|
Chieves posted:Bunny owner E/N here- posting through it to try and sort out emotions. add a third, it'll help soften the blow
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2024 21:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Nov 12, 2025 17:37 |
|
|
Chieves posted:Bunny owner E/N here- posting through it to try and sort out emotions. This sounds like Harriet's last few days. give your buns all the love you can. We have a bonded pair to replace Harriet, and those two are adorable and keep each other very happy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2024 22:00
|
|
|
She's been much stronger today, sass and all, which has been nice to see. When we prop her up for dinner she keeps getting distracted by things in the room she wants to check out and we have to redirect her attention like a little toddler. She also LOVES taking her meds, which is nothing short of a miracle haha. trilobite terror posted:add a third, it'll help soften the blow Don't show this to my wife lmao. I also do wonder how the healthy one would handle that. She's the dominant one and I could see that going poorly!
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2024 22:11
|
|
|
Chieves posted:She's been much stronger today, sass and all, which has been nice to see. When we prop her up for dinner she keeps getting distracted by things in the room she wants to check out and we have to redirect her attention like a little toddler. 1 week later- she is doing worlds better. She's hopping around a considerable amount more and is much more mobile. She refuses to use the lowered part of the litterbox entrance out of spite, probably, and is feeling flexible enough to clean herself.  This is her after dinner and zooted out on bunny drugs: 
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 01:21
|
|
|
Hey, I know this is explicitly House Bunny area, but help me thread, you're my only hope. I live in a relatively urban area but we have a yard and some green space nearby, so there's squirrels, mice, rats, and there's been an uptick in bunnies since the pandemic. We were out gardening, and a garden pot had some distinct pulsing under the layer of dried leaves at the base. Really obvious "Something Is Here" stuff. I was expecting rats or mice, which I don't want, so I carefully peel back layers of leaves and hair (!) until I can see the culprit, at least 3 baby bunnies, they have hair but you could fit at least 2 in your hand, maybe all 3. Ears the size of your little fingernail. Once we went back inside, parent bunny hopped back into the pot to check on the kids. Gave them about 15 seconds and hopped out again. Anything I should do besides ignore them and let nature happen? Can someone tell me they'll be fine, and also will only eat the weeds? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2024 21:50
|
|
|
 cottontails have destroyed, or at least heavily restyled, quite a few bonsai and prebonsai and succulents that I was once foolish enough to leave on the ground overnight. If they’re desperate enough they’ll try to eat whatever they can, even if it’s technically inedible for them, and they’ll also chew stuff to test it/for fun; they’ve chewed up small pines to death and they’ve bitten the branches off of my azaleas and left them on the ground like it’s a prank. They’ll make easy mincemeat out of anything easy/appetizing to eat and lay absolute waste to any vegetables or tender seasonal plants you got. If you want to make your yard friendly to wild bunnos while still keeping at least some of your plants safe, get whatever you can up off of the ground and out of reach and maybe consider building wire mesh boxes or fences for what you can’t—with the caveat that rabbits are rabbits (ie little bulldozers) and will squeeze through gaps, force their way under or between panels, and dig/tunnel their way into fenced off areas full of food. If you leave them alone in your yard and it’s fenced off from the outside then they should be safe enough from predators there to at least survive into independence, but cottontails are a keystone part of the food web for anything from skunks and raccoons and foxes to hawks and owls and their avg life expectancy of ~2 years in the wild reflects that. Scott Baculum fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Apr 29, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2024 01:41
|
|
|
Plant some tasty herbs for the bunnies
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2024 01:47
|
|
|
StumblyWumbly posted:Hey, I know this is explicitly House Bunny area, but help me thread, you're my only hope. They'll be fine as long as the mom is okay. They'll just stay in the nest and the mom will come in the early morning and evening to feed them, otherwise she'll be off doing other things. In about a week they'll be big enough to go off on their own.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2024 02:27
|
|
|
We got a nest in our raised tomato bed last year and we set up a camera to make sure the mom was feeding the bunnies. If you're worried about them you could try doing that so you don't disturb them or scare the mom off. And you can end up with some good videos like this https://i.imgur.com/uTMp3Dw.mp4
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2024 02:31
|
|
|
mystes posted:Plant some tasty herbs for the bunnies They're actually living right under our Sage plant already. Deadite posted:They'll be fine as long as the mom is okay. They'll just stay in the nest and the mom will come in the early morning and evening to feed them, otherwise she'll be off doing other things. In about a week they'll be big enough to go off on their own. Thanks! And I'm definitely getting a trail camera for this
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2024 04:04
|
|
|
trilobite terror posted:If you leave them alone in your yard and it’s fenced off from the outside then they should be safe enough from predators there to at least survive into independence, but cottontails are a keystone part of the food web for anything from skunks and raccoons and foxes to hawks and owls and their avg life expectancy of ~2 years in the wild reflects that. as a bunny mom I have to frequently remind myself that their primary survival mechanism in the wild is to have already made a bunch more bunnies
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2024 13:43
|
|
|
RFC2324 posted:as a bunny mom I have to frequently remind myself that their primary survival mechanism in the wild is to have already made a bunch more bunnies yeah the primary survival strategy for rabbits is “I mean, we’ll try. We’ll really try. But really you should just aim to be a grandparent by the time something snatches you up for a meal”
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2024 17:09
|
|
|
Looks like Ajax might have a small tumor or something, vet’s not sure what it is but wants to remove it to be safe. He’s already pretty old and has some muscle wasting on that leg already so I’m a little concerned, especially if it’s going to make that leg even worse.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2024 18:19
|
|
|
Chieves posted:1 week later- she is doing worlds better. She's hopping around a considerable amount more and is much more mobile. She refuses to use the lowered part of the litterbox entrance out of spite, probably, and is feeling flexible enough to clean herself. Hermione passed away this week. She was almost completely limp and just breathing when I came out to feed them their breakfast. We got to the vet within the hour and she breathed her last in the waiting room. She was doing just fine the night before, but I guess her old lady body was done for. I think if I had come out 30 minutes later she very well could have died in her enclosure. Thankful, in a way, she went out on her own terms. We got nearly 6 years with her, and she was at least 9 or so. So grateful for the extra time we got with her from that original post! Her partner is sad, I think, but working from home has given the wife and I a lot of time to give her extra hugs and apple slices this week. I think she got her grief out of her system over the night watching Hermione decline, but she did also get 6 hours with the body before taking her to be cremated. We may already be looking at older single buns in our area... RIP to a real one! We'll always miss Hermione's snoring, aggravating hunching from the outside of the litterbox, and insistence on eating lettuce AFTER the cilantro has been delivered.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2024 03:35
|
|
|
NOTE: Discord-hosted image links (like this one) expire approximately 24hrs after they were copied from Discord. Poor Ajax had to have a growth removed today, he gets a little cone. Hoping it helps mobility in that leg once he heals, but I’m worried he’s going to hurt himself with that cone somehow. I guess we’ll find out, I’m worried he’ll trip out of his litter box somehow.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2024 03:05
|
|
|
Thumbtacks posted:NOTE: Discord-hosted image links (like this one) expire approximately 24hrs after they were copied from Discord. he may be a good boy and not need the cone. Striker Eureka got a cone but never messed with her broken leg splint or bindings and so she never had to wear it. She was a real champ with the leg break. A+ bun
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2024 03:30
|
|
|
He will in fact, not be a good boy and if I remove that cone, he will immediately rip his own stitches open and die. But since I haven’t done that, he’s doing pretty good. He hasn’t had any water yet, but he did have an IV in him all day yesterday, so that’s probably why.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2024 15:05
|
|
|
 Bean says hi!
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2024 16:04
|
|
|
I love the scraggly hobo looking bunnies.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2024 06:09
|
|
|
Hi Bean!
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2024 14:13
|
|
|
Thumbtacks posted:NOTE: Discord-hosted image links (like this one) expire approximately 24hrs after they were copied from Discord. I don't remember if I updated here or not but we got results back and it wasn't cancerous, just a growth with a weird mutation that made it spread a bit. They got all of it and he's made a full recovery, although his fur is still growing back in some patches. Overall he's doing WAY better now that he doesn't have to have a cone on, but he's still clearly losing some mobility in one of his legs. Overall hasn't affected him much, although I feel like he's sleeping a bit longer than he usually does but I think that's just age, he's almost 11.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2024 20:27
|
|
|
I have to leave town unexpectedly and the person I usually have come feed and take care of Lillian can only come once per day this time. If Lil's accustomed to having unlimited hay but salad+pellets twice per day, can I get away with unlimited hay and salad+pellets once per day for a weekend? If not I can come up with another solution but I thought I'd ask-- I only give her a tiny bit of pellets, more for her interest than for any nutritional value.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2024 12:08
|
|
|
RichterIX posted:I have to leave town unexpectedly and the person I usually have come feed and take care of Lillian can only come once per day this time. If Lil's accustomed to having unlimited hay but salad+pellets twice per day, can I get away with unlimited hay and salad+pellets once per day for a weekend? If not I can come up with another solution but I thought I'd ask-- I only give her a tiny bit of pellets, more for her interest than for any nutritional value. yes, she'll be fine. It's not exactly uncommon for ppl to do a single daily feed, with ad-libitum hay, etc how much pellet are you feeding? You could feed the same daily amount in fewer visits (so like if you do one scoop in the morning + one at night, just have your surrogate do two scoops daily at once whenever they go and Lilian will figure it out), you could briefly feed less for that weekend (which is probably more than fine if she's getting unlimited hay; hell arguably the platonic ideal of rabbit-keeping is to keep their weight up almost exclusively on hay and veg and ideally not have to feed pellets ever). Also, I'm concerned you might be overfeeding because two daily servings of pellets + ad-libitum hay + veg seems like possibly a lot of pellets, IDK. IDK how much pellet you feed, but ideally you should aim to feed less of it and more hay, at least unless your bun isn't keeping up their weight. When I'm out overnight I like to give my rabbits compressed timothy hay bricks (they're sold at petco/petco.com, although I haven't seen them in the brick and mortar stores in a bit, and also Tractor Supply sells them more affordably for horses but in bigger packs) they go nuts chewing on them and breaking them apart and it takes them the better part of a week to get through them. Normally it's more of a healthy treat than anything but it's a good safety measure in case you're worried about being delayed or briefly stranded, etc. and getting home later than you intended. Also I like to double up on water sources, just to be safe.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2024 16:55
|
|
|
trilobite terror posted:yes, she'll be fine. Thanks for all this! I feed her basically one level teaspoon of pellets in the morning and one in the evening with her small salads. Her weight has been pretty steady at 2.5lbs (Holland lop) which her vet seems comfortable with-- it's basically enough pellets to give her something to pick through her greens for, she has fun throwing the greens around trying to get to the pellets before she bothers eating any greens. I am certainly open to the idea of that being too much pellet though if you think it sounds like it! I was a little hesitant to completely double up on her one meal and was thinking I would shoot for like 75% of her usual total daily salad and pellets, but it sounds like it'll be alright to just double up on at least the veg. I will also pick up some compressed timothy bricks and will double up on her water bowls!
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2024 20:56
|
|
|
I usually use bowls for water too, but it’s good to have a bottle on hand for such moments too, so they have something they can’t accidentally knock over or soil while they’re alone for an extended while
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2024 21:07
|
|
|
trilobite terror posted:I usually use bowls for water too, but it’s good to have a bottle on hand for such moments too, so they have something they can’t accidentally knock over or soil while they’re alone for an extended while Cool, I still have a bottle from before someone spooked me about them not being good for rabbits, so she's just going to have 3 water sources going at all times.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2024 21:13
|
|
|
I have a 4 lb. Holland Lop and when I have to go out of town for the weekend I have a pet sitter come and feed him in the mornings. It depends on your rabbit, but while mine will eat most of the greens in one sitting but come back for the pellets. And yeah, I make sure he has two water bowls that are too wide/heavy to spill. He does fine with it. It helps if you have a regular pet sitter with rabbit experience, of course.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2024 13:43
|
|
|
Trying not to worry too much about it. Sitter locked herself out of the house, so Ajax will not get dinner tonight. He should have a good amount of hay and water so i'm not SUPER worried but I'm out of state so it's not awesome. Maintenance guy is aware of it and will try and get into the house by 9am, so I'll have an update tomorrow. But I'm very helpless about it right now and I don't love it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2024 05:41
|
|
|
Thumbtacks posted:Trying not to worry too much about it. Sitter locked herself out of the house, so Ajax will not get dinner tonight. He should have a good amount of hay and water so i'm not SUPER worried but I'm out of state so it's not awesome. Maintenance guy is aware of it and will try and get into the house by 9am, so I'll have an update tomorrow. But I'm very helpless about it right now and I don't love it. Not an ideal situation obviously but try not to worry. When my bun had her stomach issues, the vet recommended a hay and water only diet for a few days to encourage her to eat more of it, so Ajax will just eat more hay and if anything like my rabbit, be furious about it until they get their pellets / veg back and then forget all about it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2024 08:06
|
|
|
Hi bunny people. I am not a bunny haver, but my kid's school has several (plus some guinea pigs). Until recently, their diet was, shall we say, enthusiastically supplemented by a kid whose mom had a rabbit garden. Said kid has moved on, and the quality of the bunny snacks has definitely fallen off. The school does tons of stuff outdoors with plants, and I would like to gift them a rabbit container garden since my son will be moving on after being with them since he was a toddler. Design goals: Grows in part shade 100% nontoxic to kids or grazers Four-season in dappled shade (we have long 95F-100F summers and occasional hard freezes in winter) Low maintenance - mostly cut-and-come-again perennials and stuff that can survive neglect and the general abuse of small children (Final list of plants to be cleared with the school) I was thinking of mint (in its own container!), white clover, river oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), and Turk's cap (Malvaviscus arboreus), with an additional rotating spot for annuals like nasturtium, purslane, and borage. Maybe wild strawberry if I can find one growing somewhere. They've got ample hay, so it's probably redundant to grow much in the way of forage grasses, right? Anything dead simple and high yield that's worth considering?
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2024 20:36
|
|
|
My rabbit loves dandelion greens, and dandelions are about the easiest thing to grow in the world
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2024 21:17
|
|
|
at the risk of sounding like a shithead, it’s hard to grow a useful forage garden for that many rabbits and guinea pigs and it’s a bit presumptuous IMO to dump that additional workload on whomever does the gardening at the school. Could it be a fun learning activity for the kids once or twice in a season? A cool way to supplement a science class? Sure. But it’s not going to meaningfully replace somebody bringing in tons of veg regularly, and most likely the garden will end up abandoned and derelict after 1-2 growing seasons. IMHO your dollar will go much farther if you use it to endow and start a “bunny fund” for the animals to regularly get fresh produce from Costco, etc. or if you want to cover the cost of a piece of infrastructure (a cage repair, part of a bigger/new enclosure, some toys and enrichments for the animals that the kids can benefit from, etc) I say this as a keeper of both rabbits and piggos and somebody whose entire life is oriented around plants and gardening in some way.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2024 21:45
|
|
|
Obviously this would be discussed beforehand. Nothing would be "dumped on" anyone. I know these people pretty well by now, and the idea sprang from a conversion with the school director. I am helping with other, advertised, needs as well, but this is something I could have done largely with materials (and plants/seeds) on hand. The feedback on the yield is valuable and leads me to believe the project is not worth pursuing, so I will probably just work a few additional edibles into what I'm growing at home and keep bringing snacks when I can.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2024 23:41
|
|
|
Discussion Quorum posted:Obviously this would be discussed beforehand. Nothing would be "dumped on" anyone. I know these people pretty well by now, and the idea sprang from a conversion with the school director. I am helping with other, advertised, needs as well, but this is something I could have done largely with materials (and plants/seeds) on hand. Like I said, it’s totally worth pursuing as an enrichment activity for child and animal alike, it’s just probably never going to be something that’s going to be continuously or reliably providing forage for the animals beyond a few good greens with some dedicated work for reference, one or two medium adult rabbits can easily eat through an entire head of lettuce in a day if they really want to
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2024 00:54
|
|
|
trilobite terror posted:Like I said, it’s totally worth pursuing as an enrichment activity for child and animal alike, it’s just probably never going to be something that’s going to be continuously or reliably providing forage for the animals beyond a few good greens with some dedicated work Giving my flemish giant and her husbun a head of lettuce and watching them go to town on it was an amazing special treat for them, even if everyone yelled at me for it
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2024 14:05
|
|
|
Took Ajax to the vet for a routine check up and grooming, vet discovered that he had a fluid build up in his ear that blew out his ear drum and he had a seizure while they were examining it. He's stable and fine (and right now he's high as a kite) but they need to get that fixed ASAP. Apparently this happens a lot with lops. We're going out of town next week so they're going to house him until then, fix it, and then deal with post care until he's good to be returned to us. I REALLY do not want to deal with cleaning that out, it's unpleasant and the vets can do it and return him once he's healed up and normal. I watched a video and it really affirmed my belief that I extremely do not want to do it. Luckily he'll be in good hands with a good open area, and he'll have someone feed him and play with him and watch his healing progress, so I'm not worried. Poor guy's 10 and a half, he's had one surgery already this year. But the vet said he's extremely healthy for his age and she's confident this will make him a lot happier and have less pain, so I'm fine with it. Poor guy. If he was old and hosed up I think the vet would have told us if this was more of a "let's just put him down" kinda thing so the fact that she wants to go ahead with it is a good sign. It's also a fairly common surgery so I feel ok about it. Still not awesome though and I hope he's not in too much pain.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2024 23:01
|
|
|
Wishing you the best. Lops are adorable, but yeah, the ear and sinus issues seem to be universal.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2024 23:12
|
|
|
Thumbtacks posted:If he was old and hosed up I think the vet would have told us if this was more of a "let's just put him down" kinda thing so the fact that she wants to go ahead with it is a good sign. It's also a fairly common surgery so I feel ok about it. Still not awesome though and I hope he's not in too much pain. In my experience I’ve pretty much never seen a vet do or say this unless the rabbit was truly better off being euthanized My ex’s decade-old rabbit had a GI blockage and our local emergency vet had no qualms about sedating him and endoscoping/dislodging it. He spent a miserable night at the hospital and was back home the next day
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2024 23:46
|
|
|
This one is a little more elaborate than that, they have to basically give him a new ear hole. But also if this is all it takes for him to feel good and normal then I’m fine with it. If he breaks a leg or something it’ll be a much bigger issue
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2024 00:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Nov 12, 2025 17:37 |
|
|
Thumbtacks posted:This one is a little more elaborate than that, they have to basically give him a new ear hole. But also if this is all it takes for him to feel good and normal then I’m fine with it. If he breaks a leg or something it’ll be a much bigger issue Speaking from firsthand experience, I’d rather deal with another young rabbit with a casted/splinted broken leg for a month than deal with a post-op bun recovering from head surgery. Best of luck to both of you 
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2024 00:47
|
|