Ricky bought me a Holland Lop...!

[on:]

She's adorable LOL. I've always wanted a floppy bunny. She's so cute and hops around the living room... and she loooooves her food.

I've read up on diet & care but if anyone has any advice based on experience with Lops... I will admit this was a spur of the moment thing and I've never had a bunny before but always wanted one.

She's on pellets & grass hay, all she can eat until she turns 6 months old, at which point I will be rationing her food to one ounce per one lb of body weight (except for the hay which they should have ready for them at all times).

I don't let her out of the cage unless she's under supervision because I've heard that rabbits will chew everything. She gets plenty of supervised playtime though - my mom can't resist holding her!

Is it healthier to breed her or get her spayed? If I bred her I'm sure there would be no problem finding a buck and homes for the babies - I know many people that would love to have one or two. Bunnies are actually kind of hard to come by here. If I bred her, how often should I do it to keep her healthy? I know someone that breeds her Rexes once a year.

Ummm... let's see, I know they're prone to heat stroke so she's in our finished basement with the Sugar Gliders, it's nice and cool down there. She'll probably come up to my room in the winter when the whole house is chilly.

[Reply #1 on:]

Congrats, I bet she's real cute. I don't know much about bunnies so I can't help you much, but good luck with her

[Reply #2 on:]

Awww, congrats. When do we get to "meet" her?

[Reply #3 on:]

Here are some VERY helpful websites for a new rabbit mom!:

http://www.petinfopackets.com/rabbits/rabbitinfopacket.html
http://www.rabbit.org/
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html

If she is under a year old you will want to make sure she is freefed alfalfa based pellets (I highly recommend Oxbow brand as it's a much healthier brand than lots of the rabbit foods out there that have junk in them.) And freefeed either alfalfa hay or a mix of timothy and alfalfa hay. After she's over a year old you will want to portion her pellet food and switch to timothy based pellets (Oxbow puts out an adult diet to!) and freefeed just timothy hay.

I highly recommend spaying her. Do not breed her please. Rabbits are the third most overpopulated pet in shelters. Those babies you adopt out are taking homes from shelter rabbits that desperately need it!
Even if there aren't many in your area it really just isn't a wise idea. Many things can go wrong during breeding, it's best to leave it to the "professionals" who have experience and have done research into the genetics and all those important things.

Spaying not only reduces many unwanted behaviors like marking, it's also very very important for their health. Female rabbits are VERY prone to uterine cancer and so having them spayed will greatly increase their life expectancy. Be sure to find a good small animal/exotics vet for the spay.

Hope that helps =)

[Reply #4 on:]

Thanks Darksong - I gave it a little more thought myself, and upon extra reading, I've decided it would absolutely be best if I got her spayed. She's my pet & friend and I want her to have the longest, happiest life possible and it would be better if I waited until I had more experience to breed.

I have some pictures of her already, but haven't been at my normal computer at work so I will have to wait until Monday to upload them.


Also, I've read that Timothy Hay is very nutritious but lacks the fiber rabbits need in their diets. Whereas the pellets contain the nutrients and plain grass hay is the type richest in fiber so it balances out.

[Reply #5 on:]

I can't wait to see your new bunny.  There has been a lot of talk about new pets lately, hehe.  I am glad you chose to spay her too.  What did you name her?

[Reply #6 on:]

Her name is Ba-Bomb, after those little black round bombs on Mario Party LOL. Except the video game spells it Bob-omb.

[Reply #7 on:]

Thanks Darksong - I gave it a little more thought myself, and upon extra reading, I've decided it would absolutely be best if I got her spayed. She's my pet & friend and I want her to have the longest, happiest life possible and it would be better if I waited until I had more experience to breed.

I have some pictures of her already, but haven't been at my normal computer at work so I will have to wait until Monday to upload them.


Also, I've read that Timothy Hay is very nutritious but lacks the fiber rabbits need in their diets. Whereas the pellets contain the nutrients and plain grass hay is the type richest in fiber so it balances out.

That is untrue sort of. Timothy hay IS a grass hay. Alfalfa hay is to but it has too much calcium in it and shouldn't be fed regularly to adult rabbits. As I said I recommend Oxbow as a brand for both the hay and pellets. At their website you can learn more about the different types of hay. I'll link you to their information on timothy hay:

http://www.oxbowhay.com/link.sp?page=TimothyHay