My own pets; Lucky, the independent rabbit

Lucky, our pet rabbit, came to us, like so many pets, ‘rehomed’ as it were. He actually lived with a friend, who sadly, was moving away to a place without a garden, so, therefore, Lucky needed to be rehoused. I was asked if we could have him, as we knew the owners well and we have a good garden, made of a few different sections I said yes. I knew Lucky could have his own space, with access to a hutch and open space. Lucky was around four years old then, with fur which was mainly white with patches of brown and black, a lop-eared rabbit, who didn’t seem to dig! So, he came to live with us.

We built a tunnel connecting an external run and indoor hutch. Lucky would have a run outside to start with and then we decided to let him out into the garden, as having the space is vital for our pet rabbits. Slowly we got used to Lucky having daytime in the garden and nighttime in his hutch. We closed off sections of the garden so he wouldn’t have access to poisonous plants. He soon found his favourite spots one of which was by the pond. If he wasn’t ready to come in he would hop around and avoid us, it was like trying to herd sheep! It also felt like Lucky would like to hide, very much it felt on purpose and then would just suddenly appear. But when it started to get dark we would ensure he was safely locked away as foxes are often seen around our house. He knew the signal, bang the tunnel and he’d come into the hutch for his tea.

Independent Living

Lucky was a very self-sufficient rabbit, he was even litter trained. My son, Jacob, grew up with him and Jacob would like to call him or herd him in and they would end up chasing each other. If Lucky didn’t want to go to bed, we would leave him till later, and often he would put himself to bed. Our garden has a fish pond and stream running into it, and Lucky could do a high jump over it and would also come to you if you called him. He loved it when the Guinea Pigs were in their run and would often be found close by saying ‘hello’. As a social animal rabbits should really be in pairs, but Lucky seemed to be very happy on his own. Lucky lived a good few more years with us and died recently at a super age, we all miss him very much.

My Top Pet Rabbit Tips

Rabbits take a lot more looking after than people think, the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF) has some great free downloads if you are new to having a rabbit as a pet.

• Ideally, rabbits should eat their body size in hay every day
• Feed mainly roughage too with minimal hard feed
• Avoid muesli as many rabbits self-select the bad stuff and leave the good! Therefore pelleted food is best, but also a mixture of herbs and greens
• Rabbits should eat all the time as their guts need to move, this can lead to lots of poo, which is great for the garden. However, if your rabbit isn’t eating well it can cause the guts to get stuck (stasis) which can be fatal if not treated quickly.
• In Summer rabbits can suffer from flystrike, which I covered in our Summer blog, more information about Flystrike can also be found on the RSPCA website
• If you are letting your rabbits out into the garden beware of some plants which are toxic, usually those grown from bulbs. The RWAF is a great resource, including this comprehensive plant list.

Your Pet Rabbits

Does your pet rabbit do anything out of the ordinary I’d love to hear from you, find me on my Facebook page, or add a comment below!

I am looking to train our new rabbits to be fed when I ring a bell so it is easy to call them in and find them, especially now we have two, but that’s another story…

Rabbit Services

If you need help with your rabbit healthcare or nail clipping, have a look at my services page, or get in touch.