Did you know?
~~ Rabbits do not "need to live with another rabbit"? This is a common myth told by House Society Rabbit members as well as pet stores in order to sell more rabbits/supplies, etc. Many rabbits do not need or want the company of another rabbit. If you choose to house more than one rabbit in your home, please make sure that you have separate areas/cages for them. If you decide that you must have more than one, a buck and a doe tend to get along best but please make sure that the buck is neutered. Two sisters can sometimes get along as well.
~~Domestic Rabbits do not need regular fruits & veggies, their gut is not designed for it. You can kill them quickly with too much of that stuff, an occasional treat is fine but everyday and they can get diarrhea and then can dehydrate and die. Pelleted feeds are made for their digestive tract, along with a good grass hay, they will be very healthy for years to come on this type of diet.
~~Rabbits do not need a bath....they tend to be clean animals and like a cat, groom themselves quite often. Sometimes, they may require help from a human to clean body parts once they are much older but not always.
~~You can give your bunnies a soft toy to "hump", bucks and does can benefit from this. Just make sure they don't tear it apart.
~~Bunnies do not need to be out in the grass. Often, this is more harmful than good. They do like to dig, they can get under a fence far faster than you would imagine. They can also ingest harmful insecticides. Worms from feces of other animals can be in the ground and infect your bunny. RHVD2 is also on the ground, carried through the air, on feet, it is very highly contagious.
~~Your rabbit CAN be litter box trained! Often, all that is needed is a high backed corner litter box in the corners of the cage and your bunny will go in there (they may also sleep in there or eat in there). Some put their food/hay where they are standing in the litter box so they get the idea but they usually catch on fairly quickly.
~~Many rabbits have cats or dogs as their best friends!
~~Rabbits can stress very quickly and easily when moved to different environments, heat, different feed (we always give transition feed), different odors, kids passing them around or handling them roughly, any and all can cause a bunny to stop eating and dehydrate. Make sure you are not making too many changes too quickly. If you buy one from us, please make sure to acclimate it to you first, indoors, before ever thinking of housing one outdoors, they can be scared when they are not adapted to such a thing. Ours are used to a lot of noises, being left outside at night is a very quiet place.
~~Rabbits can die of heatstroke in as low as 80 degrees. Left in the sun without protection, shade and a way to keep cool is a quick way to lose a bunny :( Many often use frozen water bottles and/or frozen tiles to keep them cool in the warmer months. Our entire freezer is full of frozen water bottles and ours are not housed outside. Just remember, they are wearing a fur coat that they cannot remove.
~~Rabbits do not 'breed like rabbits' in the sense that they do not have lots of babies. Domestic rabbits can be difficult to get bred (unless you don't want them to) and various breeds are hard to get live litters from. Dwarf breeds (such as Holland Lops, Netherland Dwarfs, and Dwarf Hotots) carry the dwarfing gene and two parents can produce 'peanuts' which do not live. You can actually get entire litters of peanuts which means that doe just carried babies for a month and has nothing to show for it :( It is not uncommon for babies to pass, many first time moms actually lose their entire litter.
~~rabbits cannot vommit/throw up/regurgitate
~~rabbits are NOT rodents, they are called a lagamorph, which are small mammals in the family of Leporidae
~~some bunnies have learned their names, some will come when called, ALL have individual personalities!!
~~holding a bunny by the scruff of their neck can separate their skin from their bones to the point of harming them. PLEASE do not do this unless you are just trying to get them from a place you are unable to reach them any other way. It is VERY painful and bruises them quickly.
~~that most of the information found on the House Rabbit Society pages can actually be harmful to your domestic rabbit....****
~~a bunny can easily be your best friend :D
~it can be very difficult to sex a rabbit, here are ways to tell with a newborn rabbit and then as juniors: