. They can die from bloating. So be careful on what you give them. If you are busy during the entire day, put you pet rabbit in a cage or hutch. Don’t let it loiter around the house because they literally eat anything! Not only because you’re worried about your rug or blankets but also because you should be worried about your bunny. It must be kept healthy. Feeding rabbits sure is tough. Now you know why you can’t simply tell your bunny to help itself to the leftover salad. There are other vegetables and fruits you can give to your rabbit as treats: apples, carrots, and banana. Don’t let rabbit pellets become the bulk of its diet. You wouldn’t want to eat cereals for breakfast, lunch and dinner would you? So alternate its diet by giving it fresh foods.

Feeding rabbits should not be difficult for you. You can already memorize the vegetables you should not give your pet bunny. Keep your pet rabbit healthy and happy by giving it the right food for its growth. Believe me, if you do this you’ll have a very healthy and happy bunny that’ll love you.

by Carly & Art

Rabbits are basically easier to raise than other domesticated animals. They are easy to breed, easy to feed, easy to clean and take care of. On the other hand they are also easy to get sick and easy to get injured. That’s how sensitive their systems are. And that’s why you need to learn about effective ways on raising rabbit.

The best thing to do is equip yourself with the essential knowledge you need if you are planning to make business out of rabbits. But if you just want it as pet then this one is also for you. Raising rabbit is not tricky at all. The problem is how do you take care of them?

Learn About Basic Rabbit Behaviors and Their Meanings

Learning about rabbit behavior may seem weird. But it is one of the essentials in learning about your pet or your livestock. The rabbit’s body language and behavior can tell you lots of things.

Their behavior can tell you if they are sick, happy or satisfied, which you need in your business. Selling a sick animal is not a good investment. Take a little of your time to learn their basic behavior. Learn most especially what rabbits do when they are sick, hungry or simple want to mate. Rabbits are also territorial so don’t put males in the same hutch with other males.

Make a Bigger and Wider Hutch for Your Rabbits

Rabbits enjoy hoping and leaping around. It’s part of their daily routine and exercise. Create a bigger and wider space for them to hop around into. Make sure too that the hutch is deep so that no hare can go out. If the rabbit you are raising is inside the house make a small hutch opening for it to enter and exit to. The hutch must also be warm during winter and at night. Be sure to enforce the hutch with necessary things to keep its residents happy.

Feed Them with Fresh Vegetables and Fruits

Don’t just feed your rabbits with feeds or rabbit pellets. Feed them too with fresh vegetables and fruits. They get all the nutrients they need in feeds but they are more satisfied and happier when you give them a little extra. Consider it a treat to your furry friends.

Increase their Human Interaction

In raising rabbit you’d want your them to be less aggressive and less territorial. You can do this by interacting with them daily. Let other people hold them or pet them. This relieves tension and they are less likely to bite when you do this.

These are just some of the essentials you need to develop in Raising Rabbit. There are other effective ways on Raising Rabbit which you can employ to make you more effective in taking care of your livestock.

Learn from an exotic animal health technician as she explains where to keep your pet rabbit in this free online video. Expert: Sarah Tingle Contact: www.extracareanimalhospital.net Bio: Sarah Tingle is a resident exotic animal health technician specializing in dog health care. Filmmaker: Hiu Yau
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Related Rabbit Care Articles

by shekouvillage

Have you ever felt at a loss because you do not know how to raise a rabbit? This guide will show you the basics on taking care of them. They are lovely pets and will stay happy if you take care of them properly. If you are a new rabbit owner, make sure you remember these tips.

You have to make sure that your rabbit house is cleaned thoroughly and regularly. A dirty rabbit cage will result in a dirty and smelly bunny, and you yourself will feel discouraged to approach and cuddle with your rabbit because of the dirt. Don’t let the dirt pile up because it will be more difficult to clean. The number one thing you should remember on how to raise a rabbit is to clean the house every day. A rabbit will usually shed waste in one spot so put a newspaper there. Change the food daily, and clean up the excess food and soiled bedding every day.

Do not let your rabbit get dehydrated! Aside from providing enough food for your pet rabbit, it is important to keep the rabbit well-hydrated by placing a water bottle near the rabbit cage.

It is recommended that you put it outside of the cage but make it face the rabbit cage. This will avoid accidental knocking of the water bottle by the rabbit, and thus, you have fewer things to clean. This is common sense for every pet owner, and not a specific answer on how to raise a rabbit. Like the rabbit house, clean the water bottle everyday and replace it with fresh water daily.

The next point will teach you how to raise a rabbit by feeding it with the right kinds of food. Rabbits can eat hay, but this is not just any kind of hay! For younger rabbits, alfalfa hay is good but for the older ones, it’s better to give them timothy hay. Of course, rabbits love fruits and vegetables so feed them with lots of it! Carrots are bunnies’ favorite veggies, but you can also give them leafy vegetables such as broccoli and spinach. As for fruits, a selection of apples, strawberries, melons, pears and/or peaches would delight your furry friend. Make sure they are fresh. Aside from food, you can place a chewing toy inside the rabbit cage. Rabbits like to chew and this will keep them from getting bored.

by cindy47452

This is every rabbit owner’s worst nightmare. You arrive home in the middle of the night to find that your rabbit is not moving, or that it has just eaten a bunch of poisonous plants. Would you know how to respond in these situations?

One of the most important aspects of selecting your primary rabbit care physician is determining when he will be available to take care of your rabbit. Of course, most vets will not be available 24/7, so it is important that you get the address and number of an emergency animal clinic that you can take your rabbit to after hours or on weekends. Not all emergency animal clinics have doctors that specialize in rabbits, but most will at least have some experience in dealing with them, and something is better than nothing if your rabbit is having an emergency. Also, know where to go before there is a serious health problem actually occurs.

If you know exactly where to go when there is a medical emergency, it can save precious time that could mean life or death for your rabbit.

Before you head off to the vet or to the emergency clinic, there are some things you should determine. Of course, if your rabbit is not moving you will want to go right away. But if it is still acting relatively normal after eating what may have been poisonous materials, there are few things you can check. First, check the pulse by feeling gently around his groin or chest area. If you can’t feel anything, the pulse may be diminishing and it is time to go to the hospital. If the pulse is normal, keep an eye on your rabbit and if his condition remains stable, then he may be okay. Second, look at the inside of his lips. Normally they should be a pink color.

If they are blue, that means he has poor blood circulation and needs to be taken to the vet immediately. Lastly, check his temperature using a baby thermometer with lubricant applied for insertion into the rectum. Normal rabbit temperature is 101 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit.

Follow these steps, and procure some guidelines from your primary rabbit care veterinarian, and you will be ready if the time ever comes when your rabbit has a medical emergency.

by Tjflex2

If you plan on letting your rabbit live inside your home (and you should!) there are a number of steps you need to take to keep your rabbit and your furniture and appliances safe.

Rabbits are ravenous chewers. They will gnaw on practically anything within their reach. This makes for a very dangerous dynamic when you put a rabbit near power cables that run along the floors of your home. The first and easiest option to prevent your bunny from chewing on these cables is to try to run all the electrical wires in your home behind or below furniture where they will be inaccessible to your rabbit. If you can’t successfully hide all of your power wires, there are three other options you can consider.

Plastic tubing can be purchased and wrapped around wires to prevent easy access by your rabbit. The same is true of spiral cable wrap. These two options are generally pretty effective but some rabbits still manage to chew their way through them.

The third option is to buy decorative wire concealers that run along the bottoms of your walls with the wires tucked safely behind them. This is a time consuming and pricey method, but it is probably the most effective at keeping your rabbit away from the wires.

Rabbits also love to eat plants, and many house plants are toxic to rabbits. Do your best to keep your house plants out of reach of your rabbit and be sure to pick up any dead or fallen leaves off the ground.

For baseboards and furniture, the only thing you can really do is to place a barrier between your rabbit and the objects you wish to protect. Either use a wooden board, chicken wire, or any other fence like enclosure. This will protect your furniture from nasty rabbit bite marks.

Rabbit proofing can be a bit of a chore, but once you’re done, you can rest easy knowing your rabbit can play freely and safely in your home.

by *Jessica

Rabbits, like most other mammals, can at one point or another develop diarrhea. Diarrhea is not especially common in adult rabbits, and if observed, it means your rabbit has developed some sort of health or diet problem. What follows will review the various causes of diarrhea in your baby or adult rabbit.

In baby rabbits, there are two likely causes of a runny stool. The first potential cause is that the bunny is being weaned from his mother’s milk at too early of an age. Many breeders and pet stores sell baby bunnies before they are old enough to be off of their mother’s milk. This is unhealthy for the rabbit and diarrhea can be one of the ramifications. The other potential cause is intestinal parasites such as coccidia. If your baby rabbit has diarrhea, you should immediately take him or her to the vet.

In adult rabbits, there are a few more possible causes of diarrhea.

One potential cause is that your rabbit is obese. He may be producing cecotropes as usual, but because of his ungainly weight, he is unable to reach them as they are produced and subsequently he smears them all over the place creating a diarrhea-like effect. Another potential cause is that your rabbit has arthritis and is unable to reach his cecotropes he is in constant pain. Again this will result in your rabbit smearing his feces around his bottom.

Two different dietary issues could also cause diarrhea in your rabbit. A diet that is too high in starch and sugary fruits can cause your rabbit to have mushy stools. Another potential cause is that your rabbit is not getting enough fiber in his food. These can both be easily remedied by appropriately adjusting your rabbit’s diet.

If the preceding were determined not to be the cause of your rabbit’s diarrhea, then it is likely that he has some other health problem that can only be properly diagnosed by a qualified veterinarian.

Seek medical assistance as soon as possible.

by Cayusa

Rabbits are prolific breeders and have been known to produce large quantities of offspring in short periods of time. Because of this, there are significant problems with overpopulation of both domestic and wild rabbits around the world. For this reason it is important that we familiarize ourselves with the rabbit’s mating habits in order to gain a better understanding of how, when, and how often a rabbit reproduces.

Rabbit mating season begins during the warm seasons to allow wild newborn baby bunnies to have the best chance to survive. During the spring and summer seasons, the increase in the amount of light available triggers a release of hormones in rabbits that begins to alter a rabbit’s behavior. Male rabbits will begin to act more frantically and aggressively as the hormones trigger their sex drives. They will compete with other male rabbits for the attentions of female rabbits.

Dominant rabbits are more successful at this competition and usually manage to mate with more females.

When a male rabbit has successfully seduced a female rabbit, the female will position herself flat on the ground and lift up her tail. The mail will mount her and bite down hard on her back. The mating lasts about twenty seconds after which the male will release the female from his bite grip and likely emerge with a mouthful of fur.

Once impregnated, the gestation period for female rabbits lasts about one month. Then she will give birth to anywhere from three to eight blind, hairless bunnies. The female rabbit is capable of giving birth several times in one year.

Remember, if you are planning to breed your domesticated rabbit, there is already an overabundance of rabbits in the United States and by creating more rabbits, you may be lessening the likelihood that other rabbits can find a home to live in.

by ian boyd

Many people are surprised to hear that rabbits can be trained to use a litter box for their bathroom needs. In the wild, rabbits try not to spread their droppings all over the place because it would alert predators to their presence. That instinct proves very useful in potty training domesticated rabbits.

Most pet rabbits will choose one or two places around the home to go to the bathroom. In some cases, litter training is as simple as finding out where your rabbit likes to go potty and placing the litter there. However if that does not work, you will have to get your rabbit used to its litter . Start by placing the litter-box in the rabbit’s cage. After it has gotten used to using the box in the cage, try letting your rabbit use the litter-box outside of the cage. Reward your rabbit with treats after it successfully uses its litter box.

Older rabbits have longer attention spans and are smarter than younger rabbits so they are more likely to pick up litter-box training with ease than a baby rabbit.

However it pays to be consistent when training both young and old rabbits. Never punish your rabbit for failing to use the litter box; the rabbit will not understand why it is being punished.

Once your rabbit has grown accustomed to using his litter-box, you can begin to give him more freedom to roam about your house. However if you do this, you will want to place more litter boxes around the house as your rabbit is not likely to search too far to find a litter box to use.

If you successfully trained your rabbit a while ago, and it seems to have forgotten about using the litter box, don’t fret. Start the training process over again and your rabbit will likely remember where it is supposed to use the restroom.

With time and patience, it is not all that difficult to train your rabbit and help keep your home a cleaner place for both you and your rabbit to live.

More Rabbit Care Articles

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by roberthuffstutter

Doctor Brown: Have you got a cute rabbit that wants quality food? What are the best types of food for your rabbit? Did you know a rabbit needs more than just pellets to stay healthy? Where can you get cheap quality food for your rabbit? Did you know rabbits love eating weeds, lawn and other vegetables? How can you make your rabbit healthy and happy by simply giving it vegetables and clean water?

Can you make your rabbit happy by feeding it delicious cheap food?

If you can imagine yourself as a rabbit then you too would like quality delicious food. Some of the vegetables that you grow or eat are also a rabbit’s favorite delicacies. Please remember to wash the vegetables first because some vegetables have pesticides on them. You wouldn’t want your rabbit to eat it. Rabbits are one of the simplest pets to have. They have a huge diet that varies from weeds to bread.

Rabbits are lovely, cuddly and peaceful animals.

They are either eating, resting or mating. This is the life of a rabbit. In the wild they are running away from predators. They rarely make any noise. They have a diet that varies from carrots to different garden weeds. Although you may think weeds are disgusting but it is a rabbit’s delicacy. It is important to allow your rabbit to eat a balanced diet and keep it healthy. Rabbits also need exercise. It is important to let you rabbit out of its hutch as often as possible to give it fresh air, sun light and to warm its muscles. Your rabbit will be very happy because living in a hutch is like a jail. It is important to understand that your rabbit also needs exercise so remember to let it out more often. Rabbits love to roam and nibble at weeds around the home. They do not want to be stuck in a hutch all day long. Don’t keep it outside overnight because cats can injure or kill your rabbit. Rabbits also love clean water especially in the hot summer months.

There are various types of food that you can purchase at the supermarkets. Here are a few types of food you could fee your rabbit:

1. Carrots

2. Cabbages

3. Capsicum

4. Cucumbers

5. Apples

6. Pears

7. Vegetables

8. Bread

9. Lettuce

10. Water melons

11. Corn

12. Potatoes

13. Broccoli

14. Cauliflower

15. Zucchinis

Unlike dogs and cats, rabbits don’t need that much attention because they are timid and shy. Rabbit manure is a great fertilizer for your garden.