Rabbit Care Sheet

Rabbits make a fantastic pet as they can form strong bonds with humans and be the most affectionate pets. They are very curious, highly intelligent and are a very social animal. It is very important that they are handled gently and frequently. They need to be picked up with both hands, one under the front legs and the other supporting the hind legs. They feel safest when they are held close to the body. Young children need to be supervised as they can harm the rabbit if picked up incorrectly or dropped.

Life Span:

Rabbits can live up to 10 years.

Enclosure:

Rabbits need a safe and secure place to sleep at night but also plenty of exercise during the day. This needs to be supervised to ensure no harm comes to them. A fenced in area or ‘rabbit’ run is perfect with a source of fresh grass and dirt to dig will keep them entertained and happy during this time.

An outdoor hutch or inside house is great for sleeping but is not efficient housing all the time.

Bedding:

Bedding straw provides the warmth and comfort at the bottom of their enclosure. We recommend placing newspaper down first to make cleaning the cage easier as this can be rolled up.

Cleaning out the bedding straw and enclosure when needed is crucial and a good deep clean at least once a week is recommended.

Toileting:

Rabbits are very intelligent and can be litter box trained which will make cleaning their cages a breeze. To encourage litter box training, place some of their droppings into the litter box. This may need to be moved to a place of their choice. A corner litter box is ideal as they tend to stick to one corner of their houses.

Food:

We feed our rabbits Topflite rabbit and guinea pig mix, fresh grass, hay, cabbage, silver beat, spinach, raw carrots, apples and frozen mixed vegetables. They love dandelions as a treat, the flowers as well as the plant.

NEVER feed your rabbit lettuce as this is very poisonous and may cause stomach issues.

Fresh Meadow or Timothy Hay should make up around 80% of your rabbit's daily diet.

Fresh water should always be available, the pet drink bottles work perfectly for this. This needs to be changed daily.

Important:

It is not recommended to house Rabbits and Guinea Pigs together as they require different care, and their diets are different. Rabbits behave and communicate in very different ways to guinea pigs, so when keeping them together they won't understand each other's behaviour.