Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bunnies

Please suggest good toys for penned house rabbits.

joannemerriam — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:06:57 -0800

Please suggest good toys for penned house rabbits. We have three bunnies, all female, about ten months old. Right now, they're being kept penned in an area about four or five feet square, and they're bored. We don't really have the option of giving them more room (though we're investigating giving them more levels and making their area higher). They really like to chew and one of them is a great digger, and they enjoy things they can pick up in their mouth and throw, especially if it's noisy.

I'd like to fashion some rabbit toys for them. They need to be inexpensive (or preferably free). Currently I'm giving them boxes (whatever we have around that we've used up whatever came in it). Cereal boxes are a big hit, because they can chew on them and throw them around the cage. They tend to end up in their litter and get gross though, so they don't last long. Occasionally I give them a larger box with a hole cut in it and they like that, but it limits the area they can run around in which is already a concern.

Please suggest other toys that I can make which will keep them occupied and happy. Thanks!

Name my buns!

_Mona_ — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:49:47 -0800

I have two new dwarf rabbits in my family and I need some naming help from the hive mind. I've been noodling around names for two weeks now and I'm just drawing a blank. "Bunnnnneeeee!" and "bayyyybbbbeeeeeeee bunny!" just isn't cutting it anymore. Details and (killer-cute) pics inside. ~ Boy bun is 10 weeks old and girl bun is 6 weeks old, they're siblings.

~ I don't care for real cutesy names like Thumper or Sweetie, or super-obvious ones like Harvey.

~ I'm generally not a fan of human names for pets but can be swayed for the right one.

~ I tend to prefer two-syllable names but, again, I can be swayed. I doubt I'd go for something really long like Anastasia, however, because that's a real mouthful. Anyway, the buns are never going to get very big so diminutive names are probably best.

~ I've already eliminated things like Waldorf & Statler, Wallace & Grommit, Lilo & Stitch, etc. I'm not against paired names, but it's not necessary. (Anya and Giles are on my list. :-)

~ Younger bun has the most hysterical markings around her mouth. She kinda has a clown / overdone lipstick / Clutch Cargo thing going on and I'd love a name that takes note of that but all I've come up with so far (and discarded) are Mimi (Drew Carey) and Tammy Faye.

Here's a video of Bun Junior and a pic of Bun Senior. Ready? Go!

Girl bunny humps girl bunny. Is this a problem?

joannemerriam — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:47:56 -0800

What does it mean when a female rabbit humps another female rabbit? We have three female rabbits who are around 5 months old. We bought them together and they have always lived together, and groom each other often, and lie on top of each other when they're sleeping and generally seem very affectionate toward each other.

They're presumably going through puberty right now, and we've been having a few behavioural problems with them fighting (this started last week). I haven't seen them fighting but we surmise they were because there was a lot of noise and when we ran into the room, they all looked freaked out, one of them was soaked from the water bottles, and there were tufts of hair on the bottom of the cage. Nobody was hurt. That happened twice in the same day.

We solved the fighting issue by finishing our rabbit-proofing of the room they're in and leaving their cage open, so instead of having an hour or two a day out of the cage, they have all night and part of the day (we shut them up in the cage when we need to clean or when my husband, whose office they're in, needs to concentrate). There hasn't been any fighting since then. They're a bit more destructive than usual, but since we provide boxes and bits of wood for them to destroy that's not a problem. They seem happy and continue to groom each other and generally seem fine.

So today I went in to feed them and one of them was humping another one. The one being humped seemed totally blase and unconcerned about it, and just kept eating hay, exactly the same reaction they have when one of them climbs over another one to get someplace. I picked up the one doing the humping and checked her genitals to make sure she wasn't actually a boy and we hadn't noticed, but she still looks like a girl to me. I checked the other one, same thing. I'm almost certain they're all girls (I'd be 100% certain except that I know people can make mistakes sexing rabbits when they're still babies, and I'm not a vet or anything, so I could be missing something).

We intend to get them all spayed, but since we're both unemployed right now we don't have the money to do it immediately. We were planning to do it in the fall when we will both have jobs.

So what I am wondering is, should I be concerned about this humping business? Is this why they were fighting (and has the fighting stopped because the humpee can hop away now that they're out of the cage)? Is it just a normal part of girl bunnies growing up, and, as long as the other one doesn't object, not a problem? Or does this just never happen and it means we actually have a male rabbit who needs to be neutered?

Where can I find this old Flash animation with hopping bunnies and the head of Margaret Thatcher?

chrismear — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:10:47 -0800

Does anyone remember and know where I can find an old Flash animation that I saw on the internet years ago, which featured hopping bunnies, the floating head of Margaret Thatcher, and a jaunty song containing the word 'ja!'? Other features that I remember from this animation:

the head of Margaret Thatcher shot laser beams from her eyes;
there was a bit in the middle with, I think, valkyrie-type naked women dancing in a cancan style;
the opening lyrics of the song were something like (phonetically), "Oppan? Ja. Poppan? Ja!"; and
I think there were buildings on fire in the background.

I would like to see it again for nostalgia's sake, and also to confirm that this did actually exist and I'm not just going very very mad and inventing this horrible scene in my head from whole cloth.

I have tried searching for these terms on Google, but have had, perhaps understandably, little success.

where can I watch televised Rugby League in Melbourne?

UbuRoivas — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:23:58 -0800

MelbourneFilter: where can I watch televised Rugby League in Melbourne? yep, i'm in town again, and the mighty South Sydney Rabbitohs are playing tonight. so, i'm wondering if there's any known pub (preferably in the CBD, Carlton, Fitzroy or Collingwood areas) where people might gather to watch Rugby League...?

bonus points if the place is a regular pub, not some kind of horrific sports bar.

as an example of what i'm looking for, the grungy, hipsterish Courthouse Hotel in Newtown (Sydney) is well known as an AFL pub, for aerial pingpong fans needing a sporting fix.

Rehome the bunnies or get ready to take lots of pics?

nobeagle — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:36:17 -0800

Our beagle discovered a nest of bunnies in our backyard. A few are dead or dying, but most are undisturbed in the nest with one with only apparent minor external injury. Humane society is closed until noon today for training; now what? We're in Kitchener, ON. We like bunnies. Our budget allows for vetcare for the dogs and cat, but with a beagle on painmeds, a recent bacterial infection of the other dog, and flea/heartworm meds, and rabies shots/checkups in the near future, with three boys and a single income we do not have the room to pay for vet care.

While quick web searching, things say we can move the nest up to 10 feet, but 10 feet away is our neighbor, who dislikes all wildlife, or more of our yard. The nest is in our fully fenced back yard, which is a *great* convenience for us for relieving full dog bladders. We don't have a front lawn, so otherwise we're walking the dogs to the nearby park (granted it's only 1/2 block away, but the three kids make things seem really busy). Online sources say it will be 3-4 weeks until the bunnies are finding homes of their own. Is there a realistic expectation that the bunnies could be rehabilitated? Looking at pictures, and knowing the beagle nose I suspect these bunnies were born last night, or the night before.

Re dead/injured bunnies: the one that has only minor external scrapes I donned my earthy gardening gloves and moved near the nest, and it circle/burrowed back on top of it's sleeping nestmates. The grievously injured one I suspect will be dead before VioletU returns from dropping off the little one at school. Currently for the sake of not knowing what's best we left it where it was; about 3 feet away from the nest. The dead one I assume will be best to just move to the different side of lawn and bury.

What I'm asking: should we move the slightly injured one back out of the nest? Should we move the greatly injured one (if still alive) back in the nest and let momma bunny decide? Can we realistically hope to have the bunnies successfully brought up outside of our yard, and are there any good resources beyond the KW humane society?

Ok to have rabbits visit my yard?

Slap Factory — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:43:13 -0800

Any reason to discourage rabbits from playing in my suburban yard? If not, then how can I encourage the rabbits to visit? I live in the suburbs. We do not have a pet. We do not have a garden. We do have a family of rabbits that frolicks around our front yard sometimes in the mornings and evenings. We enjoy watching the rabbits and would not mind if they dropped by more often.

Is there a reason why I should be trying to chase the rabbits away?

If it's okay for the rabbits to visit, then are there things we can do to make the rabbits come by more often?

banking on banksy

kidsleepy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:30:17 -0800

I'm looking for a photo of Banksy-style graffiti involving rabbits fighting each other. I had it as my desktop image a year or two ago, and now I can't find it. I don't recall too many details, but it did somehow involve rabbits and violence. I think it was stenciled graffiti, very similar to what Banksy does. Does this image ring a bell to anyone? Know where I can find it online?

(ps - I looked through his book back in January and this image wasn't included, so that leads me to believe it might not be his)

Will eating paper hurt a bunny?

joannemerriam — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:10:42 -0800

Is it dangerous for my pet bunny to eat paper? I have a two/two-and-a-half year-old male lop-eared rabbit, Bob. I line his cage with newspaper and bedding (carefresh or whatever is on sale that is similar). He likes to tear up the newspaper and generally make a mess. The other day, we were out of paper so I lined his cage with some used paper (regular 8 1/2 x 11 office paper). When I came home yesterday, he had a piece in his mouth. At first I thought he was just tearing it, but then I noticed he wasn't standing on the other end. He methodically ate the entire piece of paper. I've never seen him do this before.

Can eating paper hurt him? Is it a sign of some sort of dietary deficiency? Is it because I forgot to buy hay this week? (He usually gets about equal amounts hay and fresh vegetables. We don't feed our bunnies pellets on the advice of their vet.)

A Diabetic-Friendly Easter Basket

Karmakaze — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 12:14:40 -0800

Does anyone make a sugar-free chocolate bunny with something other than maltitol? My housemate is a tremendous chocoholic, but also diabetic, which means she needs to severely limit her intake. I'd like to put together a nice easter basket for her. Most of the sugar-free chocolate I can find is made with maltitol, which, unfortunatley, tends to cause "gastric distress". Does anyone know where I can find a chocolate bunny made with, say, sucralose, instead?

I live in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City or there should be enough time to make a mail-order from farther away.

The McKenzie Brothers take off, eh.

joannemerriam — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:46:10 -0800

Help me help my rabbits cope with a long car drive. My partner and I have two rabbits, Bob and Doug, both adult males. We're driving from Kentucky to New Hampshire over a period of several days, starting this weekend.

When we drove from Tennessee to Kentucky a month ago (about a four-hour drive), we put both rabbits in their respective pet carriers with some bedding, their food bowls and their water, wedged one in a space between boxes and held the other on my lap. The one on my lap (Bob) spent the whole ride freaking out, alternately cowering in a corner or standing inside his food bowl, breathing heavily, with the whites of his eyes showing the whole time. He seemed somewhat comforted by me talking to him, but not a lot, and as we're driving in two separate cars I won't be able to pay as much attention to him because I'll have to keep my eyes on the road. Doug, as far as I can tell, spent the whole ride scrunched up against the back of the carrier. Both of them took about a day to calm down afterwards.

About two years ago, we drove Doug (Bob was acquired later) down to TN from Canada (a three-day drive). He was about five months old at that point. We think it damaged him for life - before the drive, he was bold and inquisitive and affectionate, and since, he's been very cautious and grouchy, and no longer seems to enjoy being petted or played with. He also got neutered at about the same time and presumably went through bunny puberty, so the change in personality might be due to other things, but... we're worried this trip will cause similar psychological damage to the normal, affectionate bunny, and make the grouchy one worse.

I've thought of a few things we can do - dope them up on something, and/or put them in the same cage for mutual comfort. The former sounds like a great idea if we can find some Bunny Prozac, but I don't have any idea what to give them and don't have a vet. The latter - well, on the few occasions when we let them out together, Bob tries to hump Doug, who takes exception and fights back, and then one of them gets hurt. But, putting rabbits together in a car is supposed to be a great way to get them to bond, and we can rig one of their cages with a divider (the wall of the other cage) so they can lean against each other but can't actually fight.

Are either of those good ideas? How can we make the drive easier on them?

Removing the most disgusting substance known to man from carpet.

joannemerriam — Wed, 31 May 2006 06:29:05 -0800

Suggest ways I can get rabbit pee out of white carpet. Our two male rabbits both like to pee near the others' cage. One is neutered, the other is not. They don't like each other much, though one is, shall we say, romantically interested in the other, and seems irked by his continued rejections. We don't let them out of their cages at the same time because they always fight, so I assume the peeing is related to that. They don't pee anywhere else in the house (except inside their cages, of course).

We rent. We're moving soon, and I'd like to get the pee completely out of the very light-coloured off-white carpeting. The carpet is just dark enough that I don't think bleach is a good idea even if it works.

I have read in a number of places that the best thing to use is white vinegar, which I've purchased for the purpose, but nowhere have I been able to find directions. Do you just pour it on and then soak it up with a towel? Is soap involved? Are there other, better ways to clean up rabbit pee?

Tips for getting them to behave better would also be appreciated, but our more immediate problem is not losing our security deposit.

Rabbit rabbit rabbit

arcticwoman — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:11:36 -0800

My rabbits hate each other and are making a disaster out of my house. No, they are not allowed out together, but whichever one is out obsessively marks the house (by peeing/spraying) while the other is caged.

Iggy Pop is a 2 1/2 year old neutered male and Gabe is a 1 1/2 year old spayed female. Both were rescued. We have had Iggy for about 2 years and Gabe for about a year.

From day one Gabe has hated Iggy. We did everything we were supposed to do - introduce them slowly, in neutral territory - but when Gabe gets near Iggy she goes nuts and attacks him. We have tried putting them in harnesses and taking them outside where they can see and smell, but not reach, each other. This worked for a couple of months until we decided to try to let them reach each other. Gabe attacked Iggy.

I am at my wit's end. How can I help my rabbits adjust to each other? Is it too late? Failing that, how can I stop them from peeing all over the house? I have tried spraying them with water, coating the spray spots with vinegar to deter them, setting up blockades around areas they frequent, everything I can possibly think of.

I searched AskMe and found these two questions, neither of which really helped but did serve to warn me of the anti-bunny sentiment in this group.

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/8196

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/19160

Can you help me find these paintings?

nTeleKy — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 14:01:40 -0800

I'm trying to find some artwork that I believe was posted to the front page a while back. The best description I can give is that it was paintings of various animals (mostly bunnies and bears) in odd situations including, but not limited to self-mutilation. I've been scouring my links and I can't find these anywhere, although I've seen them twice before. They're rather dark in color and content, relatively traditional painting style (acrylic or oil?) but with a cartoonish look. I seem to remember a bunny cutting off one of its limbs and a self-portrait(?) of the artist smoking a cigarette in a bear-suit in particular. There was a site that I believe belonged to the artist with a gallery. Anyone?

Any advice on repelling hungry bunnies?

gimonca — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 17:49:13 -0800

Any advice on repelling hungry bunnies? Given the immense neighborhood population, I'm starting with the assumption that neither live trapping nor hunting/killing would be effective. "Squirrel Scoot" and other hot pepper/nicotine based products haven't worked well, although if a particular brand or application strategy has worked for you, I'm all ears. So to speak.

Why are my rabbits fighting?

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 18:07:50 -0800

Rabbit fighting question. We have two rabbits, a female named Grendel and a male named Robocop. They're both altered. They've been living together happily since November until yesterday. Now they're fighting and need to be seperated lest the fur fly. What could be causing this change in behavior?