Nail Trimming

 A lot of people don't think that rabbits need their nails/claws trimmed but they do.  If their nails are not trimmed regularly they can get caught on something and injure their toe/foot/leg trying to get free or they will rip the nail and possibly damage the quick.  The quick is the blood vessel in the nail that feeds it since it is living tissue.  That is why if you trim too short it will bleed and can be a pain to get it to stop.  

Let me share the tools I use to trim the nails of the rabbits living in our rabbitry and how I do it.

I use scissor type cat claw trimmers since they are smaller and easier to control when working with the rabbits feet.  I also keep septic powder on hand in case I do clip too short.  I also use a tote container to hold the rabbit making restraining them easier.  And treats!

I found that putting the rabbit in the tote before working with them with make it easier to handle them as well as train them that they are going to have their nails trimmed or other health checks done.  They will also not have the room to kick and scratch as much.  This will save your arms if your buns are kickers like mine.

Once in the tote I place it on a table or in my lap and just lift the foot I want to work on.  I only lift as high as I need to see the nails and get the clippers around it.

I clip all four feet if they rabbit will let me before they start getting annoyed.  Again the tote training will help them understand that this will happen less often if they just remain calm and let me finish the trim.  If they don't let me finish all their feet I will try again the next day and so on until all feet are done or at the least looked at.

Once they are done I give them a small piece of fruit or dried unsweetened unsulphured papaya as a treat to let them associate the nail trimming and the tote as a good thing.  

This can be a pretty painless task for you and your rabbit if done every 6 weeks or so.  Some rabbit owners will say to check their nails monthly and that is not a bad idea but make sure you trim them as needed!  You don't want to end up hurt.

Now I have shared this key chore with you and hope I have helped made this stress free for you and your bun!

Keep your feet dry. Wear your rain boots.

Cage Cleaning

 I have found that cage cleaning is not my favorite thing to do with the buns but it needs to be done to keep them healthy and happy.  Here are a few things I do that help make this chore easier.

Our rabbits are litter box trained.  May not seem like a big thing but the hutches are in the house during summer and having them box trained helps contain their mess overall.  I use stainless steel boxes with a wire platform to keep the buns up out of the poop.  They are actually cat boxes but the rabbits don't know that.  

Training them wasn't hard but may not be for you if your rabbits live outside all year round.  I have their food crocks in their litter box so they have to hop inside to eat.  Since rabbits tend to poop while they eat this makes sense.  I also have their hay feeders hanging over the litter box to force them to hop in to munch.  I do have one buck who will poop in his box but not pee so I use puppy pads in the trays so it catches the urine.

White vinegar is my favorite for cleaning around the animals.  It will remove the urine build up in the litter boxes (cat and bunny) without scrubbing!  I cover the bottom of the box and let it sit and when I rinse it out the build up is gone or will flake off easily.  

I also use vinegar in a spray bottle to clean the trays and the walls of the hutches.  I spray scrub with a soft brush and spray again.  If there is urine it will bubble up a bit and I will work harder to clean that spot.  

Clean cages means happy bunnies!

Keep your feet dry. Wear your rain boots.

Toys and enrichment

 I know what buns like...

I know what buns want!

Sorry.  I am a huge Waitresses fan.

Anyway, toys are a great way to give your buns enrichment but they can be expensive.  With five buns in the rabbitry at the moment the expense of toys is not crazy but it can add up fast with kits and adding new rabbits to our line.  

I don't want to spend a ton to enrich my animals but I do care for them and want to make their lives worthwhile.  I have found that the urge to buy the cute toys is there even if you are making your own.  Mostly I try to limit the spending to toys and enrichment I can not make or acquire myself.  These include:

Apple branches or any branch/wood that is rabbit safe.  It should be cleaned and dried to prevent bugs and 'cooties' from coming home with you.  While I live near a few very large apple and fruit orchards they have yet to sell or allow for the harvesting of wood for pet treats/toys.  I get my apple, pear and blueberry sticks from Farmer Dave Pet Supply on Etsy or their website.  I am a repeat customer and love how fast they ship and the quality of the sticks.

Pinecones that have been cleaned and dried.  My buns LOVE pinecones.  I do not have any evergreens near me to safely gather pinecones since we live in the high desert foothills.  I could drive up the hill towards the lake and pick them up at one of the campgrounds.  Seeing that would be on the side of the road I'd rather not deal with road salt and motor oil on my rabbit treats.  I have bought my pinecones from Petsmart in the past as well from My Familys Nutz on Etsy. (See a theme here...)

I don't buy all the treats and chews for my buns.  I make a few.  I save compostable toilet paper tubes and when I have enough I stuff them with hay or dried herbs folding the ends to make an enclosed container.  They chew on the cardboard to get to the herbs and make a huge mess in the process but I love seeing them enjoy themselves.

I do make hay braids once in a while out of oat hay or alfalfa.  Since I don't buy those hays in large 3 string bales I can cherry pick pieces to braid or twist into toys.  Sometimes I weave them to make wreaths.  The shapes are more for me than the rabbits.  😁

My little mini buck, Rusty, use to LOVE playing in boxes.  He thought they were better than fresh strawberries!  I would give them to him on their side so he could hop in and he always stood it back up to sit in it.  Ripping them apart was one of his all time favorite late night activities.

Rusty was my snuggle bunny and Netflix partner.  He loved sitting on the couch with me late at night watching movies or streaming shows.  He didn't get along with our cat so he had to got in his hutch at night for his own safety.  Minis are fun but when you have predators in the house the temptation to give in to their prey drive is high.  I will say he was the first buck I got litter box trained.

In short toys for your buns can be as colorful or as basic as you want as long as they are made of rabbit safe materials.  

Keep your feet dry.  Wear your rain boots!

What I feed...

 Rabbits are exclusive herbivores with the inability to digest meat but they still require protein in their diet.  Hay and fodder can give a rabbit what they need.  But what is fodder?

Fodder is grass or grain seeds grown or sprouted in water as animal feed.  Wheat, barley, oats and even flax can be grown for fodder.  Ever grown wheatgrass for your green smoothies?  That is a form of fodder.  

I grow a small amount of fodder for our rabbitry.  I have not replaced traditional pellet feed with fodder but have supplemented it with the fresh greens.  Currently I am growing wheat fodder but normally I grow barley grass.  Barley fodder has a protein content of approximately 16%.  Not bad!

Our fodder growing setup is not a huge wall system like most large scale ranchers will have in a barn.  It sits on a table near my kitchen.  It uses the flood and drain method.  You water the top bins and the water drains out the holes in the bottom to rain on the lower bins.  There is a large bin on the bottom without holes to catch the water.

This is just enough fodder for our buns at the current time.  I have larger bins for a bigger system that will feed new litters once they are weaned or weaning.  I have given litters fodder in the past but they don't get very much since our current setup turns 1/4 pound of seed into 1-1 1/2 pounds of fodder.  The larger setup should turn one pound of seed into 4+ pounds of fodder.

Our rabbits are given unlimited fresh timothy hay every day.  I will say that not all rabbits like hay as some of ours will eat a small amount of hay while others will empty their hay hangers several times a day.  I have offered orchard grass hay and there are some rabbits that will eat it but not the timothy hay.  They all have their preferred tastes but they all seem to enjoy the fodder.  

They do get dry pellets daily.  I opt for a non-GMO organic hay based pellet that is free of corn and soy.  There are a lot of good pellets on the market but it all comes down to what you have available to you.  I have to either order it online or drive to the feed & tack a few towns over for it when they have it in stock.  I do time those trips so I can get a bale of hay and fodder seed at the same time. 

The goal for our rabbitry is to be off pellets except when the does are pregnant/nursing and kits are weaning.  The way to get there is increase fresh greens and hay.  I want our buns to eat a diet as close to a natural one as possible.  I will post more as I build the new fodder system complete with automatic drip system for watering.

Keep your feet dry, wear your rain boots!

Keeping the rabbitry cool in the summer

 We have not yet hit the peak of our summer temperatures here in Southern California but everyone is feeling the heat.  Our dogs are puddles on the hard floors in the kitchen getting underfoot and the cats are spending their days sleeping in the bathtub.  But my poor rabbits don't have the option to lay in the tub or in the path of one of the fans blowing in the house.  So I have to be proactive to help keep them cool.  I have a few tricks in my bag for doing this...

• Frozen water bottles in their nesting area- I use 64 oz juice bottles that have been cleaned out.  They have flat sides and will not roll when the buns lay against them.

• Granite tiles- These are also in the nesting area and they can lay on them.  It is common to see small granite slabs in pet stores marketed to chinchillas to help cool them down so why not larger ones for your buns?!

• Misting the buns' ears with water through out the day- ever pet a rabbit and feel the heat in their ears?  Why not mist them lightly (not soaking wet) and the evaporation with cool them the same way a 'swamp cooler' does or an evaporative cooler.

• Cool treats- I store the buns' treats and fodder in the fridge to cool it down.  Not long but an hour will get it below the room temperature.  Fodder will also help increase the buns water intake which will help them beat the heat.

• Electrolytes- I keep powdered electrolytes for the hotter days and help keep the buns hydrated.  I dilute it since most buns don't like 'funky' water.

• A/C- I don't run the air conditioner in our home unless I have to.  Energy rates are high so if I can reduce the heat coming in my home during the day and not turn on the air conditioner more money I can use elsewhere.  I will use the air conditioner when it is humid since most of the above methods will not work.

Keep your feet dry- wear your rain boots!