So if you follow us on instagram you will have noticed a bunny rabbit making an appearance from time to time…

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The thing is… for years I refused all pets, based on the fact that I WAS raising eight feisty kids of varying grades of smallness. My hands were full and I was in no way ready to take on any extra mouths to feed, let alone messes to clean up.
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I always said that when my youngest child was out of diapers I would consider a pet… and until then I suffered an almost endless plea: Little notes left on my desk, pretend pets by the bazillion and so many, many requests left under my pillow. They all fell on deaf ears, I was having none of it.
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Well I take it all back. ALL OF IT… I was wrong folks. First I inherited a couple of fish, then this puppy called me by name, and Kip, the sheep dog, had to be a member of the family. And for a number of years I said we could get a bunny… but I didn’t look too hard for one, and to be honest our pet stores are full of very expensive looking pet food… but not so many pets. Needless to say, time moved on… and one of my kids came home from his woodwork class with a rabbit hutch. A full grown hutch… It was definitely time to put on my “Pet MOM” disguise and start looking more seriously for a bunny…
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Se7en Steps to Caring for Your Bunny


Turns out bunnies are the easiest pets in the whole wide world and we should have got one years and years ago… really super duper easy… and cleaning out the hutch is a breeze, feeding bunnies is a breeze and all they really need is loads of time and attention, and we have that. Let me show you how we care for our bunny:
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  1. Cuddles: Firstly, you have to earn your bunnies respect… those cute cuddly photos of bunnies all snuggled up are not exactly truth… bunnies need loads of time and attention in the sense that they like to be around you and they like to come up to you and they will ask for a cuddle when they trust you. Our bunny loves to be stroked and scratched between the ears, but hours of being carried about would definitely not be her thing.
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  3. Food and water: Any reputable pet store should have packets of rabbit food available… and you can shop online for rabbit food. (No, it is absolutely not at all the same as guinea pig food or hamster food). They do need rabbit specific food to keep their teeth ship shape, local pet stores were a lot pricier than the wholesale animal feed store in our area. Every month we buy a large bag of rabbit food and a bag of hay. Hay is essential to bunnies, they nibble on it all the time. Obviously wherever she is there is a bowl of fresh water available to her.
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  5. Bedding: Bunnies like to nibble a lot and hay happens to keep them warm as well… a big bag of hay costs very little, in the bed part of her hutch we have a load of hay for her to tunnel in and make a warm and cosy den. We also have a box of hay in the kitchen that she can hop in and out of during the day… for a nap and a nibble.
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  7. Snacks: Rabbits are fairly small creatures, with intermittent spurts of energy… so snacking all day long is a thing. Our bunny adores KALE, would climb mountains for KALE, KALE is her love language, so kale is a good treat, but we try and mix up the snacks and treats a little bit. Otherwise, she loves sprigs of lavender and a carrot about once a week. Also, rosemary, basil, mint, rocket. Basically the entire herb garden, as well as spinach and Swiss chard… We do let her free to play in the vegi garden from time to time, she hops about and nibbles away, for obvious reason we can’t leave her there all day!!!
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  9. Cleanup Crew: We very quickly learned that out bunny likes to poo in a particular corner of her hutch, and a particular corner of the back yard. And herein lies the joy of pet rabbits. We got a cat tray, we fill it up with hay and those are her designated poop spots. Beforehand, I was convinced that I would be cleaning up little rabbit pellets of poo all over the house, this not the case at all… rabbits are clean and totally house train themselves. At the end of the day we tip the cat tray out on the compost heap and add some fresh hay to her poop box. It is really that easy.
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  11. Free-Range: I had always heard folk talking about how their rabbits roamed about free. Sounds like a great idea, but our garden border is not exactly bunny proof. So she spends the day hopping around our kitchen and courtyard, and at night we pop her into her cozy hutch. To be honest the idea of her being cooped up in a hutch all day really breaks my heart, I love that she is free to roam wherever she wants to roam… and that is usually where she kind find a bit of company. If the weather is particularly awful we just leave her in the kitchen overnight.
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  13. Entertainment: Bunnies have energy and they like to play… in fact our bunny really likes scrabbling about in cardboard boxes, we just cut holes in the side for her to explore… she loves throwing her food bowl around, as well as cardboard tubes and such like. She has certain times of the day when she does zoomies and runs and hops about like a mad thing.
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  15. Respect: If you are expecting your bunny to be a lap dog, then you are probably looking for the wrong pet. Rabbits don’t generally like to be handled much, that being said, they do love company. Our bunny seeks us out, to sit along side us, but would not enjoy being carried about all day. She does enjoy standing up on her back feet for a tickle between her ears, but really doesn’t enjoy being picked up, unless it is for a gentle scratch… she loves those.

All in all a rabbit has been a great addition to our family, she is loved and adored. Caring for her has been easy, and with all the love and attention in the world, she appears to be thriving.

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