8 year old wants a house rabbit

crown · Mar 16, 2003

Took the family out to TSC the other night I needed to pick-up a few things. My 8 year old daughter feel in love the display of rabbits. Any rabbit owners out there? How are they to care for? Can an 8 year old do it on her own I would like this be an opprotunity to teach her responsiblilty. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 16, 2003

If you've ever had a hampster or gerbil in the house and the cage went uncleaned for four or five days, mulitply that smell by ten if it's not cleaned every two days with a rabbit. Especially one that is well fed which it will probably be if it's a pet in the house. They are not hard to take care of and can be great pets. Dwarfs are better for the size and handling, but tend to be a little more unpredictable.

As long as she handles it very gently and respects it's wishes to not be handled when it's had enough and is willing to clean the cage at least every two days, she should do fine. It's a great starter pet, I think. I wouldn't mind one in the house.

gws · Mar 17, 2003

Rabbits are great way to teach a child about taking care of animals, but the only time a rabbit should be in the house is when there word "stew" is also used in the conversation.. Get yourself an outside rabbit cage and keep the rabbit outside where it belongs.

Boondox · Mar 17, 2003

A rabbit is a great first pet. Put the cage in her room as the smell of a dirty cage will prompt her to keep it clean. Go with the mini breeds. If purchased young and raised right, they cuddle rather well. If purchased as an adult get one that doesn't mind being handled, and regardless when it has had enough of being handled respect its wishes and put it back in the cage!

Lastly, avoid the trap of selecting the "cutest" bunny and instead pick one with a great personality.

Pete

Bird · Mar 17, 2003

If you're going to get one for a pet, be sure she's taught how to properly pick one up; never by the ears. I raised rabbits for awhile, but had a larger breed (New Zealand Whites) for meat. There was some, but not a lot of market for meat animals, but in the 6 weeks before Easter, the local feed stores would buy all the rabbits I had. I suspect that many of them met an untimely death. As a teenager, one of my brothers raised rabbits, sold lots of the just before Easter to individuals and got most of them back (free) within a month.

A rabbit can be a good starter pet, I suppose, to teach a kid to care for one, but my personal advice would be DON'T do it.

boustany · Mar 17, 2003

They make ok pets, but as to whether or not a rabbit is suitable for a particular kid depends on the kid.
To start with, they don't bite (I least I've never been bit by one, even a wild one) and the worst they'll do is leave a stain if they get frightened. They can literally be scared to death, I've read, to if they are likely to be subeject to a lot of noise you could have a tragedy in the making.
Unfortunately, my very responsible 10 year old talked my very gullible wife into getting him 2 rabbits. Now we have 10.

Bird · Mar 17, 2003

( they don't bite (I least I've never been bit by one, even a wild one )

Like a lot of things, that's usually true, but there are always exceptions. When I was raising rabbits, I had one doe that would attack anytime you put your hand in the cage when she had a litter of young ones. I would have eaten her if she hadn't been such a good breeder and mother, so I just put on my leather gloves when I had to work with her. The other does would do nothing to defend themselves or their babies.

valkman · Mar 17, 2003

We have a dwarf rabbit, and at first I was skeptical of another pet in the house. But -- he is a character, full of energy, personality - he makes everyone laugh with his antics. He is litter trained and has the run of the family room - (almost no accidents) Go ahead and get one.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 17, 2003

I had a house rabbit for a while -- the Easter Bunny we called him (original, huh?). He was born wild, guys from the Game & Fish agency found him after the mother died. He had it rough when he was little so we babied him a lot. He used a litter box inside just like a cat -- never any trouble except one time when I was away from the weekend. Little Easter Bunny got bored or hungry and chewed the erasers off every pencil he could find, and chewed through all my computer cables. Luckily for him, he didn't make to electricity-carrying wires.

From then on, he was an outdoor bunny. Which is what I suggest -- as a kid, I kept his cage right outside my bedroom window -- I could open the window, unlatch the cage and bring him back in the house for playing without Mama ever being the wiser. But he slept outside in his cage, safely away from my computer.

AuCivil · Mar 26, 2003

STOP!!!!!!! Trix are for kids - Rabbits are for the woods. We started with one rabbit, male, which my 12 year old won at a fair (should be prohibited). After the usual promises of "Yes I'll keep the cage clean and not starve the rabbit" his mother (Avid Animal Lover) and I agreed to allow the rabbit in the house. On one of my wifes many trips to the pet store she spotted another "Troubled" rabbit which the salesman, obviously knowing how to play my wife, said he was hoping someone with a large snake needed some feed so he could get rid of this rabbit. Needless to say, now we have two rabbits with the "Troubled" rabbit, female, being somewhat anti-social and mean.

Rabbits can make good pets, but you'll need to get them fixed - around here about $100.00 each. The "fixing" will help the aggressiveness and marking of territory. Also will help with the biting, rabbits will bite and chew. The rabbits have chewed holes in most of my childs clothes and sheets. Without regular cleaning the cage can make the house smell like a barnyard.

I'm so glad we have house rabbits /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif "NOT" However, they are cute and my wife, 12 year old and 6 year old love them.