Rabbits make great pets thanks to their friendly and inquisitive nature.Rabbits enjoy being petted, stroked and cuddled, even by children.Rabbit care is essential and as with any other pet, a responsible owner will do all in his or her power to ensure their rabbit is healthy.A rabbit is generally an easy pet to care for, but before you adopt one you need to bear several things in mind.

A rabbit needs several basics which you must provide. These are a hutch, bedding, food and space to run around.Dont worry about the style of the hutch – your rabbit doesn’t need a designer home! Just enough space to run around and stand on its back legs.Ideally, your hutch should offer enough space for the rabbit to make at least four jumps in any direction.Just like us, a rabbit likes to have a distinct area for certain activities, so make sure you allocate a space for sleep, a space for the toilet and a space in which to play.You will need a larger hutch if you have two or more rabbits.To ensure the rabbit is warm at night you must invest in a good quality bedding. Line the hutch with newspaper and cover with dust free chippings and straw. All the bedding should be changed regularly (a great job for the kid’s pocket money!).Think carefully about where you position your hutch. Do not allow it to stand in direct sunlight for long periods of time and make sure it is in a well ventilated spot.Night time predators will scare a rabbit easily, so you should cover the hutch with a breathable fabric at night.If your budget will allow you should buy a rabbit run. This provides a protected area in which the rabbit can run around and play.

Rabbits have a simple but quite nutritionally specific diet. They need two types of fibre – digestible and indigestible.This is because it goes through their digestive system twice.Your rabbit does not need a high level of articicial sugar in its diet, so make sure you don’t feed it mass market rabbit museli.The best type of rabbit food is usually available from a specialist retailer and will have been extensively tested and formulated.These specialist products are affordable and generally available from a specialist pet centre, vet or online specialist retail outlet.Your rabbit will love you if you also feed it treats like banana, apple and celery.

Following a few simple guidelines and understanding how to care for a rabbit before you actually adopt one will ensure you are a well prepared and competent owner.

New! We've just starting a message board and discussion forum over on the Toxic Byte Pets Forum. It's a bit lonely over there at the moment, but feel free to join in and participate!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 7:51 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.