Coleslaw

Rabbits are a prey animal. By nature, their most active times during a day is dawn and dusk, in order to stay away from daytime or nocturnal predators. They spend most of the rest of their time resting but must always stay alert due to their prey animal instincts, so they rarely go into deep sleep. They are also herbivores, which means that they must eat constantly to keep their digestive system in constant motion, if it stops moving then it could be fatal. So they probably wake up once in a while to eat.

For litter box I put a few sheets of newspaper at the very bottom, and put 'yesterday's news' pellets on top.. then top the box with some timothy hay.

Coleslaw

My bunny stays in an unused toilet of mine, I just put the eating hay on the tiles. Whenever I clean the litter box, I put the hay that she didn't finish in the litter box, and give her fresh hay for eating.

My bunny is already litter trained, so I put hay there not to train her. It is more for a softer layer to stand on without standing right on the pellets. And they like to hang out around hay anyway.

The dangers of pine and cedar shavings is not direct contact, but the fumes that come from the wood in its unprocessed form. Small animals that breathe in those fumes long periods of time are likely to have health problems. Wood pellets ,on the other hand, are often processed to remove the oils that create those fumes and are safe, compared to any wood shavings. Some people say aspen shavings are safe but then its best to avoid all shavings.

Coleslaw

I have both a bowl and water bottle available for my rabbit.

when I put both there she drinks mostly from the bowl, and it seems she drinks way more water from bowl than she did when I used to only have water bottle.

Coleslaw

For food, I switch between romaine lettuce, A 菜, and spring greens mix for the main veggies.
I supplement those with alternating cilantro, parsley, carrot, or kale. My bunny loves kale, she will pick it out and eat those first.

Used to give some broccoli but I don't anymore because they gave rabbits lots of gas.

occasionally give very very thin slices of apple /pear / strawberry just for a taste, but I don't want her to eat too much sugarly stuff. I have cut down on carrots too.

For treats my bunny goes crazy when she smells or hears me shaking box/bag of Vita-Kraft Wildberry Yogurt Drops.

Coleslaw

49# mibu

No its not about farting or not.

A common killer of rabbits is GI Statis, or Gastro Intestinal Stasis. Basically something caused the rabbit's digestive track and intestines to stop moving, therefore they get constipated and stops eating and everything stops functioning altogether.

Rabbits cannot pass gas, and a buildup of gas in the stomach is a common cause of discomfort for the rabbit.  Since rabbits are very sensitive animals, a little bit of stress or discomfort can lead to GI Statis. That's why its best to stick to leafy greens as their main vegetable, and avoid broccoli or cauliflower or anything that has is mainly stem. My bun seems to get some gas from bak choi too so I have also stopped feeding bak choi, but different buns are different.

I only feed the yogurt drops once in a blue moon and cut down on fruits and and carrot and sweet stuff, because too much sweet stuff can cause diabetes in rabbits and other issues. Also rabbits have a sweet tooth so they may get picky and stop eating healthier vegetables

Coleslaw

54# mibu

When you see that the rabbit's is suddenly not eating as much, or not eating at all, or not pooping, you know for sure they are sick. Then if the stomach feels hard and feels swollen/bloated, its very likely a gas buildup, although it could also be other illnesses. Watch out for these things and catch it early.

Coleslaw

my bunny went to the vet 2 times cuz she stopped eating. first time she had to stay overnight at the vet.

For the 2nd time she stopped eating and had to wait until the next day to see the vet, I did some research on GI statis and I gave her some baby gas drops that night and she ended up staying only a few hours at the vet and can go home that day.

Then 3rd time when I found her eating less than usual (but not stopped eating yet), I caught her early and gave her some gas drops, and she was eating normal again the next day.

Coleslaw

Baby gas relief drops, also known as Simethicone, you can buy it at any drug store or supermarket pharmacy section. It is meant for babies to help them get the gas out of their tummies, it is very mild and very safe for rabbits. Basically it collects the gas packets together and helps get the gas out of the rabbit's stomach. I like to get the brand " Little Tummies" because the gas drops is berry flavoured. If your rabbit has a stomach problem you should still bring them to a vet, the gas drops is only a precautionary thing you can do if you cannot go to a vet right away.

Gas doesn't build up over a long period of time. Usually if food is causing gas build up, you will know within a few hours that your rabbit is ill. So there is no point in giving it once a year because it doesn't really do anything when there is no gas.

Some good reads on what to do if you suspect GI Statis:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2341404_care-rabbit-gi-stasis.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html