It's been a week since we got the bunny, now I have more ???

[albrst]

Okay, so now that we have lived with a rabbit for a week, I am a little less stressed. He is eating the pellets more as long as they have quaker oats in them (which the breeder was doing), although he picks out the quaker oats first, then the food we are mixing in from the breeder second, then our food. So he eats maybe a little less than 1/8 a cup of pellets a day along with a ton of hay and some quaker oats. He poops and pees perfectly fine!

Okay so questions....

1. How often do you change the litter box? He seems to go in it better when it's fresh. He has stopped eating the little. I just put a thin layer of Carefresh litter and then hay on top, then a hay feeder behind it. He does much pretty good going 75% or more in the litter box (well if he's out in the room he leaves pills behind some, but rarely urine). I have been doing the litter every other day. The past two days he has peed more outside the box than he had been for a few days. I know he's young and not really good and trained yet but I am happy with what he's doing.

2. How in the world do you clip their front nails? We did the back ones after he came and he laid still, but he flips out if we mess with his front paws.

3. Travel - in December we will be going from Virginia to Texas which we do every Christmas to visit family. Should we take him (we could not take his cage but could take the play yard we have and put everything in it). But I'm worried that's a really long time in a small carrier. It is a 22 hour trip total, we usually try to go 12-15 hours the first day. What would you do? We have had people offer to watch him but they all have animals. I hate for him to sit here alone for 2 weeks with little exercise. He is used to hours of free time outside his cage. We let him come and go in his cage anytime we are around now. And he loves being out. He goes in to eat, sleep or potty. If we take him, we will stay in two houses, one that is pet free, the other will have a dog that my sister in law will bring and we will have to set some rules about where he stays, etc... I am just worried about how he will do traveling that far. At that point he will be 6 1/2 months old and we will have had him 4 months.

Thanks for all your help! I am so happy to have found this forum.

Kristy

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I don't have much to offer except, show rabbits often spend a long time in carriers at shows, with no ill effects. Last show I went to, had them loaded up at 5 a.m., was at the show until about 6 p.m., then had several hours drive home from there. Nobunny had any issues.

 

[ckcs]

Most of my rabbits have wire bottom cages and I don't have litter boxes in them. I do have a litter box in one cage that one my larger (8 lb)rabbits uses. I use pelleted pine bedding sold as horse stall bedding. I change his pan every 5 days. If you changing it more often doesn't burden your time or money then by all means change it more often. I have 13 cages that I clean at different intervals based on the cage setup and rabbit size. 5 I clean every 4-5 days as they don't have wire floors, are larger rabbits or their pans are shallow. 2 I clean at 7-8 days that are small rabbits one doesn't have a wired floor and 1 has a wired floor but a shallow pan. The other 6 get cleaned at 10 days as they have wired floors and have very large and very deep (4") pans. Plus the rabbits are small breeds.

I almost always cut the rabbits nails with the aid of my daughter. She flips the rabbit and hold it while I clip the nails. I can do them by myself but this makes it real quick and easy for us.

I haven't traveled with rabbits so I can't speak on that. I do think they will be fine for 2 weeks in their cage if someone came by to care for them each day.

 

[Lastfling]

Traveling with you rabbit for that amount of time should be fine. As was previously mentioned, a lot of show rabbits are in their carriers for that amount of time or longer particularly if an overnight/out of town-state, or two day show. They are none the worse for wear for the experience.

 

[ladysown]

just keep him cool and comfortable on the trip and he should do fine. you can always take him on short car rides in a cat carrier to get him used to it.

 

[Peach]

He's young so it will take time with the litter box. Rabbits can control their bladder but their poop is something that they have less control over.

As for traveling, try to invest in a wire bottom traveling cage.

These only cost about $35....you can get them customized for your rabbit depending who you talk to. One of my friends had a 6 hole one, with a hay rack divider. Loved it!

This of it as a horse trailer. They will be secured and not thrown around during the ride and they won't have to sit in their waste.

They can stay in there quiet comfortably as long as you clean out the tray on the bottom. I usually put a puppy pad and then shavings on top to because their pee is a bit smelly! You need to make sure they are kept cool during traveling and you can also provide a water bottle. My show rabbits generally handle traveling with no issues, but I know some others might need to get accustomed before hand if they haven't traveled. Usually on trips I only give water,hay, and oats. I've had little to no issues with an upset gut that way. Upon arrival, I'll give more oats than pellets.

 

[albrst]

Where can you get a wire bottom traveling cage? The cage we have is too large to put in our van when we travel since we have 4 kids.

Kristy

He's young so it will take time with the litter box. Rabbits can control their bladder but their poop is something that they have less control over.

As for traveling, try to invest in a wire bottom traveling cage.

These only cost about $35....you can get them customized for your rabbit depending who you talk to. One of my friends had a 6 hole one, with a hay rack divider. Loved it!

This of it as a horse trailer. They will be secured and not thrown around during the ride and they won't have to sit in their waste.

They can stay in there quiet comfortably as long as you clean out the tray on the bottom. I usually put a puppy pad and then shavings on top to because their pee is a bit smelly! You need to make sure they are kept cool during traveling and you can also provide a water bottle. My show rabbits generally handle traveling with no issues, but I know some others might need to get accustomed before hand if they haven't traveled. Usually on trips I only give water,hay, and oats. I've had little to no issues with an upset gut that way. Upon arrival, I'll give more oats than pellets.

 

[akane]

Shows are best. Check arba.net for shows. You can also order them from several places but shipping is high. Klubbertanz, wolfe's animal supply (who we got ours from but at a show), bass equipment...

 

[albrst]

No shows anywhere near me at all.

Kristy

Shows are best. Check arba.net for shows. You can also order them from several places but shipping is high. Klubbertanz, wolfe's animal supply (who we got ours from but at a show), bass equipment...

 

[Peach]

It might be worth just ordering it then or finding someone you know that would bring it back from a show for you.

 

[Lastfling]

Depending upon where you're at in VA, there's a show in Greensboro, NC in a couple of weeks, a show in Richmond in early Dec, and I believe a show in Charles Town,WV sometime this fall. It may also be possible that someone near you is going to a show and can transport one back for you.

 

[Prisma]

Charles Town show is very soon...September 7th actually. It is a double show, lots of rabbits there. Pointer Hill is the supplier for the show as well It is a pre-entry show though, least they prefer as it is a crazy dash day and the less head ache the better for them.

 

[Beekeeper10]

I was going to order 2 rabbit carriers from Klubertanz last week until I found out it would cost me $75 in freight to get them because they are considered over-sized packages. I will be looking to buy two or three at the rabbit show this weekend.

 

[trinityoaks]

When we moved, we made wire-bottomed travel carriers from scrap cage wire and inexpensive jelly roll pans. We used spring-type door latches to attach the pans to the bottom of the cages. We put hinges on one side of the tops of the cages to use as the doors. They worked out perfectly. We did have to leave them in their travel carriers for several days after we got here, until we could get their regular cages set up in our new place.

 

[albrst]

I will have to see if we can be creative. I don't know of anyone that shows rabbits or would be going. NC is the closest and that's still 3 hours away. Charles town is 5 hours and Richmond 4. I might ask the breeder if she would be going. I know my bunny's mom or dad one has been in shows.