What You NEED When You Bring Home a Rabbit

In today’s article, now that we’ve figured out you are ready for a bunny and you know where you’re going to get it from, we’re talking about what to do when you actually bring your bunny home in that week one, week two setup. On this site, we believe in free roaming; we do not believe that bunnies belong in cages. However, you cannot bring a bunny home, whether it’s a baby bunny or an adult bunny, and just plop them on the floor and assume that everything is going to be fine. So, how do you bridge that gap between training your bunny, getting it home, and then opening it up to your space?

I’m going to tell you how to set up that early setup, what you’re going to need, and I’ll even give you a few tips about what type of food to feed your bunny in the early stages. Alright, I think that’s enough from me; let’s just get into the article.

Before you set anything up, you need to figure out what part of your house you want your bunny’s main space to be in because once you set everything up, they’re going to start associating that area as theirs. So, you want to get that ball rolling right away. Then you’re going to want to find some type of rug to lie down. Bunnies can’t really hop on hardwood, so you absolutely need a rug to cover any hardwood. But if you have carpet, like I do here, it’s still nice to have a rug just in case they have accidents so they don’t actually ruin your floor.

Now it’s time to set up your exercise pen. First off, you want an exercise pen that is at least three feet tall. Bunnies can hop, so you want to make sure that they can’t hop out of their exercise pen. You also want to make sure that the space between the bars is small because, remember, baby bunnies are tiny and can squeeze into itty bitty little spaces.

Next, it’s time to place your litter box. Pro tip: bunnies like to pee and poop in corners, so you want to find the corner of that room or space, set your litter box there, and know that this is probably going to be their litter zone for a while. In their litter box, you’re going to want their hay, some bedding, and a puppy pad, newspaper, or reusable pad. Side note: I actually really recommend a hooded litter box. This particular litter box comes with a hood, but I took it off because I have a much more intricate litter box setup.

The next thing you’re going to want is some type of hide for your bunny. We have a fun little cozy castle, but there are lots sorts of hides that you can have. Bunnies are prey animals, so they like to have a place where they can scuttle off and hide if they get scared or feel threatened. You might notice that I don’t have a bed in here, and that’s just because a lot of bunnies will just flop wherever. But again, if you provide a little blanket for them, they might find that as their little bed and make it their spot.

You’re going to want a water bowl, not a water bottle. Bunnies can drink as much as a small dog, so those water bottles that you see at the pet store are actually really difficult to get water out of. I recommend just having a nice heavy bowl. The one I have here was actually an antique find, You just want to make sure that the bowl is hefty so that if they put their paws on it or try to play with the bowl, it won’t flip over and spill their water everywhere.

Lastly, you’re going to want to fill this pen with a ton of toys. Especially with a new bunny, you want lots of different textures so you can start to figure out what type of toy your bunny is interested in and what type of toy your bunny is not going to play with.

So now that your pen is all set up, let’s talk a little bit about what else you’re going to need, which is food.

Starting with a baby bunny: if you have a bunny that is under six months of age, all you’re really going to need for food is baby pellets and alfalfa hay.

It’s important to note that bunnies have really sensitive tummies, so if you change their diet on them really quickly, it can actually make them sick. When you bring your bunny home, you want to make sure that the person you’re getting your bunny from either provides you with a bag of the food they’re currently eating or tells you the brand they’ve been feeding. That does not mean you’re stuck feeding them that exact same brand for the rest of their life, however, you do want to start with that so you don’t shock their tummies. Every day, just add a tiny bit of the new pellets in and then take a tiny bit of the old pellets out. Every couple of days, add a little bit more of the new pellets and take a little bit more of the old pellets out. After about two weeks, you’ll be fully transitioned over to the new pellets.

Now, baby bunnies can have unlimited pellets and unlimited alfalfa hay. But at least what I did is after about two weeks of seeing how many of the pellets my baby bunny was eating, I started to give her a little bit less of the pellets and break them up into a morning feeding and an evening feeding so that she knew, this is our feeding schedule, and she focused more on eating that alfalfa hay. As we bunny parents know, hay is 80% of their diet, so you want to make sure that the number one thing they are eating is their hay.

For an adult bunny, their diet consists of hay, veggies, and a little bit of pellets, way less than a baby bunny. Same thing with the pellets—you should start with whatever pellets the person who gave you the bunny provides and then transition to whatever you want to feed in the same way we did with the baby food. As far as their salad goes, check with the person you’re getting the bunny from about what they’ve eaten and what they’re comfortable with, and you can slowly start to introduce veggies from there. For an adult bunny, they are no longer eating alfalfa hay—they should be eating a grass hay like timothy, orchard grass, or a blend of the two.

Again, a bunny’s diet is very complex, so this is just a general breakdown. If you want a more in-depth dive into what a bunny should be eating, here are some article about this topic, and you will find here what should be the diet for a baby rabbit and adult too. For now, I hope that this setup and this little introduction to their diet is helpful for you, especially if this is your first week with a bunny, just knowing what you actually need to have on hand when you bring your bunny home.

Alright friends, that’s it. I hope you found this article useful. If you liked it please share it and you can stay tune this site to get all the information about rabbits.