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May 27, 20218 min read

Shop The Blog: Amazon Bunny Haul

The day has finally come!

Our daughter has wanted a pet rabbit for the past 5 years. This year we decided she was finally mature and responsible enough to handle a pet rabbit (with parental guidance). Here is our Amazon Bunny Haul: a round up of bunny essential items to get you started with your new pet.


*This post does not contain Amazon affiliate links, which means I will not receive a small commission if you make a purchase through a link! All opinions, thoughts, and suggestions are my own!*

 


 

Caring for pet rabbits has really changed over the years. More and more people are promoting "free roam" as the number one option for housing pet rabbits. This doesn't mean your rabbit will be peeing and pooping all over your house, because rabbits can be litter boxed trained just like a cat. They are incredibly smart and can be easily trained.


I highly recommend you do your research before considering bringing home a pet rabbit. I spent months researching how to care for a pet rabbit, housing a pet rabbit, their diets, litter box training, etc. A rabbit is not a easy pet for beginners. If you are considering buying a pet as rabbit; we suggest you check out our bun friends: Morgan & Cinnabun @sincerelycinnabun and listen to their YouTube video series: How To Get A Bunny.


Our bunny will be semi-free roam for it's safety. After our bunny is potty trained, she will have full access to our daughters' room all day long. This means our rabbit will be allowed to hop, run, sleep, and play in our daughters' room all day while we are home. If you decide free roam is right for you too, be sure that you research how to bunny proof a room. Electric cords need wrapped/covered, electric outlets need baby covers put on them, consider what furniture you are okay with begin chewed, buy plastic corner strip covers if needed, etc. You will need to evaluate your room and make any changes necessary to keep your bunny safe and out of harms way.


Our rabbit will only be in her cage full time if we are to leave the house for a few hours or it's bedtime. Bunnies are pretty active at night; so we wanted a large cage to allow a decent amount of space for her to roam and play even at night. As much as I would love to have one of those large dog play pens set up in our daughters room to provide a big space to run when we can't watch her; it's just not practical for the space we have. My husband found the XL Rabbit Cage and I was a bit annoyed at first. Usually, anything with the word "type of animal your are buying" and then cage, is manufactured to be attractive to get you to buy with little attention to what is actually good spacing for the pet. The XL Rabbit Cage actually surprised me.



The XL Rabbit Cage is about two feet wide by four feet long and about 20 inches high I believe. At first, seeing it online, I thought this cage was going to be so super small. In person, this cage is massive! There is a ton of space in this cage for our rabbit to hop and play and stretch out. The cage comes with a food bowl, water bottle (NOT recommended to use for rabbits), hay rack, ledge for feeding that also makes a hidey hole for bunnies. The cage has two doors that lift open in the front. I LOVE that feature. The whole front of the cage can be open and the bunny can easily hop in and out of it to use the litter box. There is also a top door that can be opened as well. Overall, this cage was EASY to set up and will be very easy to clean as well. This cage runs $82.99 on Amazon. You can also purchase an extension piece that adds 18.5 more inches onto this XL Rabbit Cage for around $35.00. Above is a picture of our cage set up in our daughters room. There is a few things left we need to do to bring our bunny home, but we are absolutely loving the size of this cage!


In the cage you can see we have a large litter box. I personally don't like the looks or sizes of "Rabbit" litter boxes that come up when you search for them. Although, this rabbit litter box is pretty big and allows a rabbit to do a full 360 turn in it. The litter box is 30 inches long by 10 inches wide. It has a removable litter tray and comes with a litter scoop too. This was a splurge item in my opinion, because we spent $30.00 on a place for our rabbits poop. Honestly, I think it was worth it for size, color, and quality. You will also need a form of litter for your bunnies litter box. There are plenty of options out there and you should again research what you prefer to use. I personally prefer to use the wood pellets. These cost around $10.00 a bag and I'm not sure how long one bag will last me yet.


Did you know bunnies can drink as much as a small to medium sized dog?! I didn't know that. That's one reason why large pet water bottles are not recommended for rabbits. The other reasons are because it's not natural for a bunny to light it's head up and suck to drink water. In the wild, a rabbit would find a puddle or stream, lower it's head, and lap water like a dog. It's best to use a heavy ceramic bowl that is always full or buy a half gallon size water dispenser for your bunny. I went with the half gallon water dispenser. I can fill it up and it's good for a couple days. This water dispenser runs around $10 on Amazon, but you can find the same size at Walmart for around $5.00.


Next is that cute little green bowl that you may of spotted in the cage. The Cabbage ceramic bowl is just the cutest thing ever! Bunnies diets consist of mostly hay and fresh greens, a small amount of pellets daily, and a couple treats from time to time. Our cage came with a bowl, but I really wanted this Cabbage bowl as fun way to serve our bunnies daily salad in. Yes, I'm going to be making salad for my bunny everyday. You can start to introduce new fresh greens slowly around 3 months of age. If you're looking to get healthier, having a bunny may help. Your fridge will consistently be stocked with leafy greens, herbs, and vegetables! This year my garden has two 4x4 foot garden boxes dedicated to just feeding our rabbit. If you want this super cute Cabbage bowl, it will cost you around $8.00 on Amazon. They also have a Carrot and Radish bowl option too or maybe you'll find another cute bowl to use.


We covered the cage basics, now let's talk about the foods. A rabbits diet is 80% hay, but a baby bunny can't have Timothy hay right away. Baby bunnies need calcium in their diets until they are 6 months old. Until then, you will need to purchase Alfalfa hay for your baby bun. This bag was cheap. About $5.00 will get you a 15 oz bag. I've been trying to find it in a bigger bag and it does not appear that Oxbow makes it any larger. I'm not sure how fast we will go through one bag. I'm going to predict that we will need one bag a week, if not two bags a week. You want your rabbit to have unlimited access to hay to keep it's digestive track moving and prevent any struggles or health issues.


Baby bunnies need baby bunny food, just like a puppy needs puppy food or a kitten needs kitten food. It's important to buy a healthy pet food vs. a pet food that has a bunch of seeds and dyed colored bits found amongst the mix. It's like bran flakes vs fruit loops. I chose Oxbow brand products to feed our rabbit because they seem to be the better brand for an affordable healthy diet. We grabbed a 5lb bag to start with and that runs around $10.00 on Amazon. A adult rabbit is only going to eat around 1/8 to 1/4 cup of pellets a day. A baby bunny may consume an 1/8 cup or loss of pellets a day. I would imagine this 5lb bag will last us a while. When our rabbit gets to be 6 months old, we will transition her to adult rabbit pellets.


A couple other items you will need that are essential in any pet care is nail clippers and a hair brush. We bought these small pet nail clippers off Amazon for $10.00, but you can find them at any supermarket or pet store. We have not purchased our small animal hair brush yet, a cat brush works great, and we will be picking one up this weekend. You will need to trim your rabbits nails often like any other pet. A bunny does groom itself but it's not healthy for them to ingest a bunch of their own fur. It can back up their digestive track and cause health problems. Once a week you'll need to brush their coat to help remove any shedding.


Last but not least, Chews, Treats, and Toys!

Bunnies love to chew, play, and be entertained! They're kind of like a toddler in that way. Bunnies, like horses, have teeth that constantly grow. They need to chew things to keep their teeth shorten. There is a wide range of appropriate chews you can choose from and it can be overwhelming to be honest. I decided we would start with apple wood sticks. They seem to be favored by most bunnies and were affordable to purchase a decent amount costing around $8.00. That should keep her busy for a while. Appropriate chews range from specific types of safe woods, cardboard, untreated grass mats, untreated willow baskets, palm leaf bowls, and rabbit toys. It's best to never buy dyed or artificially flavored chews from a pet store.


Bunnies love to play and be entertained. It's a good idea to have a wide variety of toys for a bunny to play with because they can get bored with them quickly. My must have bunny toy I knew I needed to have was the Baby Stacking Cups. These stacking cups off Amazon cost around $14.99 and come in three different colors. They are so beautiful! Bunnies love when you hide their pellets or treats in them. It encourages foraging skills and it's super funny to watch them grab a hold of the cups and fling them across the room looking for their food. There's a bunch of different treat hiders that encourage foraging and hunting. Rabbits also like toys that make noise. A cat jingle ball or a baby rattle could entertain for bunny very well. Again, there is a wide variety of bunny toys and it can be overwhelming to find what your bunny many like best.


Treats are so much fun to give, but should be given in moderation. It's best to not buy treats from a pet store, but to look for treats that are made of the most natural products. Etsy is loaded with healthy treat options for bunnies and you'll be supporting a small business too!


 

We would love you to meet our baby bun; Rosabell!



Rosabell (named by our daughter) is a female Holland Lop.

We will be bringing her home next weekend!!!!


 













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