What You Should Know Before You Start Raising Rabbits, Tips For Success.

What follows is a brief guide for what you should know before you start raising rabbits. Rabbits come in many varieties, but first and foremost the split is between wild and domesticated bunnies. If you come across a wild baby rabbit, perhaps in your garden, do not give in to the little voice inside your head that's telling you to "rescue" it. Leaving it alone will give it the best chance of survival, as it most likely has a nest nearby with plenty of sibling kits and a loving mother.

So if you have set your heart of having a fluffy friend, how do you go about housing him or her? You can house bunnies a variety of ways, and we will focus here solely on indoor rabbits. Outdoor rabbit variants are available.

One of the best options is to let your bunny roam free. This arguably gives them the best environment to live in, you can set up a bunny proofed room (see below), and place litter trays and food dishes in separate areas of the room, along with easily replaceable cardboard houses if they fancy a little hideaway from time to time.

If you do prefer the idea of keeping your bunny in a cage, go for the largest one you can fit in your house and make sure that you rabbit has plenty of time outside of the cage every day - most of the day if possible. They need room inside they cage to lie down and move about, along with plenty of accommodation for water, food and litter provision, as well as lots of toys. However you house your bunny, remember that they are social creatures and need attention and interaction so don't shut them away in a location that could make them feel abandoned or lonely.

So on to your home in general. Unquestionably it's worth bunny proofing! Rabbits are naturally pretty destructive, so you need to prepare to protect things like TV and hi-fi centre wiring, lamp and computer power cords to limit the damage done to potentially both your rabbit and your equipment.

To prevent that worst case scenario - bunny electrocution, ensure all those wires are covered with hard plastic covers, try flexible tubing, or locate them all underneath carpets or behind skirting. Rabbits love to squeeze into tight spaces, so block them off, and amazingly some bunnies can leap to heights of 36 inches or so, so move easily damaged objects up to high shelves. Make sure your bunny has a lot of toys to chew on too.

Check which houseplants you have around the home, as many are toxic to rabbits. Especially poisonous are things like tulips, tomato plant leaves, holly and poinsettias, but ensure you check all your varieties and move harmful ones out of bunny zones.

In terms of what you should actually be feeding your rabbit, a mixture of fresh clean hay, fresh pellets - go for high fiber and low protein varieties, and lots of fresh vegetables like romaine lettuce, carrot tops, broccoli leaves and water cress. You can definitely introduce the occasional piece of fruit as a treat, maybe strawberry pieces or apple chunks.

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