Rabbits hold a special place in our hearts – they’re often the animal of choice for cartoons and soft toys, and are known for their gentle, inquisitive personalities.
But like most animals, there’s always more to learn about our beautiful floppy-eared friends.
Read on to find out five things you might need to know about pet rabbits.
Rabbits need a friend
Rabbits are very social animals, and need to be kept in bonded pairs for their wellbeing.
Contrary to popular belief, housing individual rabbits with Guinea pigs (and vice versa) won’t satisfy their socialising requirements.
It can even cause problems as the two species have different needs and may also injure one another.
Ideally, rabbits will be bonded early in life, and remain with their partner going forward.
However, you can bond adult rabbits – it’s a slow process, and requires a well-managed introduction, but can make a big improvement to your rabbit’s life.
Contrary to popular belief, housing individual rabbits with Guinea pigs (and vice versa) won’t satisfy their socialising requirements.
Rabbits eat their own poo
Rabbits and hares are one of a few animal species that eat their own faeces and re-digest it to get all of the nutrients they need.
As foraging herbivores, rabbits primarily eat grasses and other roughage.
The majority of their diet when they are kept as pets should be made up of a suitable grass hay, such as Timothy, oaten, wheaten or meadow.
This type of feed, rich in cellulose, can be hard to digest, however, so often the full nutritional value of the grass isn’t absorbed the first time around.
For that reason, rabbits will eat part of their poo to reabsorb these nutrients.
They’re clever creatures, and actually produce two different types of droppings – small black round ones and softer black ones which are the ones they will eat.
Their teeth grow constantly
Rabbits’ teeth grow constantly – it’s one of the reasons why it’s so important that they’re able to graze continuously throughout the day, and that they’re also given other materials to chew on.
You can provide your rabbits with blocks of wood, or old telephone books, so they can keep their teeth nice and healthy.
Rabbits love having things to do
As naturally-intelligent, curious and social animals, rabbits that are kept as pets, and therefore aren’t roaming to graze as widely, need plenty to do to keep them entertained.
Some ideas for playing with your rabbit include offering them food in puzzles (ie wrapped in scrunched paper or inside a toilet roll etc) so they can work out how to access their treats, as well as giving them things to dig and forage in.
Some people have great success training their rabbits to play games, or display different actions, and grooming your rabbits is also a great way to spend time with them.
When they get excited or really, really happy they throw a binky … look it up!
You can toilet train them
Rabbits can be trained to use a litter tray, much like a cat, and to spend time inside your home.
Toilet training is best done when your rabbits are young, but can be achieved at any time.
It’s a good idea to ask your vet for advice on how to approach the process, and the best type of litter to use.
It’s important to always provide them with a clean litter tray, to encourage them to keep using it.
And, if you are letting your rabbits indoors, make sure any electrical cords and so on are out of reach so they don’t chew on them.