The reason I've been researching rabbits so thoroughly is because a friend of mine (actually, my SO's sister, so my quasi-sister-in-law, which makes the situation worse, as you see) just got a mini-lop. I'm afraid it just was NOT a good idea for her.
Just to make it clearer, she calls it a lhasa apso. Which, for those of you are bunny people only, is a breed of dog. Unless I'm missing something and it's a breed of rabbit, too. Anyway, she has a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Pit mix, and a Greyhound/Pit mix. Both are highly excitable dogs who only listen when they heard your tone change from calm to angry, aka, threatened. This sort of "obedience" is NOT favorable when trying to introduce something new to a dog (say, a rabbit, or an infant) so I can't imagine they're not going to try to eat this poor mini-lop that she brought home. The rabbit is now in a standing cage in the basement, and on its first night home my SIL seemed resigned to settle with the fact that she would not be able to socialize the dogs to the rabbit and that the rabbit would be spending 99% of its time running around the basement ---- alone.
SO, that said, I'm researching now on them (even though I want to get a large breed, much later, after my boyfriend brings a dog into his house), JUST IN CASE she realizes she's made a terrible mistake and wants to get rid of the rabbit. If that happens, I'm snatching it immediately. **
ANYWAY, my questions are for the larger breeds (I'm thinking Flemish Giant, mix thereof, they seem calmer AND SO DAMN CUTE).
For The Larger Breeds (Specifically Flemish Giants)
1) I found a website that indicated the pellets they eat are roughly 1oz per 5lbs of pet at (if that's wrong, correct me! I haven't looked at any printed text for them yet), so by my calculation a larger breed of rabbit would be eating $60 (generous estimate) of pellets per month, plus hay, and the fresh fruits/veggies (1 cup per 5lbs is what I found. That seems like a lot!) I know larger breeds eat more - how much more? What do you generally spend a month on pellets? And hay?
2) Do you find these breeds are harder or easier to train (litter or otherwise) than smaller ones? What are the main differences?
3) If I found a mix in a shelter, is it safe to say that any mix with a Flemish Giant will be a BIG BUNNEH? >D I ask because I'd rather save one than purchase one from a breeder, but am not willing to purchase one from a pet store if I cannot find one I want in a shelter. Sorry.
General Rabbit Questions
1) Are there places where you can buy pellets and hay in BULK, for cheap? Does it "go bad" if you buy too much at once? The hay has nutritional value, so I don't know if that means it can "spoil." How much do you spend a month for pellets? For hay?
2) For those who live on a coast (I live in NJ, it seems coastal cities charge more for vet care -- b/c the people will pay it), how much is a regular vet-visit for you? Would you say that regular visits, for whatever reason, keeps to under $150? I know in some places they are 'exotic' pets.... so were my rats! And I had to diagnose because the vet I brought my rats to had never treated a rat before (still got charged $70 for each of them, though, just to come into the office!), and she didn't even know much invermectin(sp) to give him. I had to give her my own suggestion and she researched it there.
3) Do they respond to command words, like dogs, or is it more of a gesture/body language thing?
4) Would you say they develop more health problems than other pets? Or roughly the same, just different problems exclusive to rabbits? What I mean is.. dogs generally need to go to the vet for stomach problems, mostly, as well as the other maintenance stuff. If they develop a disease its not COMMON. Same for rabbits?
** Also, before you attack me for not chastising/reprimanding/beating my SO's sister-in-law, please understand that this woman is not even family to me. It would be very awkward and uncomfortable for me to just start yelling at her. She has the fact that in childhood, her sister had a rabbit ( "My sister didn't fix her rabbits, I'm not going to fix her! "
behind her; I never owned a rabbit, so my input would not be taken openly. I've already informed her about the fact that they should not eat lettuce, need X amt of space, can be litter trained, etc, etc, but it's NOT MY PLACE to berate her for bringing a rabbit into a stupid situation like this. Her husband, my boyfriend's brother, would not appreciate it, and it might create tension that, while I am concerned about the rabbit!, I do not want to deal with. Should the situation be so perilous as to endanger the rabbit, I will most certainly say something to her, but I cannot start nitpicking her or I'll be cast out, and the rabbit will be worse off than before when my friendly input can be considered.
Just to make it clearer, she calls it a lhasa apso. Which, for those of you are bunny people only, is a breed of dog. Unless I'm missing something and it's a breed of rabbit, too. Anyway, she has a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Pit mix, and a Greyhound/Pit mix. Both are highly excitable dogs who only listen when they heard your tone change from calm to angry, aka, threatened. This sort of "obedience" is NOT favorable when trying to introduce something new to a dog (say, a rabbit, or an infant) so I can't imagine they're not going to try to eat this poor mini-lop that she brought home. The rabbit is now in a standing cage in the basement, and on its first night home my SIL seemed resigned to settle with the fact that she would not be able to socialize the dogs to the rabbit and that the rabbit would be spending 99% of its time running around the basement ---- alone.
SO, that said, I'm researching now on them (even though I want to get a large breed, much later, after my boyfriend brings a dog into his house), JUST IN CASE she realizes she's made a terrible mistake and wants to get rid of the rabbit. If that happens, I'm snatching it immediately. **
ANYWAY, my questions are for the larger breeds (I'm thinking Flemish Giant, mix thereof, they seem calmer AND SO DAMN CUTE).
For The Larger Breeds (Specifically Flemish Giants)
1) I found a website that indicated the pellets they eat are roughly 1oz per 5lbs of pet at (if that's wrong, correct me! I haven't looked at any printed text for them yet), so by my calculation a larger breed of rabbit would be eating $60 (generous estimate) of pellets per month, plus hay, and the fresh fruits/veggies (1 cup per 5lbs is what I found. That seems like a lot!) I know larger breeds eat more - how much more? What do you generally spend a month on pellets? And hay?
2) Do you find these breeds are harder or easier to train (litter or otherwise) than smaller ones? What are the main differences?
3) If I found a mix in a shelter, is it safe to say that any mix with a Flemish Giant will be a BIG BUNNEH? >D I ask because I'd rather save one than purchase one from a breeder, but am not willing to purchase one from a pet store if I cannot find one I want in a shelter. Sorry.
General Rabbit Questions
1) Are there places where you can buy pellets and hay in BULK, for cheap? Does it "go bad" if you buy too much at once? The hay has nutritional value, so I don't know if that means it can "spoil." How much do you spend a month for pellets? For hay?
2) For those who live on a coast (I live in NJ, it seems coastal cities charge more for vet care -- b/c the people will pay it), how much is a regular vet-visit for you? Would you say that regular visits, for whatever reason, keeps to under $150? I know in some places they are 'exotic' pets.... so were my rats! And I had to diagnose because the vet I brought my rats to had never treated a rat before (still got charged $70 for each of them, though, just to come into the office!), and she didn't even know much invermectin(sp) to give him. I had to give her my own suggestion and she researched it there.
3) Do they respond to command words, like dogs, or is it more of a gesture/body language thing?
4) Would you say they develop more health problems than other pets? Or roughly the same, just different problems exclusive to rabbits? What I mean is.. dogs generally need to go to the vet for stomach problems, mostly, as well as the other maintenance stuff. If they develop a disease its not COMMON. Same for rabbits?
** Also, before you attack me for not chastising/reprimanding/beating my SO's sister-in-law, please understand that this woman is not even family to me. It would be very awkward and uncomfortable for me to just start yelling at her. She has the fact that in childhood, her sister had a rabbit ( "My sister didn't fix her rabbits, I'm not going to fix her! "
behind her; I never owned a rabbit, so my input would not be taken openly. I've already informed her about the fact that they should not eat lettuce, need X amt of space, can be litter trained, etc, etc, but it's NOT MY PLACE to berate her for bringing a rabbit into a stupid situation like this. Her husband, my boyfriend's brother, would not appreciate it, and it might create tension that, while I am concerned about the rabbit!, I do not want to deal with. Should the situation be so perilous as to endanger the rabbit, I will most certainly say something to her, but I cannot start nitpicking her or I'll be cast out, and the rabbit will be worse off than before when my friendly input can be considered.