Tell me about looking after wabbits.

I had a rabbit called Jack, he was very nice. I am scard of rabbits though.

I am also having trouble with spelling tonight.

That's brilliant, MF, thank you ?

You're very welcome.

The other negatives were . .

I once found a flattened dead mouse in the bail of straw I was using.

His snot was gross and I was sick once when he sneezed on me.

He had huge testicles, and my mum was amazed by them and showed everyone

I read that sometimes they got ill and that meant maggots grew in their bums, so I was always scared and worried about this and used to look at his bum with one eye open.

I felt awful guilt when it was cold and wet, even though he was in the garage and use to pray to God to look after him and not think me a bad person.

HTH

No! They are very unsociable. Guinea pigs are much better pets in my opinion.

We have two rabbits, Paddy and Charlie. They are lovely boys, very sociable but we don't 'pet' them as such. Rabbits are very independent and very much believe that they are superior to humans, so we wait for them to come to us. We let them have the run of the garden on alternate days. They are in separate hutches, and despite being litter brothers and spayed, they started to fight at about 5 months old so we can't let them out together. They do sit outside each others hutches though, which is very sweet.

Izzy is very good with them, they come to our back door to beg for extra food and if they want to be stroked they hop inside and let Izzy stroke them. One is more sociable than the other, so we just let the quieter of the two come to us as and when he wants to.

On very cold nights, we just turn the hutches to face each other and occasionally cover them up with bubble wrap to keep harsh winds and frost out.

I love owning rabbits, I used to own a house rabbit who was litter tray trained and like a little dog, I miss her loads.

I agree with Seahag - I think GPs are better pets for children. Much less skittish.

That's really helpful, thank you. I'm still not convinced it's a great idea, especially now I know they're independent little things, I don't reckon their chances much against Wizzy ?

Maybe guinea pigs are the way forward, If we do get GPs or wabbits it won't be for a while since we're booked to go on holiday in August and I want to do a LOT more research first.

Thanks again, everyone ?

They might not be great for your youngest as they aren't as cuddly as people think, but they can be very friendly and enjoy being stroked if you sit on the floor rather than pick them up. Ideally keep a male/female neutered pair, unneutered same sex pairs will fight but two boys or two girls can be ok if neutered. I would personally always rescue rather than get them from a pet shop - this way the pair would likely be neutered and happily bonded together already, plus you'd be able to choose ones with a suitable temperament for your family whereas babies can change when "puberty" hits!

Care-wise, you should aim for as big a hutch and enclosure as you can. A shed is actually a brilliant alternative to a hutch. Cleaning out - the more you do it the quicker/easier it is as obviously less messy. Once a week is the absolute minimum. They need to eat LOADS of hay, some fresh veg and small amount of pellet food daily. They litter train quite easily in their hutch/enclosure for wees but do tend to poo everywhere ("dry" poos though so not too unpleasant). They will love some time running round your garden if it is secure.

I love them - can you tell? ?

My folks got me a pet rabbit when i was 12, he was a gorgeous little albino english dwarf. He was quite friendly and happy to be stroked and made a fuss of. He lived in a hutch in the garden during the summer and we'd move the hutch into the shed during the winter so it was a bit more sheltered. Also my dad built him a rabbit run which he'd spend his days in on the lawn in the garden during the summer - usually sunbathing!

He needed feeding twice a day with a mixture of dried rabbit food and veg plus plenty of fresh water. Also I cleaned out his living quarters every couple of days and his bed area once a week. Rabbits seem to chose an area to use as their loo so it really was quite easy to manage.

Minty lived to a ripe old age of 7 and eventually died of old age quite snug and warm in his bed.

I think guinea pigs are "easier" but in my opinion not as entertaining to watch etc. Again, need to be in pairs or groups, similar diet of mainly hay/veg, small amount of guinea pig specific pellets containing vit C, the bigger the hutch the better and access to a run on the grass if possible.

We have two bunnies, Boris and Ruby. They are fab and very affectionate. We got them from a lady who breeds them for showing but also rehomes lots as well. She recommended that for children you're better off getting large varieties as they're less skittish. Ours are German Lops and massive. Boris is 11 months and Ruby 3 months. They both love being cuddled and Ruby even lets our three year old pick her up and carry her about.

They're fairly minimal work wise, food and water every day and I usually clean their toilet corner every day (takes two mins as they're very clean and will only poo and wee in one particular corner). I love them, they're fab.

This is true, it's called fly strike. My rabbit was very prone to it, so to prevent it we used to clean him out every day in the summer and used to wash him and dry him with a hairdryer (he loved it ?) but eventually he got it badly and had to be PTS.

He was a lovely rabbit, he was a Netherland Dwarf so perky ears rather than floppy and only about the size of a GP. We got him from a petshop and always thought he had been taken from his mum too early as he had a thing about licking you on any bit of exposed skin which was v cute. He was housetrained and wouldn't pee/poo on carpet, but did have a tendency to chew phone wires - I think he went through 3 in his time! We didn't bring him in in the winter, he just had his hutch up by the house to keep it warmer and had extra hay and some shredded towels. He was a lovely pet. RIP Pip.

I have heard that guineas are better pets but we had one when we were small who was a b@stard and would bite on sight ?, he must have been the exception to prove the rule. Remember to check RSPCA, you'd be surprised how many rabbits/guineas are abandoned!

We have a rabbit and a guinea pig and have had (several now) since the children were little, our present 2 are Peter (rabbit) and Pepper (pig) we are so original in our house?

I think they are ideal animal for children but like you are thinking it is normally me doing the cleaning out etc but it isn't too much work and they are sweet and they eat all veg and fruit and are always happy to see me with a bag of veg unlike the kids....

Reading this back I am thinking the rabbit will be easier for you plus they don't answer back?

I have two bunnies called Dill and Lil. They are great together and clean and look after each other (Dill today stormed a cat in the garden to save Lil). They also have their own personalities, Dill is a grumpy old man and Lil is two sandwiches short of a picnic which makes her quite entertaining to watch. When they were little they used to spend more time in the house and used to love getting up on the sofa and cuddling in to watch TV.

Mine are both litter trained, so they only go to the toilet in a cat litter tray. So it saves having to clean out their whole hutch everytime you do it. So they are minimal maintainance really, feed, water and clean their litter tray.

I would recommend you get two bunnies, don't get one each of a rabbit and a guinea pig as they are obviously not the same animal and you can have problems (my rabbit when I was little ate my guinea pigs legs ?).

We used to have 2 rabbits - Stuart (Stu) and Hotpot. They started off as house rabbits but they used to chew all the cables and I didnt really want rabbit stew so then they went into big hutches in the boot room. Hotpot had a very cute little harness and lead and my daughter used to take it for a little hop round the garden.