You are taking my words out of context a bit as I was talking about keeping rabbits for food and keeping bucks on their own, isolated and basically ignored, not as pets that may get some affection from their owners but as livestock. Rabbits are not livestock nor suitable to be livestock for numerous reasons because they are rabbits. Part of the problem seems to me being people adopting farm animals as pets and then getting the whole debacle totally confused in their own minds, in addition to those drawing comparisons between different types of animal when there are none that can be drawn. This is more the sort of thing that I was referring too:
We are in East Yorkshire - we have 2 does and 2 bucks and various young stock (all NZWx Californian). We tend to breed in the winter as reduced risk of myxomatosis. We have 6 6ft hutches in the garage, 2 6ftx3ft runs for the lawn and also a number of other 5ft hutches with permanent access to runs. In my opinion the wire acges donot meet the welfare requirements of rabbits. However, rabbit have provided us with ample meat over the last 8 years.
We are considering giving up on the rabbits to concentrate on our other animals if you are interested in some stock / hutches.
Best thing you can do with those 'runs' is burn them, not pass them on to another person to inflict the same misery on another generation of rabbits. 6 x 3 foot is a run? Thats about the size of me, our rabbits hutch is bigger than that, let alone the run. No, wire cages with no floor (as was helpfully suggested in that post to save cleaning) are not meeting the welfare requirements and actually nor are you. Anyone with even a basic grasp of rabbits knows they are very clean and litter-train themselves as they prefer it that way. Thats BASIC info...
I digress...whatever you do, you will have to get him neutered or he will spray pee everywhere and hump everything in sight most of the time, as well as be unfairly sexually frustrated tbh. In short, if he is going to kept outside in a large run as you suggest, get him a spayed girlie bunny for company. The rescue centres will bond them for you, just pick one about the same size as him (this can be important as temperaments vary dramatically, some bully, some are very placid etc..) that has been spayed already (as this is expensive to do yourself and a major operation for the rabbit which dont take illness/operations very well). Then drop him off with rescue centre which has the chosen girl bunny and they will bond them and you can pick them up together in four or five days. Ideally move the run or at least clean it thoroughly, as if he is going back to his territory this can cause a bit of fighting sometimes, best off going back to a (different) 'neutral' zone. Makes life easier all round. Rabbits have good memories. Thats pretty much it, its not rocket science really, they need room to be able to run around when they want and lots of interaction, which can either be from a doting human being or another rabbit, ideally both. He will like a varied diet and there are lots of things people feed them which they will eat but disagree with their guts (like lettuce). As a very general rule, dark greens are mostly okay (spinach/brocolli) and obviously carrots. You will have to keep an eye on them anyway as they do squabble and fight sometimes and if a bite goes septic its is expensive and time-consuming to nurse them better. They do not show if they are ill as they are prey species (dont show weakness). If they look off colour or unwell, they are likely seriously ill and can die in short order so go to the vet or it may be dead in the morning. Rabbits dont like being picked up much unless they have always been since bunnies in which case they are used to it and dont mind. If you dont neuter him and get a spayed doe then you will be taking one of them to the vet at some point as she will snap in the end if he humps her all the time, which he will. If they fight you will need to seperate them or it can get bloody so I am told, not really had major problems myself other than the odd nip and fur pulling. If your rabbit is headbutting your hand, leave it alone, its rarely a sign of affection and its telling you to butt out for while. If he is happy you will hear his teeth grinding when you stroke him, sounds like purring. They make good pets and are probably better pets for adults than children in my opinion as they can bite and be a bit unpredictable sometimes, although if you know your bunny very well then the underlying reasons for this will be more apparent to you. Its usually unwell or bruised or something like that. Mine just turned and bit me on the thumb pretty hard one day (bled a fair bit) for no reason other than I bent down to stroke her (she was running up and down the hall) from behind and had just got back from my parents where their cat had happily spent the afternoon on my lap. Took us a while to figure out why she bit me but its obvious when you think about it. Good luck with him, he is very sweet.
Topic: buck rabbit on his own (Read 8571 times)
