Why do you visit other rabbit forums?

[MamaSheepdog]

Seemingly a day doesn't go by here without a post complaining about the attitudes found on other forums regarding raising rabbits for meat or even breeding rabbits at all, not to mention the unrealistic expectations for housing and care.

I personally don't belong to any other forums aside from Homesteading Today, which I rarely ever visit, and I don't use Facebook... so I have very limited forum experience with the exception of RabbitTalk.

Honestly, I stopped looking after I found RT. I felt that I had found the best there was to offer, so why look any further? :?

So-o-o, my question is, what is the draw? :thinking: What do they offer that RT does not? opcorn:

 

[OwnedByTheBuns]

Well, I am on TGS. I LOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVEEEEE that forum. HT and TGS will always be my favorites for goats, dogs, rabbits, cats, cows, and many other things. BUT, I also like RT a lot. It's a hard draw. I will always like RT though and will stay on it!

One thing I like more about those sites, which you guys can't control, so it's obviously not your "Fault" at all!, is that so many people populate those forums. Usually, the more people = quicker answers, and for my usual urgent questions, I need that! On here, it's kind of a pick-and-choose sort of thing whether someone will actually pay attention to your thread or not.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I do belong to other forums.. but not for rabbits.. when I want to read about rabbits and have any questions about my rabbits.. I come here..

 

[Toady]

I was on a few other rabbit forums but after I found here I've pretty much left them and haven't looked back, I got sick of one forum telling me off for wanting to get a bunny from a breeder and not 'save a rescue' (umm, I have 4 rescue rabbits and angoras aren't something often seen in rescues here), got frowned upon for having wire mesh at the bottom of my "fluffies" crates and not letting all my rabbits out for hours every single day.

Oh and told I should only be feeding my angora 1/8 of a cup of pricey non lucerne/alfalfa pellets a day... yeah I took their advice when I didn't know better and poor thing got skinny real quick but fattened her up again. Needless to say RT has opened my eyes to other ideas and it's so friendly and non judgemental!

 

[Secuono]

I avoid any that are too specific with an aggressive streak, but I also keep my trap shut about iffy things like rabbits being dinner and don't answer questions that will end in argument.
I'm on a ton of forums, for all the hobbies and animals I have. Gave up rabbit forums, way, way too 'special'. There's a huge LGD forum out there that also goes dim in the head about everything, left them. Same with a few horse forums.
People need to choose more carefully.
I look elsewhere because this forum is still fairly small and growing, not enough people with experience with other animals or parts of life, beginner Qs are repeated like a broken record and that's where more specific forums come in to play.

 

[ckcs]

There are other forums? lol

 

[akane]

Boredom. This forum is far to sloooow for me. Actually 5 forums is too slow for me. I also help some people out. One person had an accidental pregnancy and wanted to know how to care for the rabbit but all she got was spay and abort which she didn't want to do. I posted all the instructions for nestboxes and caring for various stage kits and got a pm thanking me. I also corrected someone who posted a link saying rabbits can't have grains and carbs because they cause diarrhea while the op was having a rabbit with soft stools while switching pellets. I told them the link was wrong and give oatmeal and grass hay then introduce pellets slowly. Stuff like that isn't known on the pet rabbit forums and do you have any idea how many "my rabbit gets soft stools when I feed any lettuce" posts there are to correct.

 

[ladysown]

to educate others primarily, and sometimes i learn things too

 

[PSFAngoras]

I'm only on this forum. I saw some other groups on ravelry, but they were too uppity for me, either strongly against meat rabbits or were anal about what colors must be bred to other colors to produce only perfect show colors.

I like rt because it is much more laid back as well as open to many ideas. Not to mention, it is very open to mistakes, and most of us are supportive and make suggestions how to avoid the situation again. I don't want to be made to feel like I'm an evil person if I make a simple accident like forgetting to give my angora hay one morning, and perhaps they get a hairball from it. Instead, if I were to post something like that here, it would be suggestions on how to deal with the hairball, not get attacked for forgetting the hay one morning.

 

[MaggieJ]

I still go to Homesteading Today's Rabbit forum two or three times a week, but I seldom post there anymore except to answer questions about Natural Feeding. I posted so much info there in the pre-RT days that I do feel some responsibility for following up on it now and again.

 

[DogCatMom]

I was on a few other rabbit forums but after I found here I've pretty much left them and haven't looked back, I got sick of one forum telling me off for wanting to get a bunny from a breeder and not 'save a rescue' (umm, I have 4 rescue rabbits and angoras aren't something often seen in rescues here), ...

Yeah, tell me about the "Angoras in rescue" bit. April of 2012, the coordinator of a local rescue told me that "Angoras come through here quite a bit" when I asked her about it. At the time I wasn't in a position to adopt a rabbit. This summer, when my situation changed (I lost my 13-year-old dog), I started looking in earnest for an Angora to rescue, remembering that "[they] come through here quite a bit."

Ha! and Ha! again. My experiences are written in detail elsewhere here on RT, but suffice it to say that, until now, all of my animals--cats and dogs--have been rescues, rehomes, or similar, but it looks like getting either an Angora or a Flemish Giant (my #1 and #2 breeds, respectively) will require a breeder. I've spoken directly to HRS people on the phone and told them that to say "A purchased bunny robs a rescue bunny of a home" is provably false, at least in my case. They at first say No! How can that be? And then, when I give them the specifics, they reluctantly agree with me: yes, those two breeds of rabbit are very seldom found in rescue.

ATM, it looks like I'll be adopting a Chinchilla of some persuasion next Saturday, but don't hold me to it: he was originally identified as a Flemish Giant, which is why I expressed an interest in him. But he's completely grown and weighs approx. 10 lb, so not FG. If we get along, I'll probably bring him home (I need bunny fertilizer; all my compost worms are dead). If not, well...I think I know where to find breeders now! :lol:

re. the original topic of this thread: I started with RT when I began my in-depth search for a rabbit. I branched out just a couple of weeks ago, but have been repelled by blatant hypocrisy on the other forum I found. So I'll just be hanging out on this forum for rabbit-y stuff from now on.

 

[Miss M]

I started at HomesteadingToday when we brought home a rescued minilop. About 6 months later, I got an invitation to this brand-new rabbit forum, RabbitTalk. I watched it for about a month, unsure because I really didn't want to be involved on two rabbit forums. I finally signed up, and I've hardly been back to HT.

I didn't have a lot invested there, like Maggie did.

Now, besides occasional visits to HT, I visit other rabbit forums only when they steal material from RT. :?

We do get plenty of "newbie" questions, but HT gets some that make you want to bang your head on the wall. They've been around a lot longer, but some of the questions there just make you wonder if anybody listens.

 

[Toady]

Yeah, tell me about the "Angoras in rescue" bit. April of 2012, the coordinator of a local rescue told me that "Angoras come through here quite a bit" when I asked her about it. At the time I wasn't in a position to adopt a rabbit. This summer, when my situation changed (I lost my 13-year-old dog), I started looking in earnest for an Angora to rescue, remembering that "[they] come through here quite a bit."

Last Sunday my mother and I drove 4 hours to pick up our new additions - an English Angora and a Satin (they had come up 600 odd miles from the breeder to a show), my mother is quite shocked at how quiet they are compared to my 4 rescues... meaning you don't have to chase them around the crate to pick them up and they don't want to scratch the beejezzus out of you. It's amazing what handling and attention from the nesting box til they leave home makes.

Maybe I'm just fussy but I also like to know a bit of history about my pets, Loki and Freyja I have no idea what age they are or even what breed Loki is - Freyja's a Fuzzy Lop but I couldn't even get an age other than "around a year old". The girls I have no idea what breed they are but at least I have a rough birthday for them. Glenfiddoch and Madogan although they're unrung both came with a copy of their family trees which I love to look at and see where colours and naughtiness traits come from

 

[JDWest]

Lapse of judgement perhaps? ancake:
This sight has much more to do with sense then sensibilities. I find the info here is rich with earned quality...not a fast spouted oppinion!

I go to a few canadian livestock forums and this rabbit site. The less drama the better i like a forum.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Boredom. This forum is far to sloooow for me. Actually 5 forums is too slow for me. I also help some people out. One person had an accidental pregnancy and wanted to know how to care for the rabbit but all she got was spay and abort which she didn't want to do. I posted all the instructions for nestboxes and caring for various stage kits and got a pm thanking me. I also corrected someone who posted a link saying rabbits can't have grains and carbs because they cause diarrhea while the op was having a rabbit with soft stools while switching pellets. I told them the link was wrong and give oatmeal and grass hay then introduce pellets slowly. Stuff like that isn't known on the pet rabbit forums and do you have any idea how many "my rabbit gets soft stools when I feed any lettuce" posts there are to correct.

I hate the knee-jerk spay-and-abort reactions. For some people it isn't an option. Berating them and NOT providing info is useless and stupid, IMO...but that's what you get on a mostly pet-oriented forum.

I'm glad they had you to help them with information.

As someone who had issues feeding LOTS of leafy greens and veggies (as per the HRS instructions) I can attest, pet forums usually have NO concept of proper nutrition.

I'm only on this forum. I saw some other groups on ravelry, but they were too uppity for me, either strongly against meat rabbits or were anal about what colors must be bred to other colors to produce only perfect show colors.

I like rt because it is much more laid back as well as open to many ideas. Not to mention, it is very open to mistakes, and most of us are supportive and make suggestions how to avoid the situation again. I don't want to be made to feel like I'm an evil person if I make a simple accident like forgetting to give my angora hay one morning, and perhaps they get a hairball from it. Instead, if I were to post something like that here, it would be suggestions on how to deal with the hairball, not get attacked for forgetting the hay one morning.

My thinking is...I'm human. I make mistakes. Does it help when a mistake is made and someone berates me for it? Nope! So why do that to others??? We all make mistakes, ALL of us, to err is human right? The only way we can learn, grow and help each other is to deal with what we have, not bemoan what should have been.

Until they develop time-travel, LOL.

Ha! and Ha! again. My experiences are written in detail elsewhere here on RT, but suffice it to say that, until now, all of my animals--cats and dogs--have been rescues, rehomes, or similar, but it looks like getting either an Angora or a Flemish Giant (my #1 and #2 breeds, respectively) will require a breeder. I've spoken directly to HRS people on the phone and told them that to say "A purchased bunny robs a rescue bunny of a home" is provably false, at least in my case. They at first say No! How can that be? And then, when I give them the specifics, they reluctantly agree with me: yes, those two breeds of rabbit are very seldom found in rescue.

The fallacy of "a bought pet steals a shelter pet's home" drives me up a wall. :evil: It has become a serious pet peeve of mine. I just joined a Dutch rabbit group on FB (I'm trying to "network" as I immerse into the breed, since my dad basically wants me to do everything, LOL) and someone had posted about how they don't like seeing rabbits for sale, because they rescued all their rabbits. Bear in mind this is a FB group for PUREBRED DUTCH, not rescue rabbits, nor is it a breed-rescue. I posted that dedicated, ethical breeders are good for a breed. If the group bans me for that, so be it...because if they hate breeders of their chosen breed of rabbit, then that's not a group I want to be on anyways. But my point is, I am getting into a breed for the purposes of showing and breeding. I highly doubt I'll get a batch of rescue Dutch that could fulfill my needs.

And since I'm not gonna go rescue a bunch of Dutch if I can't get the breeding stock I want, I'm not "stealing" a home from rescues by buying my foundation stock...since my home is not kept for rescues alone.

Plus if rescues REALLY want to keep people rescuing animals, maybe they should stop LYING to adopters. I've been burned on so many rescues, I won't do it again...and I should be someone rescues LOVE, because I want SENIORS and health problems and/or special needs (differently-abled) pets aren't a deal-breaker for me. No, they'd rather LIE to me. Fine...my next cat will be bought. I've only EVER rescued cats before...and had I a trustworthy rescue, I'd do it again. But I don't...so I won't.

I feel badly for the senior kitty who is blind or deaf or arthritic who will miss out on my wonderful, loving care. But I won't enable liars any more.

re. the original topic of this thread: I started with RT when I began my in-depth search for a rabbit. I branched out just a couple of weeks ago, but have been repelled by blatant hypocrisy on the other forum I found. So I'll just be hanging out on this forum for rabbit-y stuff from now on.

I got lambasted on the pet forum I was originally on...I got a pair of meat-mutt rabbits (OH NOES, I BOUGHT THEM AND EVERYTHING!!!!) that were mottled black-and-orange. The breeder told me they were torts...they looked like my tort kitties...so when I posted pictures of my "new bunnies" and said they were torts, I was flamed right off the forum...they were HARLEQUINS not torts and by their logic I must be stupid for not knowing the difference. :roll:

And when I had a little doe get sick (new doe, came down with coccidiosis within 24 hours of getting home) they flamed me worse...no suggestions for what to do for her...just harsh criticism for buying a bunny. I actually found this forum while I was desperately trying to find help for that poor doe...and everyone was so helpful. She passed away anyways, but I did all I could for her; even my vet said there was nothing else to be done for her. After talking to people here, I feel much less helpless when dealing with issues...we're all here for each other, after all!

We do get plenty of "newbie" questions, but HT gets some that make you want to bang your head on the wall. They've been around a lot longer, but some of the questions there just make you wonder if anybody listens.

I looked at that forum. I don't remember if I made an account or not. Don't recall. Don't care either since I haven't been back since that first day. :roll:

Last Sunday my mother and I drove 4 hours to pick up our new additions - an English Angora and a Satin (they had come up 600 odd miles from the breeder to a show), my mother is quite shocked at how quiet they are compared to my 4 rescues... meaning you don't have to chase them around the crate to pick them up and they don't want to scratch the beejezzus out of you. It's amazing what handling and attention from the nesting box til they leave home makes.

My AR-oriented acquaintance (the crazy one) has a rescue bunny. And she is always dismayed at how my "unloved," cage-raised, wire-floor bunnies are a LOT more affectionate and calm than her bunny. Yeah, he's treated like a king, he has his own cat-tower (YES, HE HAS A CAT-TOWER) and eats craisins daily from her hands while she coos and pets him, and he gets boatloads of veggies each day...and my buns are nicer. :twisted: Good breeding, daily handling and consistently kind treatment makes for sweet-natured bunnies!

As to the original question...I am on a lot of FB groups because I can buy/sell much easier than here. Plus there's a lot more regional "news" and stuff. Info on local shows, rabbits posted for sale, people asking/offering transport to here and there...that, RT lacks. But when it comes to straight-up INFO on care/husbandry, RT is the best. I've given up on the pet forums. They fail me hardcore.

Highlight of my contact with a pet-oriented group was when one person declared that because I breed rabbits, I AM THE NEW HITLER. :lol: How am I even supposed to take these people seriously?! I mean come on!!!

 

[Randy]

This is the only forum I have joined. I came across rabbit talk while I was (still am actually) looking into starting a rabbitry. It was one of the many differnt web pages that appeared on google resulting from my searches. I was a bit hesitant of joining this forums because well first of all I had never used a forum and secondly the general "information" on the internet ,including a couple of other forums I did happen to come across appeared to have a lot of nonsense. (Well at least from my experiance with livestock and business I use a fair amount of discression regarding to what is good advice thus it appeard as nonsense.) After RT appearing a couple of times I started looking around this site and began reading continously. I felt that it was worth asking questions here because of the many postings from various knowlagable members.

It seems that a few members find that this site is slow at responces. Maybe it's just me but I am amazed by how fast questions are answered. However I don't know how many other forums are out there so maybe those other sites are also knowagable. Nonetheless I'm quite satisfied for the information that I searching for here at Rabbit Talk.

 

[Bad Habit]

I look elsewhere because this forum is still fairly small and growing, not enough people with experience with other animals or parts of life, beginner Qs are repeated like a broken record and that's where more specific forums come in to play.

I don't really see the issue with the repeat beginner questions... aren't we all here to learn? Didn't we all have to start our learning somewhere? The only bad question is the one left unasked...

I do the facebook, I'm on a few rabbit groups there but don't really post with much frequency. I'm on here. That's it anymore. I tried some house rabbit forums when I first started out, but we all know how fanatical those people can be... I ended up getting "shut out" after asking people not to give me the "spay your rabbit" speech for the umpteenth million time(I was getting it 3 or 4 times on any topic I posted). After that, no matter what I posted, my topics were ignored unless a mod gave me a pity post.

 

[TMTex]

As far as rabbits go, I'm only a member of Homesteading Today and RabbitTalk. I visit other rabbit forums from time to time, mainly for the learning experience. I don't think any particular group has the all encompassing answers to everything, so I like to see other opinions. If I see general aggressiveness or browbeating, I tend to ignore it and move on.

I've learned quite a bit and my rabbits are better for it.

I've been more involved in gaming, cars and science forums than these, though. I'm on Facebook, but the only groups I belong to are the Pastuerella Vaccine one with Bob Glass and some military ones through which I keep up with old brothers/sisters in arms.

I count RabbitTalk high among my favorite forums.

 

[SatinsRule]

I belong to several rabbit boards on Facebook, and perhaps predictably, the atmospheres are different than here. Most of it is geared toward showroom breeders, and while I identify with it in many ways, those discussions often turn rather counterproductive in many other ways, too.

If I had to recommend one thing to anyone wanting to get involved on the FB boards, it would be to avoid the threads about feed brands. They almost always turn extremely ugly in content and nasty by nature. Everybody on those boards so often want seemingly everyone to believe that their brand of feed is the end all/be all that should work for everyone else, and God help you if you dare to post an opinion which disagrees with it in any way, shape or form. You just cannot believe how nasty it gets at times until and unless you find yourself in the middle of the discussion.

 

[fuzzy9]

This is the only forum I belong to......no time, or interest in anything else.