So you want a Bunny as a pet?

We have had our bunny rabbit for over a year now and though there have been many ups and downs and some things we learned the hard way, overall, the bunny has been a blessing and a pet I would recommend to families with kids around age 7+.(maybe 5-6 if your kids are mature enough)

Bunnies have a way of making you laugh when they do silly things like BINKY(run/jump/wiggle all at the same time), zoom from corner to corner of the room(zoomies), and plop down suddenly like they just can’t possibly go any longer.

They love to cuddle and be rubbed, just get down to their level for that and don’t try to pick them up too much. Our bunny will occasionally let me pick him up, but he doesn’t want to be held for long.

They like it better when you just lay in the floor with them, and they’ll just snuggle up right next to you to be rubbed. They’ll get on your back and jump over you too!

They don’t need to be taken outside or walked. No baths, they clean themselves like a cat! They are super low maintenance when it comes to that.

Our bunny actually likes to play chase with the kids in his active time. He will chase them from one side of the room to the other and loves to be rewarded with a small treat from his jar.-Video below of him playing chase.

They are mostly just super cuddly animals who have bursts of energy, but are mostly lazy. They’ll instantly love you if you bring them a banana or a blueberry-their favorite treats.

Having a bunny as a pet is a great way to introduce responsibility for your child , but the parent will certainly have to fill in the gaps or you’ll be left with an even bigger mess.

For example, the kids are the ones who are responsible for the feedings, setting up the gates and spending time with our bunny each day, refilling water, etc. I’m the one who takes the litter pan out daily and refills it +trimming the nails when needed.

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There are many different bunny breeds, but we went with a Holland Lop in Blue, hence his name ‘Blue Moon’. Holland lops don’t get too large, have floppy ears that lay down and are so super soft. I don’t know much about the other breeds but I love the demeanor of ours so I would suggest a holland lop.

Here’s a link to the breeder we chose. She was lovely and very helpful for us as newbies bringing home a new bunny.

Bunny Must Have’s before you bring them home!

Bunny Hutch– This is the hutch we bought a year ago and still have to this day. The bottom tray slides out allowing you to easily clean what has fallen below.

He loves his hutch and when he’s out, he loves to sit on the roof of it and peer out the front main windows.

I put puppy pads on the tray to catch most of what falls below like hay or poop pellets sometimes and can then just easily fold up the pad and throw it all out when I’m cleaning the bottom tray(about once a week).

Water Bowl-You’ll want to attach it, b/c bunnies will tip everything over including their water bowl. This is the one we use and it works great attaching to the side of the hutch.

GATES- We keep the bunny hutch in our front room which is my office.  When the bunny is having free roam time, we set up gates to keep him contained to this room where everything is bunny proofed. I have 3 of these gates and so far, he has not figured out how to jump them. It’s been a year so I think we are in the clear with that. I use one to block him from all the wires under my desk. Bunnies are notorious for chewing wires so you’ll want to block your bunny from any and all wiring.

Food:

Our bunny gets 2 meals a day that include a 1/4 scoop of pellets +a plate of hearts of romaine lettuce and a few baby carrots. I go through about one bag per week of the large hearts of romaine. We alternate into the salad different variations of parsley and cilantro. He loves both but cilantro sometimes will make him smell funky so we try to use that one more sparingly.

We keep a constant supply of timothy hay in his hutch to munch on also.

TREATS:

His favorite treat is a small portion of a banana, then the occasional blueberry or these hard treats. 

We get the treats and pellets at a nearby tractor supply, but you can also buy at the links attached.

We have dangling apple orchard sticks like this hanging in his hutch and he loves to play with them and chew them. You can also buy the whole sticks for them to chew on too. They need things to chew on!

LITTER:

We got our bunny at 12 weeks old and thankfully he was already litter box trained. We use these horse bed pellets in the litter and its super easy clean up. I dump in an outside bin daily and just refill with more fresh pellets. They absorb the urine and help keep the smell down, but its still important to empty daily.

We use this super simple litter pan with pellets like these, but we get them in a huge bag from tractor supply. They usually have the bags outside. We store these and the hay in containers like this(airtight).

Once you open that bag, you’ll want to keep the hay and pellets dry so these containers have been our fix for that.

Tip: If your bunny has a bad habit of tipping over it’s litter box, you can buy a second litter pan, cut 2 holes and zip tie it to the hutch above. Then just place the 2nd pan inside and he won’t be able to tip it!

Extras that just make sense to have:

Air Purifier-This is a must b/c bunnies shed and their little hair gets everywhere. Brush them regularly, but you’ll still want this purifier to get up the extra dander. I keep it running consistently. Just remember to hide the chord!

A handheld dustpan will make spot cleaning around the cage a simple breeze. This is my car vacuum, but I’ll also bring it in sometimes to use around his cage and it works great. You can also use it to suction the air purifier filter when it gets full!

The hardest grooming thing you’ll need to do for a bunny is clip their nails. Sometimes ours will sit super still and let me do his, same for brushing, but usually I am able to get both of these things done even if it takes a couple of tries. I just use my regular clippers for this.

Travel Cage-We have taken our bunny on a few trips with us and this one works the best for the car ride. This is the travel cage we then set up and use for the time we are away. Don’t use any sort of dog bag for transport as they will chew right through it.

Packing tape! Go ahead and save yourself the trouble and put tape over your baseboards in the room you will use. You can use clear packing tape and it’s hardly noticeable. They love to chew baseboards and will destroy them if you don’t pay attention. Even if you do pay attention, they are quiet and quick and before you realize it, they are nibbling away at your baseboards and it’s too late. Also keep things like shoes and bags away from your bunny area or they will chew right through them!