NIC CUBES ARE A NEAT IDEA

Neat Idea Cubes (NIC) are a modular wire shelving system available at Target, and are an excellent and cost effective option for building your rabbitat.  You can build an elaborate condo or a simple pen, and you can build to best fit the space you have. 

Use zip ties for a quick and easy set up.   Some people use coroplast, a versatile and inexpensive corrugated plastic, to make easy-to-clean flooring for the upper levels of their bunny condos.  Coroplast can be scored and bent up at the edges to create a lip around the flooring;  this keeps the bunny mess (hay, poop, etc) inside the bunny pen.  Coroplast is safer for the bunny than carpeting, which, if ingested, can cause an intestinal blockage.




AVOID WIRE-BOTTOMED CAGES

Rabbits have delicate feet, and wire bottomed cages can cause a lot of damage.  All breeds can break toes and develop sore hocks from standing on wire, but rex breeds are especially vulnerable, because they have no fur padding the bottom of their feet.  If you have a wire bottomed cage, you should always provide clean, soft bedding on top of the wire to avoid serious problems with the rabbit's feet.

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FEEDING YOUR RABBIT

RABBITS MUST HAVE HAY

Rabbits must have hay.  Rabbits must have hay.  Rabbits must have hay.  If I sound redundant, it's because the importance of hay can't be stressed enough!  Hay provides the fiber a rabbit needs to maintain a healthy GI tract.  And for rabbits, a healthy GI system means everything.  Never heard of ileus?  Please read Dana Krempels' excellent article on the subject.  It just might save your bunny's life, and is sure to prevent you from experiencing a lot of unnecessary pain and heartache.

In addition to keeping your bunny's bowels moving along at a healthy clip, eating hay maintains good dental health.  When rabbits chew hay, they use a back-and-forth grinding motion that keeps the molars (which are constantly growing) evenly worn.  Pellets are too soft and easily chewed to allow for this beneficial grinding.  Rabbits who eat too many pellets and not enough hay are likely to develop molar spurs and/or stepped molars.  Molar spurs can form toward the inside or outside, but either way, they eventually jab into the rabbit's cheek or tongue and cause a painful wound that can become deeply infected.  Stepped molars prevent the teeth from sliding across each other when the rabbit chews, and this "locking" can keep a rabbit from eating properly.

A diet that consists primarily of hay will also keep your rabbit at a healthy weight.  An obese rabbit with an overly-rich diet is prone to poopy-butt.  Excessive nutrients cause an increase in the number of cecotropes, and since a hefty bunny often isn't able to reach around to eat the cecotropes as they come out, the soft cecotropes stick to the bunny's butt and make a huge, uncomfortable, difficult-to-clean mess.

Growing rabbits (under 1 year) should be given access to unlimited alfalfa hay.  When the rabbit reaches a year, it's time to wean her off of alfalfa, and start her on grass hays such as timothy or orchard grass.  Oxbow Hay is always excellent quality, and though it is relatively expensive, a 50# box lasts for months.  You can also check out your local feed stores and horse farms for bales of high quality, grass hay.  Avoid buying hay in those tiny bags at the pet store - they're way overpriced.

RABBITS MUST HAVE WATER

Rabbits need fresh water available to them at all times.  A water bowl is preferable to a bottle, because a rabbit can drink more deeply from a bowl, and a bowl is easier to clean.  Some people provide a water bottle as a back-up to a bowl.  Water is crucial to maintaining healthy kidneys, bladder, and urinary tract, and keeping a bunny well-hydrated is important to the his overall health. Use a wide, heavy, flat-bottomed crock for water, or your bunny may pick up the bowl with his teeth and fling water everywhere.

PELLETS IN MODERATION

Adult rabbits don't need to eat pellets.  If you do feed your rabbit pellets, feed a small amount of high quality timothy-based pellets such as Oxbow's Bunny Basic/T.  Alfalfa based pellets are too high in protein, calcium, and fat for adult rabbits, and can cause a whole array of health problems, especially if too much is given.  Babies should be fed alfalfa-based pellets until they are 6 months old.  They need the extra nutrients for their growing bodies.

VEGGIES AND HERBS

Fresh veggies can be given every day, and herbs can be given as a treat.  Fresh fruit should be given in moderation, as the fruit sugar can cause digestive difficulties.  Some veggies are high in oxalates, which can crystallize in the kidneys and cause problems.  These should only be given in very small quantities.  The House Rabbit Society (HRS) has created a handy list of veggies that are ok to eat.  And always remember, don't feed your rabbit anything that you wouldn't eat yourself.