Info on Rabbits

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Occasionally we get specific questions from curious visitors about rabbits. Here are some of these questions and answers, which we think might help others as well.

If not, contact us, and we’ll do our best to find the answer for you.

For questions about pregnant does, baby bunnies or giving birth, please see Info on Rabbits and Bunnies.

Frequently Asked Questions
and Answers

Q: "I need an easy guide to caring for a rabbit"
Answer: Maybe our Rabbit Care Checklist will help? Raising-Rabbits.com helps make caring for rabbits a lot easier than it used to be.

Q: Bunny Fur: "When does rabbit fur start coming in?"
Answer: Kits are born furless, and the fur starts growing immediately. By 7 days the kit can keep itself warm in all but the very coldest of temperatures. By 4-5 weeks, the first baby-coat should be fully grown, and by 6-7 weeks, it is already beginning to molt out in favor of the first junior coat.

Q: Carnivore: "Can rabbits be carnivores?"
Answer: No, according to our info on rabbits. Rabbits are herbivores. That means no meat. That said, I’ve heard a report or two of rabbits eating carrion. This may take place in the dead of winter in the wild when food sources are scarce.

Q: Carrying Hay: "My rabbit is carrying hay around the hutch in its mouth."
Answer: Uh oh... This could mean one of two things:

• Your rabbit is pregnant and wanting to build a nest (see Pregnant Rabbit)
• Your rabbit only thinks it is pregnant - it’s in the middle of a false pregnancy.

Q: Cecotropes: "I need to know cecotrope sources..."
Answer: Cecotropes come from the hind end of rabbits. If you need cecotropes for bunnies or sick rabbits, whether wild or domestic, you can collect them from healthy rabbits. If necessary, you can forego the cecotropes, and use Benebac can supply the friendly bacteria that can help restore the correct bacterial flora for rabbit health. Learn more info on rabbits and cecotropes at Feeding Wild Rabbits.

Q: Diarrhea: "Is my baby rabbit dying? It has diarrhea--how can I take care of it?"
Answer: I’m so sorry. Rabbit diarrhea (enterotoxemia) in baby rabbits is often fatal. It needs veterinarian care right now, but the chance is good it might die before you get there, if our info on rabbits is good.

At Aurora Rex Ranch, if a mild bunny diarrhea strikes our recently weaned bunnies, we immediately remove all pellets and food. We give only grass or timothy hay, all they want, and all the water they can drink. The loose stools pass in 24 hours usually. (Because we don’t do much bunny-heroics, we have developed a herd of very healthy rabbits.)

For answers about medicating your baby rabbit, please consult with your rabbit-savvy vet.

Q: Droppings: "Do rabbits have more than one kind of droppings?"
Answer: Yes. They drop their usual ‘marbles,’ the hard, round rabbit-feces. But they also pass what are known as "night-droppings" or better, cecotropes (see Cecotropes, above), which come from a separate part of the gut than the ‘marbles.’ These are soft, grape-like or raspberry-resembling clusters that are longer than they are wide. Despite coming out the rectum, these should not be thought of as feces, but more as vitamins. Rabbits eat cecotropes directly from their hind end, getting lots and lots of additional vitamins and minerals. This allows it to thrive on poor forages in many kinds of environments. There's more info on rabbits' cecotropes, including pictures, at Feeding Rabbits.

Q: Eating rabbits: "Our cat kills and eats raw rabbits!"
Answer: I know that might be horrifying to you, but in all honesty, your cat is simply being a cat. Cats, believe it or not, are "obligate carnivores," meaning they should always be killing and eating raw meat. Rabbits are actually the perfect menu item for a cat - rabbits give carnivores a perfect dietary balance between meat, bones, and organs. Perhaps you should watch for IMPROVING health in your cat. See Raw Cat Food.

Q: Eating rabbits: "Can eating rabbits make a dog ill?"
Answer: Well, are the rabbits in question wild or domestic?? Eating rabbits raw by itself will make your dog healthier, according to our info on rabbits. But, if the rabbit is wild and sick, say, from tularemia, myxomatosis, or coccidiosis, then perhaps it could make your dog ill. See Raw Dog Food. See also Rabbit Diseases.

Q: Furniture: "Do rabbits eat furniture?"
Info on Rabbits Answer: You betcha! They don’t mean to be destructive, but the drive to chew is hard-wired into their DNA. If you let your rabbit roam the house, be sure to protect the furniture legs, and supervise the rabbit closely until it learns proper rabbit etiquette in your home. See Pet Rabbits for more info on rabbits and furniture.

Q: Genetics: "Do rabbits take after mostly the dam genes or the sire genes?"
Answer: Rabbits get exactly half of their genes from each parent. The process is completely random, and always 50-50. But, maybe you’ve noticed that some bunnies look more like one parent than the other. This is because some colors and traits are dominant and some are recessive. If one parent has a recessive color, and the other parent has a dominant color, the bunnies might all look like the parent with the dominant color.

But, they still got half of their genes from both parents. Get more info on rabbits and rabbit genetics.

Q: Meat rabbits: "Can you raise meat rabbits indoors?"
Answer: Yes, of course. Wherever you can set up a hutch or cage will work. The only thing is: if you let the droppings and pee pile up for very long in an enclosed space, the ammonia odors will damage the rabbit’s lungs, they’ll get sick, and then die according to our info on rabbits.

So yes, you can raise meat rabbits indoors, as long as you are prepared for daily cleaning and carrying of the manure outside to the garden or compost pile.

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Q: Pasteurella: "Does pasteurella kill rabbits?"
Answer: Yep, it sure can. Rabbits seem to be very susceptible to pasteurella multocida. Pasteurellosis drains the immune system, and if the rabbit doesn’t die from snuffles (pasteurellosis caused by pasteurella multocida), it can die from related or opportunistic infections, such as pneumonia or staph infections. In our opinion, rabbits with any white snot in the nose should always be humanely euthanized.

Q: Pet Store: "What should I know about raising bunnies from a pet store?"
Info on Rabbits Answer: Don’t think pet store bunnies come from "rabbit-mills." They don’t. The vast majority of the time they come from reputable breeders. But, there's always a chance that pet store bunnies (and rescue bunnies) might not be healthy pet rabbits if they happened to come from an irresponsible or selfish breeder.

Some of the best advice on this Info for Rabbits page is -- check for health issues before you purchase a bunny from a pet store - or any other source.

• Make sure the top rabbit teeth overlap the bottom teeth
• Make sure the nose is completely dry (if the weather is cool - noses can get damp in very hot weather)
• Make sure there are no snotty mats on the front forearms
• Make sure that the bottom is completely clean (no sign of rabbit diarrhea)

Raising pet store bunnies is no different than raising any rabbit, as long as you have acquired a healthy rabbit.

Q: Plants: "Plants for outdoor rabbit hutch to repel flies"
Answer: If this isn’t a typo for ‘plans,’ then the news is not good. Flies don’t care a bit about plants, according to our info on rabbits - they love the rabbit manure. The best way to be rid of flies is to remove the manure on a daily or near-daily basis. The best outdoor rabbit hutch plan would be one with longer legs, giving you more room to maneuver around and under the hutch as you shovel, pitchfork and rake. Allow enough room to get a wheelbarrow within shovel distance.

Another excellent fly solution is Fly Predators. Fly predators destroy fly eggs; soon your fly population plummets.

Q: Rabbit types: "What about mating bunnies of different types?"
Answer: It all depends on why you’re doing the breeding. If it’s for fun, it will be safer if the doe is the bigger of the two rabbits. And, please have homes ready for the offspring before making the breeding, unless there is no chance the babies will end up in rabbit shelters.

Meat breeders sometimes breed together different breeds of rabbits, such as New Zealands and Californians, but they do this carefully, knowing ahead of time what to expect. If they were to breed willy-nilly, they likely would not get the kind of meat rabbits they were hoping for.

Show breeders definitely stay away from mixing and matching rabbits.

Q: Show: "Can you show a rabbit after you breed it?"
Answer: Yes, as long as the rabbit has regained her conditioning and her mammary glands have shrunk to normal. See Conditioning Rabbits for Show for more info on rabbits and showing.

Q: Show: "How to raise rabbits for show"
Answer: You raise show rabbits the same as other rabbits, except you start with excellent quality rabbits. You pay more attention to keeping the rabbit in excellent condition. About a month before a show, you might want to top off the show rabbits’ feed with a special blend of conditioning mix. You’ll find an excellent recipe at Conditioning Rabbits for Show.

If you've purchased the best quality rabbits you can afford but they aren't winning on the show table, getting the opinions of several rabbit judges (by entering shows) will help you identify where the weaknesses are in your rabbits. You can then selectively breed to strengthen the weak points. You can also befriend a top quality breeder of your chosen breed, get pointers and info on rabbits from this breeder, and ultimately, when you can afford to, purchase a rabbit from this breeder that is strong in the qualities your rabbits need. This will speed your progress tremendously.

Q: Snore: "Is it normal for dwarf rabbits to snore while they sleep?"
Answer: No, snoring is not normal at all. Without knowing the situation, I’m guessing that your bunny might be quite sick with snuffles or worse, pneumonia. If so, you might want to take it (soon) to a rabbit-savvy vet.

Q: Teeth: "Can you breed off a rabbit with genetics in its teeth?"
Answer: Let’s think this out: Bad rabbit teeth (buck teeth, or malocclusion) can be caused by pulling the teeth on cage wire. But more frequently (and since the question specified 'genetics'), bad rabbit teeth is a complicated, recessive genetic trait according to our genetic info on rabbits. Therefore, it takes two rabbits - a sire and a dam, both of which carry at least one bad-tooth gene, to make a rabbit that has bad rabbit teeth. Which means that if you breed a buck-toothed rabbit, EVERY ONE OF ITS BABIES will get at least one bad-tooth gene. And if the mate has a recessive bad-tooth gene, then half the babies will have bad teeth. Is that what you want for your bunnies?

Learn about the mechanism behind inheriting recessive problems at Autosomal Recessive Disorders.

I’d be sorry to hear that someone would purposefully breed a rabbit with buck teeth. To pass on malocclusion (buck teeth) to baby bunnies is really a bit of a heartless thing to do. Better to enjoy it as a pet, and locate a completely healthy rabbit to use for breeding.

(Just so you know, honest and reputable rabbit breeders put rabbits with bad teeth out of circulation, and don't sell them to anyone.)

Q: "Why does my pet rabbit scratch at the corners of her cage?"
Answer: Rabbits like to dig. It might be trying to dig a burrow. Not to worry, once it learns that the wire is too strong, it’ll chill out.

BUT: if your rabbit is a female, scratching could be a big clue to a pregnancy. Discover all 5 big clues at Pregnant Rabbit.

Find even more answers and info on rabbits, bunnies and pregnant rabbits at Info on Rabbits and Bunnies.

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