Jonathan

Aug

2019

When and how rabbits sleep: in-depth guide

Introduction

Whether you are thinking about getting a new rabbit, or just trying to understand your pet bunny better, you might be wondering about a typical daily routine. And, just as we humans need our beauty sleep, so getting some sleep is important for rabbits.

But when and how do rabbits sleep? Rabbits are crepuscular – they are most lively at dawn and dusk, and get their sleep (typically around 11 hours a day) during the middle of the day and also at night.

Because people see rabbits sleeping during the day, many assume that they are nocturnal – awake all night. But they aren’t. Crepuscular comes from a Latin word meaning ‘twilight’. This is the time of day (at both dawn and dusk) that rabbits feel most secure feeding and being active.

Bunnies are prey animals – always looking out to make sure that a nasty predator isn’t out to get them. As many predators work best either in bright daylight or at night, feeding in twilight helps decrease the danger. It also means that they aren’t around in the heat of the middle of the day (rabbits can find it hard to regulate their body temperature when it gets too hot).

How many hours do rabbits sleep?

Rabbits sleep on average anything from seven to twelve hours a day. But their sleep pattern is different from ours. Because they have to be alert to danger, bunnies are light sleepers. They frequently wake up, having shorter periods of sleep.

A common number you will come across on the web is 8.4 hours. But scientists measured the sleep patterns of some adult male rabbits. They found that the rabbits slept on average for 11.4 hours a day.

The scientists even broke down the type of sleep.

The rabbits were in deep sleep about two-thirds of the time asleep. So about seven or eight hours a day.

The rabbits were in a light sleep – what the scientists termed drowsy – about a quarter of the time. So about two or three hours a day.

About a tenth of the time the rabbits were in what the scientists termed ‘paradoxical sleep’ – this is similar to REM sleep in humans, and may be an indication that this is when the bunnies are dreaming! See below for more on this.

You can access the abstract of the journal article here.

Other studies also show similar results (eg in one study the rabbits averaged nearly 10 hours a day asleep).

How do you know when a rabbit is sleeping?

But how do you know when your bunny is sleeping? The scientists used sophisticated polygraphic recordings, but our pet bunnies aren’t wired up. It can be hard to tell if your rabbit is simply lying still, or actually asleep.

Here are five signs that your bunny is sleeping.

They will be still. Rabbits don’t move around while asleep, though they can fall asleep in many different types of position.
The ears will be relaxed. This can be harder to tell if you have a lop – they can always look relaxed! But if your rabbit’s ears are pricked up, this is a sign that they are awake. When sleeping, the ears will be lying against the head.
The nose won’t be twitching. Rabbits wiggle their noses all the time while they’re awake, but not when asleep.
The breathing will be slower. You won’t be able to notice this unless you are close. Just like humans, rabbits breathe more slowly while asleep.
Just like some humans, some rabbits snore while sleeping.

Do rabbits dream?

We can’t be sure what is going on in their heads. But it looks like they do dream. About ten percent of their time asleep is spent in a specific form of sleep, in which the body’s patterns look similar to wakefulness patterns, but the brain is asleep. Eyes can move fast (hence it is sometimes called Rapid Eye Movement sleep, or REM sleep for short). And the body can twitch or jerk around a little.

This is similar to humans. We have different sleep states, and REM sleep is when we are dreaming (if you ever remember a dream, it is because you woke up during REM sleep). We too can twitch a bit during this state, and move around.

So it looks like rabbits do dream – we just can’t tell what they’re dreaming about.

Can rabbits see while sleeping?

If rabbits can sleep with their eyes open, does this mean they can see while asleep? Not necessarily. But it does have advantages for them. Potential predators might think that they are awake. Also, if there is movement, the rabbit is more sensitive to the change in light, and so more likely to wake quickly and respond.

Do rabbits sleep in the dark?

Rabbits sleep both in the day and at night, so they sleep both in the dark and in the light. They use the cues from the light to tell them when to sleep – when it is darkest and when it is lightest.

What positions do rabbits sleep in?

Rabbits can sleep in a whole variety of positions. Some flop on their sides, and others splay themselves out. This is Fish’s favourite position.

Partly it can depend on the weather. In cold conditions, rabbits are more likely to curl up into a ball when sleeping to keep warm. In hot weather, your bunny may stretch out as much as possible to keep cooler.

Do rabbits like to sleep with other rabbits?

Rabbits are highly sociable creatures, and most love to sleep with other rabbits (once they know each other). This is one of the reasons that it is good to have to rabbits rather than just one. Our bunnies Fish and Chips like to sleep close together.

Can you sleep with your bunny?

Some rabbits live indoors. If you have an indoor rabbit, you may wonder whether it is possible for an owner and rabbit to share a bed. There are a number of important considerations.

The biggest factor to consider is the safety of your bunny. You are much bigger than they are. If you roll over in your sleep, you could crush your rabbit, injuring or even killing it.

Doctors don’t recommend that parents and babies share a bed for similar reasons.

But there are other things to think about as well.

One of these is hygiene. Rabbits like to mark their territory with both scent and urine. Additionally, they can carry germs into the bed.

Also, rabbits have different temperature needs from humans. We like warmer temperatures, and use duvets or covers to keep up the temperature. Rabbits prefer cooler temperatures, and already have a coating of fur. What is ideal for you may simply be too hot for your rabbit.

Another factor to consider is the sleep cycle. Rabbits have shorter periods of sleep than humans, so while you are trying to get your beauty sleep your rabbit may be nudging you and wanting attention and to play.

Consider the height of your bed. You also need to think about how easy it is for the bunny to get on and off the bed. If yours is really low to the floor, it may be fine, but a standard bed height is high for a rabbit to be expected to jump up or down.

You also need to think about your own health. If you have asthma or allergies, sleeping with a furry animal may not be a good idea!

For all these reasons, you should at least think extremely carefully before planning on sleeping in the same bed as your bunny.

Instead, you could create a sleeping area near or next to your bed. This could be safer for your bunny, and better for both of you.

Conclusion

Your rabbit needs their beauty sleep just like you. But rabbits sleep day and night in shorter bursts, sometimes dreaming. They are most active at dawn and dusk.

If you want to find out more about activity times for rabbits, check out our post on whether rabbits are nocturnal.

Ever wondered whether bunnies yawn when they’re tired like we do (and what yawning does)?

Has your bunny woken up and wants something to do? Have a look at our top toys for rabbits – all cheap, and all road-tested by ours.

You might be wondering how well rabbits see at night – find out more about how rabbits see the world in our article.

Is your bunny listening to you? Find out more in our guide to how rabbits hear.

Worried if your rabbit can go out in the rain? Find out in our article here.

Worried if it’s getting too cold for your bunny? Check out how cold is too cold for rabbits in our article here.

Jul

2019

What to expect when your rabbit is spayed

Introduction

You may be considering getting your rabbit spayed, but aren’t sure what happens or what to expect. Last week, we had our female rabbits Fish and Chips spayed, so this post is based on our recent experience.

I’m going to take you through everything that happens, how much it costs, and why it’s worth getting your bunny spayed or castrated (neutered).

I am giving you what our experience was. Always check with your vet and follow their advice, as your circumstances may be different from ours.

Before the day

You need to book an appointment with a vet. It’s better if your vet is used to dealing with rabbits and other small animals. We used the vets associated with Pets at Home – Vets4Pets.

The operation will take place over the day, so you need to make sure that you are free in the morning to drop off your bunny, and again in the afternoon to pick up and take home. We dropped off Fish and Chips at 9am, and picked them up around 3pm.

You also need to make sure that you are going to be around for a couple of weeks at least after the operation – we nearly forgot this and were going to book it too close to our holiday.

On the day – morning

There is no need to stop your rabbit eating. This is different from other animals like cats and dogs, where you would stop them eating or drinking before an operation. But rabbits have a different digestion system that needs to keep moving food through it.

You will be using a suitable carrier to take your bunny to the vet (we like and own one of the small pet carriers sold by Pets at Home – check it out here).

You also need to take with some of your bunny’s favourite treats for after the operation. The vet will be keen for your rabbit to start eating again as soon as possible, so anything that will tempt them to start eating is good.

When I arrived at the vets with Fish and Chips, there were a couple of things to do before I left them.

First, I had to sign a disclaimer. This is standard before any operation. I also paid for the operations.

Rabbit being weighed — Fish being weighed at the vets

Next, the vet weighed them. Fish was 1.6kg, Chips was 1.9kg. They do this both for knowing how to medicate during the operation, and also for medication after the operation.

Additionally, later on they are weighed again to make sure they haven’t lost too much weight.

Then I went home.

And worried, a little bit. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself a little anxious.

On the day – while you’re waiting

Rather than just worrying, there is a job you need to do while you are waiting. And that is to prepare for the rabbit(s) to come home.

The vet may well recommend that the rabbit spends at least the first night indoors.

This is for two reasons – so that you can keep a watchful eye on your bunny while they recover, but also because after anaesthetic rabbits have trouble regulating their own body temperature. If it’s a cold night, they might even end up suffering from hypothermia.

We spoke about this with our vet. As it happened, we were in a warm spell, and the night-time temperature was going to be quite high.

Because of this, our vet was happy for our bunnies to go back into their own hutch.

Whether it ends up being their regular hutch, or whether you create something for them specially, your bunnies will have different requirements for the next couple of days until they can be checked over by the vet.

In particular, the vet told us not to use straw or woodchip. The bunny will have a fresh scar on their bellies, and so they shouldn’t be lying on anything sharp or rough at first.

That means that you need something softer for the bunnies to lie on – newspaper or cloth.

You could also buy large disposable pads similar to disposable baby changing mats – you can check them out on Amazon UK (or Amazon US). Our bunnies came home with one of these each from the vet.

On the day – collecting

We got a phone call from the vets about 2.30pm, telling us that both had come out of the operation well, but the nurse wanted another half hour to make sure that one of them was awake enough to come home.

I picked up Fish and Chips about 3.30pm. They had been offered some food (their favourite treats that I had packed earlier), but weren’t really hungry yet.

I also made a follow up appointment for three days later (this is about the maximum – more often the vet would see you two days later).

Scar from spaying operation — The scar on Fish. This is after a couple of days.

The vet showed me the scars from the operation, and explained how to take care of them the first evening and days.

She emphasised how important the following are when checking your rabbit after spaying:

Is the wound looking OK?
Are the rabbits pooing?
Are the rabbits peeing?
Are the rabbits eating?
Are your bunnies hiding away?
Are they behaving very differently from normal?

The vet also gave us some painkillers for the rabbits. Each rabbit had a different dose (based on their weight).

The vet also told us not to let our rabbits out of the hutch (not even into their attached run) until they had been to a check-up (again, to protect the wound).

We had to be particularly careful to check that both Fish and Chips were eating – if we just put food out, and saw that it was gone, perhaps only one of our rabbits was recovering well and eating.

The next few days until the check up

Fish and Chips gradually started eating more, but it took time. We give them a small amount of nuggets at the start of the day, which they normally go wild for. But after the operation, they would look at them, nibble one or two, then wander away for a while. We offered coriander (their favourite herb), and they would nibble a little bit.

But at least they were eating – this is extremely important for rabbits.

We could also tell that their poo was returning to normal within a day. And although not their usual, lively selves, our rabbits weren’t hiding away by themselves.

Giving the painkiller was tricky. You administer a syringe into their mouth. You have to go in via the side of the mouth to avoid their teeth.

Chips liked the medicine, and would happily take it. Fish didn’t like it, and it was harder to give her the full dose.

The wounds healed nicely; we had no problems here at all.

Overall, the three days following the operation saw our bunnies get gradually livelier and eating more normally. By the day of the check up, it was clear they were ready for their run, wanting more space to move around.

The check up visit

We brought Fish and Chips back to the vets in the afternoon three days after the operation. The vet checked them over, and was happy with how they were recovering. Our bunnies also got weighed again: Fish was now 1.58kg, and Chips 1.84kg. The vet was happy with this small level of weight loss.

The vet also told us that now we could let them back into their run, but not into the garden.

Why not? Our rabbits love to zoom around at top speed (I never knew rabbits were so fast animals). If anything caught the wound at their top speed, it might catch and tear.

We would have to wait another three days (so a week after the operation) before our rabbits would be allowed to roam freely in our garden again.

Next few days after the check up

Things gradually go back to normal after the check up.

You still need to check the wound regularly to make sure it is healing well.

For the next two or three days you can continue to give the painkiller to your rabbit.

The bedding can go back to normal (straw, in our case). This also helps settle the bunnies – they don’t like their home being messed around.

And after three days, we could finally let them back into the garden. They were delighted!

It was great to see them back to their old, adorable ways – binking and zooming and enjoying the garden.

What happens during the spaying operation?

The vet gives the rabbit an anaesthetic so the rabbit will be asleep during the operation. They shave a small patch of fur on the belly where the incision takes place (for female rabbits).

The rabbit is cut open and the reproductive organs removed (the ovaries and the womb).

For male rabbits, the testicles are removed.

In our case, the incision was then stitched up with soluble internal stitches. This means that the rabbits don’t have to go back to have the stitches removed.

What painkiller is used after the operation?

The vet prescribed our rabbits Metacam (a brand name for Meloxicam). It’s in oral suspension (ie, it’s a liquid). Ours also appears to have been packaged for dogs.

Metacam painkiller medication — The painkiller our vet prescribed

The concentration is 1.5mg of meloxicam in every ml. The syringe was marked in kg (that is, you draw up the liquid to the kilogram level of your dog).

The doses seem higher than you might expect (strong enough for a dog?). Part of the reason might be that it is extremely important for rabbits to start eating again, so ensuring that there is little or no pain is paramount.

Chips needed enough once per day equivalent to the 9.5kg mark; Fish, being lighter, up to the 8kg mark.

This shows how vital it is to follow your vet’s advice for your particular pet.

Also – your vet may use a completely different painkiller.

The right amount (or type) of medicine for one rabbit will be wrong for another.

How long does it take a rabbit to heal after being spayed

It normally takes about a week to ten days for a rabbit to be back to their old selves.

How much does spaying/neutering cost?

It cost us £80 for each rabbit. Spaying (females) costs a little more than neutering (males). If you choose an adoption rabbit from some stores, they may give you a discount towards the cost of spaying. For example, if you choose a rabbit that’s up for adoption from Pets At Home, they give you a voucher covering the entire cost of spaying or neutering.

What age should I spay my rabbit?

Vets4Pets recommend that rabbits should be spayed at around four to five months old. Fish and Chips were just under five months when we brought them in for spaying..

But it is also possible to get older rabbits spayed (for example, if you bring home an adoption rabbit that had not been neutered by the previous owner).

Male rabbits can be neutered a little bit younger, from about three months old.

What are the benefits of spaying?

I’ll list the benefits below, but it has been interesting watching Fish and Chips change their behaviour as they have got a bit older. When they hit about five months they started burrowing, and making nests inside the hutch.

More of an issue is that they started being active with one another. Fish would try to mount Chips, or the other way around, and each time the other rabbit would try to avoid it. These were the first times that we had seen any type of conflict between them.

It showed us that they were the right age to be spayed.

After spaying, they no longer try to mount each other, and are living happily with each other again.

And there are lots of benefits to having your female rabbit spayed:

It ensures that they can’t get pregnant. This is the most obvious one. The number of adoption rabbits in pet stores shows that we don’t need to add more accidentally.
Also, every pregnancy carries risk for a rabbit, and they can get pregnant multiple times in a year.

Spayed rabbits are likely to live longer. Female rabbits are particularly prone to uterine cancers and other reproductive diseases. Spaying removes this high risk factor to their lives.

One example of this is neoplasia (new, abnormal growth). Female rabbits can form adenocarcinoma (malignant tumours) of their endometrium.

Sadly, without spaying, female rabbits have a 60% chance of developing this by the age of four years, and three quarters of female rabbits will suffer this by the age of 7. (For further information, check out this summary by a vet who specialised in rabbits – pdf file).

If you want to give your female bunny the best chance of a long life, then book them in for spaying.

Another reason for spaying is to avoid phantom pregnancies (also called false pregnancies). The bunny can think that she is pregnant, and her hormones are those of a pregnant rabbit. The result is that the bunny can become aggressive (both to humans and other rabbits) and territorial.

Spayed rabbits are also generally better tempered, both with companions and with humans. This is important – rabbits are social animals. Spaying and neutering enables them to live together with less aggressive behaviour.

And, if you have a house rabbit, they are easier to house-train.

Much of the benefits also apply to neutering male rabbits.

What are the risks?

Any surgery carries a small element of risk. But the benefits far outweigh them.

Conclusion

We got our rabbits spayed, and we are pleased that we did. They live together happily, and we have given them the best chance of a long, contented life.

I hope our experience lets you know what to expect if you are thinking about getting your bunny spayed or neutered, and demystifies the process.

Concerned about your bunnies’ diet? Check out our post on what herbs are safe to give them – and which aren’t.

Thinking about insuring your rabbit? I’ve done research on the UK companies that offer pet rabbit insurance here.

Jun

2019

Large Coach House Rabbit Hutch (in-depth user review)

If you’re going to buy a rabbit, you also need somewhere for the rabbit to live. And for most of us, that means buying a rabbit hutch or cage.

Not everyone: some people – about 1 in 20 owners – let their bunnies roam entirely freely indoors, and a recent survey of English pet bunny owners found one owner who used a Wendy house as a makeshift hutch. Source.

When we decided to become rabbit owners, we did some research on the internet, asked friends for advice, and eventually settled on the Large Coach House rabbit hutch, with its optional extras – a run and cover.

Large Coach House rabbit hutch — A view from the front – the doors provide easy access everywhere in the hutch

The Large Coach House hutch is a two storey hutch designed to be used outdoors.

Fish and Chips, our rabbits, have been happily living in it since we brought them home.

Overall, we are pleased with our choice, but there have been one or two niggles along the way. Here’s our experience of using this hutch, and why we chose it.

How much does it cost and where can I buy it?

You can buy it (if you’re in the UK) from the Pet House Company here.

If you’re based in the US, have a look at this alternative (available from Amazon) – more details on this hutch lower down the page.

How big is the hutch?

We have to think about two different factors when considering size. First, how much area do the rabbits have to move around in? Will there be space for them to hop, to stretch, to run a little? Secondly, how high is the hutch? Will there be space for them to rear up on their hind legs?

How much floor space does the hutch and run have?

The hutch dimensions are as follows:

Overall height (to lowest point – the top slopes)	3.3 ft	1m
Width	6 ft	1.8m
Depth	2 ft	60cm

Overall area for rabbits 24 ft2 2.16m2

How does this area compare to recommendations from animal welfare groups?

The Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF) recommend a minimum size of hutch of 6ftx2ft, which equates to 12 ft2 (1.08m2) (info here).

So the hutch has double the recommended floor space.

BUT the RWAF also recommend that rabbits should have access to a run of 8ft x 6ft (2.44m x 1.8m x 0.91m). Added together, this means a total floor space of 60 ft2 (12 ft2 for the hutch, 48 ft2 for the run).

The run that you can buy with the Large Coach House is 6 ft x 4 ft (1.8m x 1.22m), for a floor space of 24 ft2 (2.16m2).

So, the Large Coach House hutch and run together give a combined floor space of 48 ft2 (4.32m2).

The combined total is therefore a little less than the recommendation of the RWAF. Clearly this isn’t ideal, but it’s remarkably difficult to find a larger floor space from hutch and run that are designed to work together. The Large Coach House hutch and run is one of the largest floor spaces available commercially.

Our rabbits also have regular access to a large garden, so we felt comfortable with this space for our buns.

How high is the hutch and run?

The internal height of the upper floor is about 14 inches (36cm). The ground floor is taller – 15.5 inches (39cm).

Fish by run door — Fish waits for the run door to be opened. This gives an idea of how high the run is.

If you buy the run, it is a little taller – 21 inches (53cm). I went and measured this myself, as I couldn’t find it on the supplier’s website.

Again, this isn’t as high as the RWAF would prefer – they suggest 36 inches (91cm). The run needs to be high enough for a rabbit to be able to rear on their hind legs – for an average rabbit this means 52.6cm or just under 21 inches. Our rabbits are on the smaller side, so the run is tall enough for them. If you have larger rabbits, this may be something worth checking.

The hutch and run are big enough (space and height) for our rabbits, but that might not be true for everyone’s buns.

How does it arrive?

The hutch arrived in two large, heavy flatpack parcels. Because the hutch is 6 foot long, so too are the parcels.

We had a problem when we opened the parcels. Two pieces of the hutch had been damaged in transit. We needed to speak with the supplier to sort out replacement pieces. At first this wasn’t straightforward – there was going to be a significant delay (something about new hutches and replacement parts being separate departments).

However, when we pressed them on this a little (we needed a hutch!), they agreed to send out replacement parts the next day (and were true to their word).

How easy is it to build?

I should start this section by saying that I am not a DIY expert or handyman. I have built a few IKEA bookcases over the years, but that is about the limit of my skills.

You might be pleasantly surprised by how straightforward building the hutch is. The instructions were generally clear enough that I was able to work out which pieces were being referred to, and how to fit them together. No special tools were required beyond a screwdriver.

Here’s a short timelapse video of me building the hutch, so you can see I made relatively steady progress.

https://youtu.be/6ZgNeCNIPjc

Building the Large Coach House Rabbit Hutch (https://youtu.be/6ZgNeCNIPjc)

What do we like about the hutch?

The hutch has a number of different features that we appreciate. Here are seven things we like about the Large Coach House hutch and run.

Lid up on hutch — Chips checking what’s going on while the top is open

It feels pretty solid. This is subjective, but the hutch when assembled doesn’t feel rickety. We’ve moved the hutch a couple of times, and there hasn’t been movement or loosening of screws.
We like the fact that the roof lifts up (and stays open). This makes it much easier to refill the hay manger we added to the upper level, and their water bowl. And when it comes to cleaning the hutch, again, this gives easy access.
The upper level has two doors that open outwards. We haven’t really used those except when cleaning the hutch.
You can slide out the floors for better cleaning. The floors slide in or out, so you can remove them, clean them, and then slide them back.
The floors are zinc-coated so they are more likely to withstand damp/urine/rust.
The hutch is raised a little bit above the ground. For an outside hutch, this means that the bottom level isn’t getting as cold or wet on rainy days. It makes a big difference to the temperature. The legs have rubber protection on the bottom to keep them from rotting.
The bolts on all the doors are also zinc coated to prevent rusting. Also, this design is safer. Some hutches use wooden swing fastenings, which would be easier for a predator to open.
The hutch comes with a 10 year anti-rot guarantee. This gave us some peace of mind that the hutch is likely to last.

What don’t we like about the hutch?

Although the floors do slide in and out, one or two of ours (there are four altogether) stuck a little rather than being smooth. I resorted to sanding part of one to enable it to move in and out a little better.

If you have bigger rabbits, it is not very tall. You may want to make sure that they have access as well to an area where they can rear up if they want to.

How well does the cover fit?

The cover is quite a snug fit around the hutch (it does not cover the top, which already has a rubbery waterproof coating).

What do we like about the cover?

First of all, we appreciate that there is a cover for the hutch. It means that when the wintry seasons come, we have something to make sure that the hutch is comfortable for our bunnies.

We also like the way that you can still access all areas of the hutch, thanks to zipped sections everywhere.

What don’t we like about the cover?

The sections that cross the front of the hutch seem to hang a little loosely rather than being neat. There are bits of Velcro to hold parts of the cover together neatly, but sometimes they seemed to be lacking where we would expect them. The windows seemed designed to be rolled up, but this was quite tricky in practice.

We are not sure how to fit both the cover and the run without screwing through the cover. This is what we did in the end.

The run is harder to close with the cover in place.

How easy is the run to build?

The run was similar to build to the hutch. I managed it, despite my limited DIY skills.

What do we like about the run?

Run with top flipped open — The top flips open so you can get to the hutch easily

The run can either be free standing, or attached to the run. When attached, if done properly, you can still access all the doors/floors of the hutch. Opening one of the lower doors allows your bunnies easy access to the run. The run itself has two large doors, which you can open to allow the rabbits access to a garden.

Half of the top flips back, which means it is still easy for you to stand in front of the hutch inside the run when you need to top up hay or clean the hutch.

What don’t we like about the run?

As I indicated above, it would be nice if it was a bit taller.

Also, (though this may be a mistake on my part), I couldn’t easily see how you have the run attached to the hutch and put on the winter cover. I’m not sure if you are meant to screw through the cover if necessary.

What alternatives are there?

If you are looking for more height for your bunnies, then the same company also make the Manor 6ft extra large rabbit hutch.

It is 4 ft tall, so has a bit more headspace. It also has as an optional extra a custom cover for the winter season. However, there is no custom run you can add on.

The company is British, so if you’re coming to this site from America, you could consider the PawHut Rabbit Hutch. The reviews on Amazon seem generally positive. It is high enough, but not as long as would be ideal. I haven’t tried the hutch myself. You can find out more about in on Amazon (and check out the price) here. You would need to buy a run separately.

Conclusion and recommendation

We are happy with our decision. Our bunnies Fish and Chips enjoy their home, and it seems to give them enough space to hop and stretch. The hutch is sturdy, and the design means that we have easy access to both levels (in particular because the roof flips up and stays up). The run fits the hutch well, and gives more space. The cover fits neatly, and will help in winter.

If you’re reading reviews on rabbit hutches, you might be in the process of buying your first rabbit (or rabbits – they like company!). We have an article if you’re wondering how much it might cost you in total.

Jun

2019

How much does it cost to buy and keep a pet rabbit?

When we first bought Fish and Chips, our much loved bunnies, we were entirely new to the world of pets. We had never owned any type of pet before. I literally had no idea how much it would cost to buy a rabbit or to keep a rabbit.

Perhaps you’re in the same position. You’re thinking about buying a pet rabbit, and wondering how much it is going to set you back, both upfront and year to year.

The costs can add up (and remember that pet rabbits can live up to ten years – this is a long term commitment).

This is our experience of buying two pet rabbits. I hope you find it useful, and enables you to make a more informed decision.

How much does it cost to buy and keep a pet rabbit?

It costs between £150-500 ($200-650) to buy a pet rabbit, rabbit hutch (cage) and equipment. The main difference in cost will be the quality of hutch you get – hutches designed to last outdoors cost more. It costs about £550 (about $700) a year to keep a rabbit, including insurance and vaccinations, hay and bedding. Treats and toys are additional costs to these.

	Cost (£)	Notes
One-off costs
Rabbit	£0-50	Ideally you buy two rabbits or more – they are sociable animals who need company
Spaying/neutering	£70-80	Spaying/neutering leads to healthier, longer-lived, calmer rabbits. Remember to double this cost if you buy two rabbits.
Hutch & run	£50-350	Outside hutches need to be large, secure and with a secure run. You also need a cover for winter. Inside hutches still need to be suitable.
Litter tray	£10	Simple plastic.
Water bowl	£3	Heavy and shallow so doesn’t get knocked over.
Feeding bowl	£3	Same as water bowl.
Hair brush	£4	Regular grooming helps rabbits.
Hay manger	£10	Hay is the main food for rabbits.
Total	£150 to £510

Running costs per year		Remember to double up if you have two rabbits
Vaccines/health check ups	£96	Your rabbit will need vaccinating every year (included as part of health plan).
Insurance	£120-180	Pet insurance can save you a lot of money if your rabbit needs any medical care.
Bedding	£216	Straw and bedding needs replacing weekly.
Hay & pellets	£124	A rabbit’s main diet should be hay.
Toys and treats	£0-£200	Rabbits get bored easily. Toys and treats keep them entertained and happier.
Total	£556 to 816

How much does a rabbit cost?

A rabbit from a pet store will cost about £45 (or $20-40). You can buy a rescue rabbit for less than this.

At first, we thought we were going to be buying a pet rabbit. We were wrong. We ended up buying two rabbits.

Why? Because rabbits are sociable creatures. They enjoy company. Either you need to guarantee a lot of human interaction every day and throughout the day, or they need a bunny companion (more info here).

The good news is that rabbits are relatively cheap to buy. You may even be able to adopt a rabbit from a shelter for free.

The less good news is that, ironically, rabbits are not the main cost of buying rabbits!

Fish and Chips - rabbits — We bought two rabbits…

We bought Fish and Chips from a pet store.

Some organisations strongly suggest you never do this and only adopt rabbits from shelters. At the time, we didn’t know much about rabbits at all.

All I can say is that the pet store we used (Pets At Home) was professional, cared for the rabbits, refused to sell them at inappropriate times (weather too cold; rabbits too young), provided excellent information on caring for rabbits, ensured we had suitable facilities at home before selling the rabbits, and also supports the adoption of rabbits.

They also refuse to sell rabbits over the Easter weekend, to ensure that people aren’t buying bunnies on impulse. Many of the staff owned rabbits themselves, and all seemed passionate about the animals.

We paid £45 for each rabbit. However, this included RHD1 vaccination, which on its own can cost £40.

Rabbits available for adoption were generally cheaper, and some of them were already vaccinated and neutered or spayed.

In the USA, typical prices are around $20-40. Again, this can be cheaper if you are buying from a shelter.

Our rabbits, cute as they are, have no pedigree. If you are buying a rare breed, the price is likely to be higher (maybe even hundreds of dollars).

We paid £45 per rabbit.

Medical matters and insurance

Your rabbit(s) will need regular trips to the vet for vaccinations and other costs. These are for routine issues; this is separate from going to the vet for any emergencies or illnesses that your bunny may have.

Your rabbit will need two vaccinations each year (combined RHD1/myxomatosis, and RHD2) and protection against flystrike. You can pay separately for these, but most vet practices offer a package combining them all, which ends up cheaper.

Vets4Pets (which is associated with Pets At Home) charges £8 per month (£96 annually – 2022 price), and also included a consultation as well.

If your rabbit isn’t already spayed/neutered, you need to include this cost (it is highly recommended by practically all organisations). It typically costs a little more to spay a female than it does to castrate a male. Find out more about the whole process in our article.

And then there’s insurance. This typically costs £10-15 per month. The usual price comparison websites don’t include pet rabbit insurance (they only offer one choice). I researched the area – you can see my comparison between the main five UK providers here.

We paid £80 per rabbit for spaying.

We pay £96 every year per rabbit for a care plan for vaccinations.

We pay £130.56 every year per rabbit for pet insurance.

Hutch, run and cover

You can spend a little or a lot on a hutch. Partly it is going to depend whether your rabbit(s) is going to live indoors or outside. In the UK, there is pretty much a 50:50 split.

Our rabbits live outside, so we needed a hutch that was a decent size; that would keep them safe from foxes or cats; and that last in Manchester’s wet climate. Indoor hutches can be cheaper (though still need to be large).

We did some digging around, and settled on the Large Coach House hutch, with a run and a cover for winter. It arrived flat-packed, and we assembled it ourselves. You can read our user review of the Large Coach House rabbit hutch here.

You can expect a good quality rabbit hutch to last three years if kept outside. Beyond this, you might need to start making more and more repairs as the weather and the bunnies cause wear and tear. In particular, bunnies can chew wood, and can nibble away at struts and wooden supports over time.

We paid £312 for the hutch, the run and the cover, including delivery.

Equipment

Your bunny will need some stuff besides the hutch itself. This is what we ended up buying:

Litter tray – we chose a large plastic one £12
Water bowl (heavy so can’t be knocked over) £3.25
Feeding bowl (to put pellets in) – ended up same as water bowl £3.25
Small double sided brush £4.50
Dustpan and brush (to help clean out the hutch – we didn’t fancy using our normal one) £2
Hay manger to hang on side of hutch £10.40

In total, we paid £35.40 on equipment

Bedding and Litter

The hutch needs cleaning out each week. We then line the bottom of the hutch with newspaper, and then woodshavings (with dust extracted) on top. In the bedding area, we use straw (again, make sure that it is dust extracted).

A large (10kg, 22lb) bag of woodshavings costs about £10.

A large bag of straw costs about £4.

You will need about one bag each month.

We also use litter in the litter tray. A 20l bag sets us back about £12. You’ll need about 4 bags a year.

We pay £216 a year on bedding and litter.

Food

The main diet of rabbits is hay, and we always try to buy Timothy hay (read here to find out why). In England you can buy Timothy hay for about £4 for 1kg of hay (which goes further than you’d think). I haven’t kept track, but about half a bag every week per rabbit seems about right. We buy ours from pet shops (some supermarkets also stock hay), but you can also order from Amazon UK or Amazon US.

If you are near a farm (one of our friends is), you might be able to get access to hay a lot cheaper than this.

The bad news if you’re American is that getting Timothy hay seems to be a bit more expensive than in England. It’s worth buying a bigger bag to save money.

Rabbits also have pellets of dried hay (no more than half an eggcup per day per rabbit). The pellets cost about £10 for a 2kg (4.4lb) bag. You probably won’t need much more than a few bags a year. Again, you can get these from pet stores, or direct from Amazon UK.

On top of that, we also regularly buy herbs and other greens when doing our supermarket shop (but not chives! See why not here). I haven’t included this cost.

We pay £124 per rabbit every year for hay and pellets.

Toys and treats

The good news: toys and treats tend to be inexpensive.

The bad news: buying them becomes a little addictive…

And most toys are something that your bunnies love to chew on. This means that, after a day or so, they will have been destroyed by your rabbit’s gnawing and chewing. So you buy another one…

As an example, we found that our bunnies really enjoyed chewing and messing around with small hay boxes. We have bought three in the month.

You can read here about some of our favourite treats and toys for our bunnies in our rundown of ten of the best (and they’re all pretty cheap).

We pay about £180 every year for toys and treats.

Other costs

We have had other costs, but these depend on our particular circumstances. For example, we needed to improve the fencing in part of our garden to make sure that the bunnies couldn’t escape. This took a couple of days work plus materials from B&Q (similar to Home Depot).

Conclusion

Thinking about buying a pet rabbit? It’s always worth having some idea up front about what you are committing yourself to.

We love our rabbits, Fish and Chips, and are delighted we took the plunge.

Our experience is here to help you make sure you can commit to affording and looking after your rabbit(s) not just today, but in the years to come.

And rabbits make great pets (you can read our 7 reasons why they’re better pets than dogs here).

Jun

2019

What type of rabbit is Roger Rabbit?

Have you ever had a weird question that kept going around your mind? Utterly inconsequential, but nags and gnaws away? So you do what we all do, and put your trust in Google.

And always, someone, somewhere, will present an answer to you neatly by the algorithms of the internet. Nearly always… …and then you end up with a question that no-one else has asked.

You know what the question is, because you’ve ended up on this page.

What type of rabbit is Roger Rabbit? In particular, what breed of rabbit?

I have happy memories of the ground-breaking film that mixed live action with traditional animation. Bob Hoskins starred as the world-weary private eye inveigled into investigating who framed Roger Rabbit. But there are many different breeds of rabbit – what type was Roger?

That is, what type besides cartoon rabbit – Wikipedia classifies Roger as a Toon Anthropomorphic Rabbit. I can’t find that classification anywhere on the ARBA website.

The answer wasn’t obvious, but I did some digging around. Here’s my hypothesis.

What type of rabbit is Roger Rabbit? Roger Rabbit is most likely to be an American White rabbit.

How did I come to this conclusion? My reasoning is laid out below – see what you think.

Is Roger Rabbit a rabbit or a hare?

The first question is to establish whether Roger Rabbit is really a rabbit. After all, he could be a hare.

You think this is unlikely? But Bugs Bunny, a cartoon parallel, seems at time to be more like a hare than a rabbit, and the two are similar. For example, the first short film in which Bugs Bunny got his name was called Hare-um Scare-um. And the first ‘official’ Bugs Bunny film was called A Wild Hare.

Charlie Thorson, the lead animator, created Bugs Bunny as a mix between a hare (called Max Hare) he had drawn for an earlier film and the cute rabbits more typical of Disney.

The key evidence that Bugs is a rabbit is that he has a burrow, living underground. Hares live overground. And Elmer Fudd calls him that ‘wascally wabbit’. But other evidence points towards the hare:

He is a loner (hares are loners; rabbits are social creatures); and
Bugs Bunny has long ears.

So some people think that Bugs Bunny is more likely to be a hare than a rabbit (info here).

But Roger Rabbit is more rabbit like. The evidence mounts up:

Roger Rabbit is extremely sociable (not least, he is married to the delightful Jessica). Rabbits are sociable whilst hares are solitary.
One of his relatives is a rabbit. His uncle is Thumper, from Bambi, as this line from the movie shows:
“My Uncle Thumper had a problem with his probate and he had to take these big pills and drink lots of water.”
(Could Roger Rabbit’s dad be one of Thumper’s sisters – Trixie, Daisy, Ria or Tessie?!)
Let’s not forget, his surname is Rabbit.
But the real clincher is that his creator, Gary K Wolf, has confirmed that Roger Rabbit is a rabbit:
“Roger IS a rabbit, yet his last name is Rabbit. So does that make him Roger Rabbit Rabbit? That’s the kind of conundrum that makes a Toon’s head explode. And mine too if I think about it too much.”

All in all, we’re safe in thinking that Roger Rabbit is a rabbit and not a hare.

What type of ears does Roger Rabbit have?

One of the ways to tell rabbit breeds apart is through their ears. They can be classified in five different categories:

Erect ears – this is the most common.
Full lop ears – both ears hang down. Fish, one of our rabbits, has full lop ears.
Half lop ears – one ear up, the other down. Chips, our other rabbit, often carries her ears like this (but at other times both end up upright).
Oar lop ears – the ears stick out fairly horizontally – sometimes called helicopter ears.
Horn lop ears – the ears stick out in front.

Roger Rabbit has erect ears, so we can rule out all the breeds of rabbits which are lop-eared (so definitely not the same breed as our rabbit Fish).

What colour is Roger Rabbit?

Another distinguishing feature of rabbit breeds is their colour. This is a simple one – Roger Rabbit has white fur.

What length of fur does Roger Rabbit have?

Angora rabbit – a bit fluffier than Roger Rabbit
Ross Little [CC BY-SA 2.0]

Some rabbits have really long fur – like the Angora breed. They need lots of grooming (high maintenance bunnies).

But Roger Rabbit has much shorter fur.

He’s not what you’d call ‘fluffy’ at all.

Again, this helps narrow down the possibilities.

Where does Roger Rabbit come from?

Roger Rabbit speaks with an American accent, and lives in California. We can assume that he’s an American rabbit.

Putting the clues together

So Roger Rabbit is a rabbit with erect ears, white short fur, and an American breed.

My conclusion: Roger Rabbit is an American White Rabbit.

Why? The American White Rabbit is a large breed (and Roger Rabbit is certainly larger than most rabbits…). The ears are long and erect (just like Roger’s), and the fur short. The breed is known for being friendly and with a sweet temperament (again, just like Roger’s). And it is American (just like Roger). You can find out more at the American Rabbit Breeders’ Association.

It all fits together. Case closed.

Convinced by this? Get ready to be convinced that rabbits are better pets than dogs – we have 7 reasons why.

May

2019

How to photograph your rabbit (helpful illustrated guide)

Introduction

Like thousands of other owners, we love sharing pictures and short videos of our bunnies on Instagram (you can find our Instagram feed here). Recently, someone asked us in our comments how we got the photo heading this article. Whilst we’re not professionals, we take a lot of photographs (not just of bunnies!). So we thought we’d pass on what we’ve learnt – what works for us in photographing rabbits.

Read on if you want to get some great pictures for Instagram, or perhaps you want to create a cushion or mug proudly showing off your pet rabbit. Or order a gigantic print for the wall!

These simple tips will show you how to photograph your rabbit and create fantastic, memorable images.

Get closer

This is probably the most important tip of all. Robert Capa, the famous photojournalist, said, ‘if your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough’. It’s good advice for most pictures. Photographs of your bunny are no exception.

Look at this first example, where I’m not close enough:

Fish, our rabbit, taken from above. — Fish from above. Cute, but we can do better

Even zooming in a bit improves it – still not great, but better.

Fish, a rabbit, from close up from above — Getting closer to Fish. Better… (but we can still improve on this)

Get close – fill the frame with your bunny, so you can see the whiskers on their face. Then get a bit closer.

Get low

Come down to your rabbit’s level – you’ll often get a much better picture.

Look at the difference between the photo above and this one (only taken seconds apart) – the first taken from above, the second from bunny’s eye level.

Close up of Fish, a rabbit — That’s cute…

The quickest way is to kneel or lie down to get your picture. Or just try holding your smartphone down low. If you’re using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, some of them have flip screens that make taking pictures from low angles easier.

If the ground is muddy or very hard, it can put you off kneeling down or become uncomfortable. One small tip is to use a foam camping mat to kneel on (you can also get similar mats for gardeners). You can pick one up from Amazon UK or Amazon US – I just use a cheap one, but they will happily sell you more luxury versions.

Having that extra bit of comfort helps you stay in position to get the best shot of your bunny.

Think about the background

We can be so besotted with our bunnies that all our attention is on them when we’re taking the photograph, and not realise how distracting the background can be. There’s a number of ways that we can help make sure that all eyes are on our rabbits.

Look how distracting this photo is (too small, taken from above, and look at all the distracting stuff around Fish):

Fish, a rabbit, with a cluttered background — Look how cluttered this photo seems

Go for a simple background

If possible, go for a simple background. It’s not always possible if you’re just grabbing a shot as your bun is hopping around, but having a plain, unfussy background helps your rabbit to stand out in your snaps.

Blur the background

One way to create a simpler background is to make it more blurry (people into photography call this bokeh).

It’s easier to do this with a DSLR or mirrorless camera than with a smartphone – the smaller sensor size of the smartphone means that more is in focus at all distances. With a larger camera, you can use a large aperture (small f number) so that only the subject is in focus, and everything at other distances is blurry (but see later for how this makes focusing on the eyes harder…).

To do this, choose ‘aperture priority’ mode. Here’s how (often on a dial on top):

Canon: choose the ‘Av’ mode. Then choose the f number you want (usually a wheel or similar you can rotate to choose)
Nikon: choose ‘A’ mode. Then choose the f number you want.
Sony: choose ‘A’ mode. Then choose the f number you want.
Fuji: rotate the aperture dial on the lens to the f number you want.

As smartphones develop, some allow you to create this background blur digitally. If you have a smartphone that can do this, play with the setting to see if you prefer the results.

Create contrast with the background

Sometimes, you have the chance to choose the background (perhaps you’re taking a photograph indoors, and can throw a sheet onto a chair or sofa for an impromptu photoshoot).

Think about what will help your rabbit to stand out.

If your rabbit has dark fur, choose a pale background. If your rabbit has pale fur, choose a dark background. When we took this picture of Chips, we deliberately chose a white background:

Chips, a rabbit — Chips stands out clearly against the white background

What if you have two bunnies? We find this difficult, as Fish has pale fur and Chips has dark fur, so when they are together we just do the best we can!

Focus on the eyes

The eyes are the window to the soul, says a traditional proverb. It’s certainly true that we look at eyes first – they grab our attention. What does this mean for our photographs?

You need to make sure that your bunny’s eyes are in sharp focus.

How do you do this? It depends on what type of camera you are using.

Using a smartphone

If you are using a smartphone, lots of any picture is normally in focus (it has large depth of field – this comes from the physics of using a small sensor).

What this means in practice is that you probably don’t have to worry too much. But if your bunny is fairly still, you can usually touch on the screen to show your phone where you want to make sure is in focus (I do this when using my iPhone).

Using a DSLR or mirrorless camera

If you are using a larger camera, such as a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, then your photos will usually have less depth of field (the larger the sensor, the less the depth of field).

The advantage is that you can more easily blur out a distracting background. But it also makes it much easier to miss focus on the eye.

One solution is to use a smaller aperture (a higher f stop) – using f8 or f11 or higher will give more depth of field, and so more chance that the eye is in focus. See above for how to choose an aperture (an f number).

Another solution is to carefully lock focus on your bunny’s eye. Different cameras do this in different ways. Some cameras (such as the Sony A9 and Sony A7RIII – available here on Amazon UK or Amazon US) now even have eye tracking autofocus – once locked on, it will keep focus on the eye even as your rabbit moves around.

My camera doesn’t have this eye tracking, so I try to lock focus and take lots of shots to make sure that I get some with the eye perfectly sharp.

Eyes and rabbits with dark fur

But there’s another issue with eyes – particularly if you have a bunny with dark fur. When I photograph Chips, the fur around her eyes is black. And her eyes are dark. It’s very easy for the eye not to stand out.

In contrast Fish has pale fur, so her dark eyes always stand out.

To counter this, try to make sure, if photographing a dark rabbit, that you get a catchlight in their eye. The catchlight is a little reflection of light that you can see even in dark eyes. If you do this, the person looking at your photo can still easily find the eye.

Look at this photo of Chips – notice how there is some white reflected in her eye. That’s the catchlight.

So two things to remember – get the eye in focus, and make sure it stands out against the fur in some way.

How will you use your photograph?

When taking the photo, also think about what you might use it for. This matters because it helps you think about how to frame the photograph.

If you’re taking photos for Instagram, chances are you want a square format. If you’re using a smartphone, change to a square setting before taking the picture.

If you’re using a DSLR or mirrorless, you’ll need to crop after you’ve taken the picture. But think about which bits you’ll crop away before you take the picture.

This way, you’ll make sure that you get exactly what you want in the frame, and that you haven’t cut off a nose or an ear. But think about what shape the photo needs to be.

Think about perspective

Think about how close physically you want to be to your bunny to take the photograph. There are two ways to ‘get close’ and fill the frame with your rabbit.

The first way is simply to be very close. This will exaggerate whatever is closest to the lens, and make everything else seem smaller. So the nose and whiskers might become really prominent.

This is similar to what happens when we take selfies – if we take them really close, our nose looks bigger and our face seems a little out of proportion.

The second way is to be further away, but to zoom in. The best way of doing this is with a lens. Some smartphones now have two lenses, and can do this.

If you have a DSLR or mirrorless, then you can use a telephoto lens. If you can’t do either of these, then you can crop the photo later, but you risk losing some quality.

What’s the best light outdoors?

Many people might think that a bright sunny day is the best light for photos. We find it’s easier on cloudy days (in Manchester, we get a lot of these).

Taking pictures in bright sunlight means a lot of contrast – pale fur gleams white in the picture, with dark, black shadows. The softer light on cloudy days is less harsh, and you can see the delicate fur more easily.

But what if it is a sunny day when you’re taking your photos? If you can, find some shade. Shade light is also soft, like a cloudy day. Or you can make your own – get a friend to hold up a blanket.

Usually, it’s easier to have the light coming generally from behind you. But don’t be afraid to try taking pictures into the light as well – you may find that you get some fantastic images of how fluffy they are as their fur is backlit by the sun.

What’s the best light indoors?

Usually, the best light indoors is near a window (but not in direct sunlight). Of course you can use whatever lights your room has, but, if you can, try to use the natural daylight coming in through a window.

Try not to use flash unless you need to – you’ll end up with a flatter looking result, and sometimes you get strange reflections in the eyes. It can also sometimes lead to strange colours.

How to get a smooth background

Occasionally, we want a plain background that all appears to be one colour (in photography, this is called an ‘infinity’ background.

It’s surprisingly easy to make one.

You just need a large sheet of thick paper. I have one white sheet, and one black sheet.

Stick up one end about 30-40cm high, and unroll the paper towards you (you might need to weigh down the corners near you so it doesn’t roll up.

Now you ‘simply’ need to make sure your bunny is on the sheet of paper.

Here’s a photo of Chips on the roll of paper – it was used for the earlier photo of her on a white background.

Chips, rabbit, on roll of paper — Chips on a roll of white paper

Be careful – your bunnies may find the paper slippy. Unlike dogs and cats, bunnies don’t have paws, but just furry pads on their feet. So make sure that you’re not doing this somewhere where they could slip and fall.

Things that help

Some things just make life easier.

Having a friend to help as a ‘bunny wrangler’ makes life easier – they can help make sure that the bunnies are roughly where they should be, while you can concentrate on taking the pictures.

Don’t forget treats – they can help keep your rabbit happily in the same place (if you’re taking a photo of someone else’s rabbits, make sure that they are happy with the treat you’re offering.

Good treats might be a few pellets, or some herbs. (See here for our guide on what herbs are safe for rabbits.)

Squeaky toys can help make sure your rabbit is looking in a certain direction. If they aren’t lops, this can help bring the ears forward, which tends to look better in photos.

In fact, photos of your bunnies playing with toys are also a great idea. We have our own favourite toys – see our article here.

Don’t forget

Take lots of shots
Keep photo sessions short
Keep your rabbits safe and happy throughout

And not every photo posted to Instagram has to be a masterpiece. Sometimes we post ordinary snaps for fun!

An example

Here’s how we got the shot heading up the page (it was a casual shot in the garden, not a special photoshoot). Here’s how it came out of the camera:

I got close
I got down low
I focused on the eye

The background is already blurry (I used a large aperture on a DSLR).

Next, I transferred the photo to my iPhone and edited it.

I cropped it to square (ready for Instagram).
I made the background darker, as Fish is pale.

Fish, a rabbit — Final version, ready for Instagram

I did this simply by changing the ‘shadows’ settings in Photo – if you’re using an iPhone, you can do the same if you edit a photo.

And uploaded it to Instagram.

Conclusion

Just a few simple tips can make all the difference to your photos of your rabbits. Getting close and getting low down helps show off just how cute your bunny can be. Get snapping!

If you enjoy taking photos of your bunny, you might also be interested in teaching them tricks, like how to high five you or spin around. Take a look at our article on how to do this.

May

2019

Can my rabbit go out in the rain?

Introduction

The sun shone brightly during the first few weeks since the bunnies arrived. Fish and Chips happily played and binkied in the garden, and we watched, enchanted. But then the weather turned nasty again. Temperatures dropped a bit, and for a couple of days we had periods of rain like stair-rods. We made sure our rabbits were safe and secure, and found gaps between the storms to let them out and exercise and run around. But it made me wonder – can my bunny go out in the rain? Can my rabbit get wet? And what should I do if my rabbit gets wet?

Just like everyone does, I googled it. But the results weren’t always helpful. People had different views from each other, and seemed to have different experiences. However, I think I found a consensus that most owners would agree with. To check this out, I asked our vet while our bunnies were getting their RHD-2 vaccination. So here’s what I found.

Can rabbits go out in the rain?

It’s okay for your pet rabbit to be out in the rain if your bunny is healthy, has the choice to get back under shelter, and has somewhere dry and draught free to retreat to. Young rabbits and poorly rabbits should be protected from the rain more. And if it is torrential, then make sure your rabbits are protected. But if it is drizzling down and your bunny is choosing to be outside, then there’s no problem.

What is the danger of rain for rabbits?

The main danger of rain for rabbits is them getting too cold – hypothermia. But remember that a comfortable temperature for rabbits is lower than that for humans – they are designed for colder weather. And their fur acts like a waterproof coat which helps protect them from both the rain and the cold.

If a bunny has the choice of getting indoors and somewhere warmer, then just like us they will move inside if they are getting miserable outside.

How do bunnies stay dryer and warmer than humans?

Rabbits have adapted to lower temperatures than humans. One way they have done this is through their fur. It has two properties that help.

First, the fur has some hydrophobic properties. This means that the fur repels water to an extent. If you look at a raindrop on a leaf, the raindrop beads up and isn’t absorbed into the leaf – that’s a hydrophobic effect.

A similar result happens when water falls on the rabbit’s fur – the water is more likely to bead up and roll off than to soak the hair.

This helps the bunny stay dryer (and so warmer) than us – the cold water never gets near the rabbit’s body. It’s a bit like if we wear a rainproof coat – we don’t get wet underneath.

The second way that the fur keeps them warmer is that rabbit fur is different from human hair.

Hair is made up of three elements – the cuticle (which is the outside layer, made up of scaly like cells); the cortex (which is the main body of the hair, and includes the pigments that make up hair colour); and the medulla (which is a central column of cells).

In humans, the medulla is a bit shapeless. But rabbits have a thick medulla full of cells which in turn are full of air.

Rabbit hair – the lighter middle area is the medulla full of cells containing air. From the FBI guide linked to in the post.

This means rabbit hairs are like hollow columns, with permanently trapped air. This air insulates the rabbit. Rabbit fur keeps them warmer far better than our hair keeps our heads warm.

Strangely enough, one of the better sources of information on the different types of hair and fur comes from the FBI! Forensic scientists need to be able to tell the different types of fur and hair from different animals apart, and so have produced a technical guide on the subject – you can find it here if you want to know more.

The upshot is that rabbits can enjoy the rain more than humans because their fur keeps them dryer and warmer.

Can rain cause pneumonia?

If you look on forums, some people make sure that their bun is kept out of the rain because of worries about pneumonia or other respiratory diseases. I asked our vet specifically about this.

He explained it was a myth. Small animals like rabbits are more prone to respiratory diseases, BUT being out in the rain didn’t cause them. (Incidentally, if you suspect your rabbit may have any type of respiratory disease, seek out a vet’s advice as soon as possible.)

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs, and is caused by infections (there are different types – bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic – for more information, see here).

But being in the rain isn’t one of the causes.

If you think about it, it isn’t that surprising that rabbits can go out in the rain. In the wild, rabbits have to be able to come out of their burrows and feed in all sorts of weather – they are not like Mogwai…

When should you make sure your bunny is in the hutch or inside?

Some bunnies will even stay outside when the weather is chucking it down. But most owners will recommend making sure that they avoid extreme weather. And if your rabbit is ill, or old and frail, it might make sense to ensure they stay warmer and dryer.

What to do if your bunny is wet

If your bunny has got too wet, then lightly towelling them dry is the main recommendation. Be careful about moving them straight from a really cold, wet environment to a hot environment and then back out in the cold – the dramatic changes in temperature can be stressful.

Can I give my rabbit a bath?

Some owners do give their rabbits a bath, but many bunnies don’t enjoy the experience. Generally, there shouldn’t be any need to give your rabbit a bath – they will keep themselves clean.

If specific areas do need cleaning, then it is best just to clean these areas rather than have a complete bath.

Conclusion

We love our bunnies, and want the best for them. It’s right to be careful and make sure that our rabbits aren’t becoming cold, miserable or ill. But so long as our rabbits have the choice of staying warm and dry (and so long as they’re healthy), we don’t need to worry if our rabbits choose to spend some time playing in the rain.

Want to keep your bunnies warm when it gets colder? We use a microwaveable heatpad by Snugglesafe, You can check out our review of it here.

As you care about your bunny’s health, you might also want to read our article on what herbs are safe to give your rabbit.

And you can find out why timothy hay is so good for rabbits in our article here.

May

2019

How to teach your rabbit to high five and spin around

Introduction

We love our bunnies and their different, inquisitive personalities. It’s great to watch them play or bink. We were delighted when we brought home Fish and Chips, and watched them explore the garden, noses twitching. They soon learned all the hiding holes and corners.

But a new garden layout isn’t the only thing that rabbits can learn. Our bright-eyed bunnies are learning to give high fives, and to spin around. Teaching them the tricks also helps bond you and your rabbits more closely. Read on to find out how we went about it.

Here is how I am teaching my rabbits to do tricks – in particular, how to train your rabbit to spin around following your finger, and how to teach your bunny to high five.

First of all, I want to say that the same methods won’t necessarily work for every bunny, and for some rabbits it might take longer to learn – you just need a bit of patience. Mine only take a few days to learn a trick, but you have to keep it up so that they don’t forget!

Where to practise

First of all get your rabbits in a space where they won’t be too distracted and have enough room. I just do it on the grass in my garden because the treats in my hand are enough to ensure they aren’t distracted by everything around them.

You probably need to get on their level by sitting in front of them – just to make it easier.

What you need

Get some treats for your rabbits in a bowl or cup near you (make sure they are out of the bunnies’ reach!). They don’t need to be your rabbits’ favourite treats – mine will do the trick for one pellet (but some rabbits may be different – they all have their own personalities, don’t they!). Make sure that you have enough as you don’t want to run out. At the start of learning a trick, it is important that you reward them every time they do it.

How to train your rabbit to spin around

Using a treat, guide your rabbit to spin around in a circle. You may have to do this quite slowly so they aren’t confused. Hold the treat in front of them, and circle it around their back as they follow it, and end up doing a 360^oturn trying to get the treat.
Once they have turned all the way around, give them the treat!
You keep doing this so that they get the idea of the movement in their head, and that they link doing this to getting a treat. Fish learned this a little quicker than Chips, but they both made the link fairly quickly.
They will start to get slightly faster at doing the movement/trick.
Fish demonstrating how to spin around

Once you feel that your rabbit understands what they are doing, change your gesture with the treat slightly. For example, make your circle motion with the treat a little faster, or make a smaller circle.
Keep altering your gesture until you are happy with the one that you want to use when you want them to do the trick.
Then, for a few days, keep using this gesture and giving them a pellet or treat when they do the trick.
Once they are doing this regularly, and you have confidence in them, you can do the gesture without a treat in your hand. Still give one to them after they have done it, for a couple of days.
This next step is important – don’t miss it out! Next, you do the trick completely without any treat, but occasionally give them treats anyway, so that they know it is still good to perform the movement. It will help make sure that your bunny remembers and keeps performing the trick!

Now you have taught your clever bunny a fantastic trick – they will spin around with your finger.

Remember to keep training sessions short, and don’t let your bunnies become tired or frustrated. It should always be fun.

How to teach your rabbit to high five

Hold a treat in your hand, and offer your palm upright to your bunny. She will come up to the palm to get it.
Next, lift your palm a bit higher off the ground. Your bunny will then reach up, and place her paws on your palm to balance and get the treat. Again, do this a few times, so they link putting their paws on your hand with the treat.
Soon, your bunny will place their paws on your palm without a treat – at this early stage still reward them with a treat straight away after they have placed their paw on your hand. Chips took a little longer to reach this stage – every bunny is different!
Chips learned to high five too!

Just like teaching your bunny to spin, you now offer your palm for them to high five you, but occasionally give them a treat as a reward – not every time. Doing this will help your bunny to learn faster and to keep high fiving you for longer.
Now you should be able to offer your palm, and your bunny will high five you.

And remember – sessions should be fun for you and the rabbits. Keep the sessions short, and don’t frustrate your bunnies.

What other tricks will this work for?

You can use the same principles to get your bunny to perform other tricks. For example, some people train their bunnies to come when they call their name. Others train them to jump on cue (or even to jump through hoops…).

Give them treats when they perform the action you want, so they link the action and the treat. Reinforce this link. Start varying how often you reward the action.

Just make sure that the trick is fun and safe for the rabbit to perform.

Why it works

This is only for those curious to know a little bit about why this method works – otherwise scroll on past.

Teaching your rabbits this way is using something psychologists call variable ratio reinforcement method of operant conditioning – but the name hides a process that we are all familiar with.

Operant conditioning (first coined by the behavioural psychologist Skinner) simply means that animals (and us) can learn to associate things they do with what happens next (behaviour and response). If what happens next is good, we do more of it. If what happens next isn’t, we do it less. If it keeps happening, this reinforces our behaviour.

But what is ‘variable ratio reinforcement’? Well, there are different ways we could choose to reward our rabbits. We could do it every time, or do it regularly (say, every five minutes during training), or vary the time between rewards.

But none of these is as effective as varying randomly how many times the trick is performed before another treat – this is variable ratio reinforcement.

And this approach, over a wide range of behaviour (not just in rabbits), gets the fastest, most frequent response, and the effects last the longest. Find out more here.

We humans respond to rewards too

Have you ever seen a jackpot machine? (Some places call them ‘one-armed bandits’ and others ‘slot machines’).

You put in a coin, pull the lever (or press the button), and occasionally get a reward of a shower of coins.

The more coins you feed in, the more level pulls you get, and the more likely you are to get a jackpot (but you still ending up putting more money than you win…).

It’s using the same principle, and it earns money for casinos all over the world.

In the same way, a good game will provide enough challenge that we don’t succeed every time, but have to try a few times to get the reward of completing a level.

Operant conditioning works on us, and it works on bunnies.

Conclusion

Teaching your rabbit to spin around or give you a high five is a fun way to spend time with your bunnies. It keeps them active, helps bonding, and (let’s be honest) it’s pretty cool to see our cute friends able to learn these tricks. Rewarding your bunnies motivates them to learn and show off their abilities. Have fun with your furry friends!

If you enjoy teaching your bunny tricks, you probably also enjoy getting a fantastic photo of your rabbit. Have a look at our article on getting the best pictures of your bunnies.

Fish and Chips enjoy tricks, but even they can’t do as much as cartoon film star Roger Rabbit. But what breed of rabbit was he, you ask? We explore the possibilities in this post.

Apr

2019

What herbs are safe for my rabbit?

Introduction

You love your rabbit. We love our rabbits, Fish and Chips. And we love giving them the best foods and treats we can. When we first got Fish and Chips, one of the first greens we bought was some fresh coriander, which they loved – eager to devour it. It complemented their main diet of Timothy hay well (why Timothy hay? Find out here). Great, let’s get some more herbs from the local supermarket – any will do, we thought. After all, can’t rabbits eat every type of herb? Big mistake.

There are many herbs which rabbits can enjoy, but a few (including one common one) are dangerous, and can lead to serious illness for your pet bunny. If you’re like me, you want to be able to wander down the vegetable aisle, pick up a pack of fresh herbs, and feel relaxed that your bunnies will be safe and enjoy the treat. So what herbs can I feed my rabbits? The short answer follows, and below that there are more details about how much to give and whether dried herbs are OK. You can also find out why some herbs are dangerous, and what to do if your rabbit eats some.

What herbs are safe for my rabbit?

The following herbs are safe for rabbits to eat:

Basil
Coriander (also called Cilantro)
Dill
Fennel
Lavender
Mint
Mustard
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Tarragon
Thyme
Watercress.

Do not give your rabbit chives. This herb, along with spring onions, garlic or any food within the onion family, are all poisonous to rabbits.

If you are unsure about a food, check with your vet!

How much herbs should I feed my rabbit?

The main food we give Fish and Chips is hay – usually Timothy hay. Rabbits need unlimited supplies of this, and hay should make up about 85% of a rabbits diet. We also give up to an eggcup full a day of pellets. So any herbs you give will be in relatively small quantities. It’s good to mix it up a bit, and give some variety, so any herbs you give will be part of a larger diet including other fresh leafy greens and vegetables (like kale).

What does this look like in practice? For a 4lb (2kg) bunny, about 2 cups each day (either in one go, or spread out over different feedings). A cup is about the same as an adult handful of greens.

You also need to be careful with younger rabbits – their digestive systems are delicate, and they need time to adjust to new foods in their diet.

Can rabbits eat parsley?

Herbs — Anyone else like Simon and Garfunkel? If it’s in the song, it’s safe.

Rabbits can eat parsley safely as part of a sensible diet mainly based on hay. You can feed an adult bunny a handful of parsley as their daily allowance of greens.

Some people suggest that you need to be careful with how much parsley and fresh mustard you give your rabbit.

This is because parsley (along with some vegetables, like spinach) contains a relatively high level of a type of chemical called oxalates (you can see a table of the amount of oxalates in different vegetables here).

Oxalic acid, in huge quantities, could lead eventually to liver damage. However, this would require feeding your rabbit exclusively parsley (instead of hay) over a long period of time.

So long as parsley is not the major part of the diet (this should always be hay), it’s fine to give your rabbit parsley. For example, if you check out the PDSA advice on safe foods to give your pet rabbit, it includes parsley. It’s also on the approved list from the Royal Veterinary College.

I have also seen worries about whether the amount of calcium in parsley is too high for rabbits. Rabbits process calcium differently from most other animals, and too much calcium can lead to a variety of problems including urinary stones.

However, while parsley has higher calcium levels than some other foods, it isn’t particularly out of the ordinary (figures taken from this Rabbit Welfare Association article):

Calcium levels – mg per 100g
Kale	130
Spinach	170
Parsley	200
Spring greens	210
Mint	210

This means that parsley has a calcium content of 0.17%. In contrast, Timothy hay typically has a calcium content of 0.4% – over twice as high – and your rabbit is going to eat far more hay than parsley.

Your rabbit would need to eat about 10 small packets (30g – amount 1 oz) of fresh parsley in a day merely to reach the recommended daily allowance.

So you shouldn’t be concerned about the calcium content of parsley or other green vegetables unless your vet has recommend a specific diet for specific problems. (See also this article on calcium levels in various foods – the main takeaway is that you are far more likely to give too much calcium with pellets, and that it’s extremely difficult to give too much calcium with sensible amounts of green herbs).

And parsley contains a variety of other useful minerals and minerals. In particular, parsley is a good source of vitamin A and iron, both of which rabbits need in their diet. Find out more about the minerals and vitamins that rabbits need here.

The bottom line? As is often the case, parsley, like other foods, is fine in moderation. It is safe to give your rabbit parsley to eat.

Can rabbits eat thyme?

Rabbits can eat thyme safely as part of a sensible diet mainly based on hay.

I have seen some suggestions on the web that thyme can be helpful if your rabbit has diarrhoea. Whilst it may be true, I could find no evidence to back this up. More importantly, if your rabbit has diarrhoea, consult a vet straight away.

You can feed your rabbit both dried thyme and fresh thyme. This herb gives rabbits healthy quantities of the following nutrients: potassium, iron, magnesium, copper and vitamin A, and it is also high in fibre (check out more information on thyme’s nutrients here, and rabbit nutrition here). In short, thyme is an excellent herb to give to your bunnies providing many of the important minerals and vitamins they need.

Can rabbits eat cilantro / coriander?

Rabbits can eat cilantro (coriander) safely as part of a sensible hay based diet. You can feed both the stem and the leaves of coriander to bunnies. The herb is an excellent addition to give variety to your rabbit’s diet, helping ensure their nutrition is balanced. A handful of cilantro / coriander is about a serving for a mature rabbit.

Cilantro (coriander) is a great source for bunnies of vitamin K, copper, potassium and iron. We have a detailed post if you’re interested in finding out more about the nutritional needs of rabbits.

In fact, coriander is our bunnies’ favourite herb. When we give our rabbits a handful, they gobble it down.

Can rabbits eat rosemary?

Rabbits can eat rosemary safely as part of a sensible diet mainly based on hay and fresh water. You can feed both the stalk (sprigs) and the leaves to bunnies. Rosemary is a great herb to give to rabbits, providing variety to their diet and helping to ensure that they have a balanced nutrition. A handful (a few sprigs) is a portion for a day for a mature rabbit.

However, not all bunnies will like rosemary. Some rabbits dislike strong smelling herbs, so don’t worry if your bun turns up their nose.

If your bunny does like rosemary, you can be happy knowing that it will provide your rabbit with vitamin A and potassium, along with some fibre.

Can rabbits eat sage?

Rabbits can eat sage safely as part of a varied diet mainly based on hay and fresh water. You can feed bunnies both the leaf and stem of sage. Sage is a source of potassium, iron and vitamin K to rabbits. A portion size is a handful of leaves.

Sage has a historical reputation of being a healing herb – in mediaeval times, it was also known as ‘sage the saviour’ (Salvia salvatrix), and to the Romans it was the holy herb. Sage was used to treat everything from the plague to wasp stings.

While modern medicine doesn’t consider sage a miracle drug in the way that the past might have, it’s still a great herb for your bunny to eat.

Can rabbits eat dill?

Rabbits can eat dill (also known as dill weed) safely as part of a diet with lots of variety but mainly based on hay and fresh water. Dill is a good source of iron, magnesium, potassium and vitamin A for rabbits. You can give about a handful of dill as a portion size for an adult rabbit.

Humans have been eating dill for thousands of years (it was found in an Egyptian pharaoh’s tomb from 1400 BC). It is likely that rabbits have been nibbling away at dill in the wild for just as long.

Given all the nutrients in dill, it’s a good herb for your bunny to eat occasionally (if they like it – rabbits can be picky eaters).

Can rabbits eat mint?

Rabbits can eat mint safely as part of a diet that consists mainly of hay and fresh water. Mint is a good source of iron, magnesium, potassium, copper, manganese, and vitamin A in the right amounts for bunnies (find out more about what vitamins and minerals rabbits need here).

Mint has a reputation of being good for soothing stomach upsets in humans, backed up by medical trials. It also works as a cure for asthmatic rats (because it contains rosmarinic acid). It’s no surprise, therefore, that many owners suggest that mint helps their rabbits when they have stomach upsets (for any kind of serious upset, though, go straight to a vet).

All in all, mint is a great herb to give your rabbit. It’s healthy, nutritious, and might have some beneficial medical properties.

Can I give dried herbs to my bunny?

You can give dried herbs to rabbits as part of a varied, healthy diet. People sometimes want to mix in some dried herbs with other foods (including hay, or pellets). You can even buy some types of hay with herbs mixed in (some bunnies love this, others don’t). Again, moderation is the key. And you shouldn’t give dried herbs instead of fresh greens.

What about wild herbs?

I’m not an outdoor type, so I wouldn’t particularly recognise wild herbs if I came across them anyway. I get my herbs from the supermarket. But I found this list of plants to avoid. Some people like foraging – if that’s you, it’s probably best to decide on four or five plants that you recognise and know are safe, and collect them.

Why are some herbs dangerous for rabbits?

Chives are dangerous for rabbits because they can lead to gut problems and blood problems.

Along with other plants in the onion family (allum family) such as spring onions, onions and garlic, chives can lead to haemolytic anaemia (the red blood cells in the body become more fragile and some rupture) in many animals, including rabbits. The effects don’t happen instantly, but can take place over a period of days.

An oxidising substance called n-propyl disulphide binds to the sides of red blood cells, is recognised as a foreign body by other cells, so the red blood cell is destroyed.

Seek out professional advice from a vet if your rabbit eats chives or anything similar.

Humans are much less sensitive to this than other animals, which is why we can enjoy chives and garlic, and our pets can’t.

What should I do if my bunny eats a dangerous herb?

If in any doubt, contact your vet for advice.

Conclusion

Most herbs, including parsley, are safe for our bunnies. Fish and Chips love the various green herbs that we give them, along with other greens, as part of their diet. We get small packets regularly from our supermarket. They provide nutrients and flavours for our pet rabbits.

If you’re giving a sensible amount as part of a diet mainly based on hay, you don’t need to worry about oxalate content or calcium content – so parsley is fine along with all the others on the safe list. But make sure that you avoid chives – they are dangerous for your rabbit.

As you care about your bunny’s diet, check out our page on what fruit you can safely give your rabbit as a treat (and how much), and our page on why Timothy hay is so good for your rabbit.

You can also check out more about what vitamins and minerals rabbits need for a healthy life.

If you want to make sure you can always afford the best care for your rabbit, check out our page on pet rabbit insurance here.

Where can I find more information?

If you go searching on internet forums, you’ll end up with all sorts of conflicting advice about diet, and what foods are bad or good for your bunny. There are a lot of myths out there. Instead, I stick with the sites with some authority for my information. Here are some of the ones I consulted:

RSPCA advice about diet for rabbits

House Rabbit Society (a non-profit rabbit rescue and education organisation) advice about vegetables and fruit

The PDSA (a leading veterinary charity) advice about safe vegetables for rabbits

The PDSA also have this download about feeding rabbits (opens pdf file)

The Rabbit Welfare Association has a page on recommended vegetables and herbs

Mar

2019

Timothy hay: what is it; why is it called Timothy; why is it good for rabbits?

Introduction

Being a newcomer to the world of rabbits, I asked the pleasant assistant in the pet store what we needed to feed our rabbits. We talked first about pellets (only an eggcup) and treats, but then moved on to the main part of any rabbit’s diet, hay.

‘You need Timothy hay’, she told us.

‘What?’

‘Timothy hay’ she repeated confidently.

‘Oh, Ok,’ I replied, and sure enough, there were some bales marked ‘Timothy’.

‘Must be some brand-name’ I thought to myself. But it wasn’t.

Timothy hay, to my surprise, is a type of hay. But this led to a range of questions – what is Timothy hay? Why is it called Timothy? And why do my rabbits need Timothy hay?

Timothy hay, named after an American farmer of the eighteenth century, is a high fibre, high energy, low protein, low calcium type of grass hay that helps your rabbit’s digestion and teeth.

Here’s some more information on what Timothy Hay is, why it’s called Timothy, and why it’s so good and important for your rabbit.

What is Timothy Hay?

Timothy hay is a type of grass hay that is great for feeding both rabbits and horses. It can grow up to around 1.5m (about five foot tall), and is quite rough and stalky. It can come in three varieties, depending on which cut of the season you buy. Timothy hay is good for rabbits as provides fibre and protein with low calcium. Rabbits need the fibre both for their teeth and their guts.

Timothy hay comes in three different cuts, which vary a bit from each other:

First cut is the roughest and highest in fibre, and slightly lower in nutritional value.
Second cut is a balanced amount of fibre and protein.
Third cut is softer and greener, with relatively less fibre and more protein.

Having said that, the Timothy hay that I found on sale in pet shops and the local supermarket didn’t say which cut it had come from (maybe a mixture?) so I wouldn’t worry too much about this.

Types of hay

Timothy grass. Credit Blokenearexeter [CC0]

I thought hay was hay, but I was wrong. You can get a range of different types, but they fall into two broad categories: legumes and grasses. Timothy hay is a grass hay.

Another type of grass hay is meadow hay. This is softer than Timothy hay, and may include some edible plants such as dandelions. Because it contains a variety of plants, it can also be a bit more variable in contents than Timothy.

Legumes include alfalfa hay and clover. Alfalfa is greener, and high in protein and calcium. It may be suitable for younger rabbits (always check with a vet), but mature rabbits need less calcium – and too much is bad for them (see below).

Here’s a chart of typical values for the three types.

% Timothy Meadow Alfalfa

Fibre 30 30 30

Protein 6 7 16

Calcium 0.4 0.6 1.2

You can get Timothy hay from a variety of places, and the values will vary a little. Our local supermarket stocks bales of Timothy in the pet aisle, and of course so do most pet stores.

This is the hay we buy. It’s 100% Timothy hay – but they only tell you that on the back of the packaging. Weird.

We get Burgess Excel Long Stem Feeding Hay in 1kg (2.2lb) bags. Bizarrely, you have to search quite hard on the packaging before you find it that it is 100% Timothy Hay. We get our hay from our local Jollyes, who also have an online service.

You can also get Timothy hay from Amazon UK and Amazon US who will deliver to your door.

Why is it called Timothy hay?

The earliest account I could find comes from a 1949 book on crops. A grass from Europe (called cat’s tail) ended up in the eastern states, and became well-known when it was cultivated and sold by a farmer called Timothy Hanson.

Here’s the account:

‘The most important hay grass in America now is timothy. It was first grown by a man named Herd prior to 1720 near the Piscataqua River mouth in New Hampshire. It was introduced from England where it was found growing in waste places and was known as cat’s tail grass. Early records indicated that it was known as herd’s grass in the New England area. Timothy seed was taken to New York, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina by a Timothy Hanson who lived near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was widely accepted in these states and became known as Timothy Hanson’s grass, which was later shortened to timothy. Jared Elliot sent seed of it to Benjamin Franklin in 1747, and when it was planted and grown Franklin described it as ‘mere timothy’. Large portions of the eastern part of the United States were planted to timothy by the colonists, and it has been the dominant hay grass in this region ever since.’

Gilbert H. Ahlgren, 1949, Forage Crops, New York: McGraw-Hill, p7.

You can also see an early reference to timothy hay in this 1859 newspaper article.

The Latin classification name for timothy grass is Phleum pratense. Knowing this allows us to access all sorts of databases and information (if you want to go further). For example, you can see the distribution worldwide of timothy grass here.

Three reasons why Timothy hay is so good for your rabbit

One of my questions was ‘why is Timothy hay good for rabbits?’ When I searched around, I came across three different but important reasons:

Reason 1 – fibre

Hay is the most important part of a rabbit’s diet, and the fibre part is essential. You know how we are always advised to make sure we get fibre in our diet? And so you might choose wholemeal bread or eat a high fibre cereal, and this helps keep us ‘regular’. This is even more important for our bunnies, who have eating systems that are designed around a high fibre intake. The high fibre content helps makes sure that their intestines don’t clog up (gastrointestinal stasis). Gastrointestinal stasis is extremely serious – even fatal. A diet of fibrous hay helps avoid this.

Reason 2 – teeth

High fibre hay also helps keep your bunny’s teeth healthy. A rabbit’s teeth can grow up to 5 inches in a year (or 3mm a week) – problems start when the teeth grow faster than eating wears them down.

One type of problem is when the teeth grow too long – they can make it harder for your bunny to breathe, as the teeth start to block nasal passages.

The second problem is when the teeth aren’t smoothed down by eating rough food. Without eating rough hay and grass, rabbits can develop sharp bits on their teeth, called spurs. These can be painful for the rabbit. To avoid using that tooth, the rabbit then starts overusing other teeth, and changing the way they chew. So one small sharp point can lead to problems with the entire mouth, including other teeth, ligaments and muscles.

So the coarse fibres in hay are not only good for your rabbit’s intestines, but also help keep their teeth healthy.

This is also why providing toys for your rabbit to chew on is a good idea – not only fun, but good for their mouths. You can see some of our favourite rabbit toys in our post here.

Reason 3 – calcium

This was the reason that surprised me the most when I did some investigating. It turns out that rabbits are very efficient at extracting calcium from the food they eat. Most animals only absorb a little from the food eaten, and then excrete a small amount. Rabbits, unusually, try to absorb all the calcium from the food they eat. Then, up to nearly half they excrete in their urine. If they have too much calcium, their urine may turn chalky as their bodies try to get rid of the excess. In the worst case, this can lead to urinary stones (urolithiasis).

Timothy hay is relatively low in calcium, and so ideal for mature rabbits. They can be given unlimited quantities safely.

How much hay should I give my bunny?

You can give as much hay as you like to your furry friend – but make sure it’s enough. A rabbit eats a bundle about the size of its own body every day. For more information on the best diet for pet rabbits, see this advice from the RSPCA.

Conclusion

So that’s what I found out about Timothy hay. It’s named after an American; it’s a type of tall, fibrous grass that’s high in fibre and low in calcium, and it’s important for my bunnies because it’s good for their guts and their teeth.

Rabbits eat more than hay – you can also give them a handful of greens every day. Want to know what herbs are safe for your bunny? We have a post that lets you know what herbs are OK, and what might harm your rabbit.

Want to know what fruit you can give your bunny as a treat (and how much you should be giving them)? Check out our in-depth guide on what fruit are safe for rabbits.

And we also have a guide to what vitamins and minerals rabbits need.