Buying a little furry rabbit fills many families with joy. In fact, the choosing might be the hard part since there are more than 40 rabbit breeds to take your pick from. There are also many different coloured rabbits, so it is interesting to see which ones appeal to your family the most. Understanding all aspects of rabbit care is important as these are animals that can grow very large in size.
Many breeders give different answers regarding the preferred gender for a pet rabbit. This is compounded by the individual temperament of the rabbit. A good example of this is with a doe, as she will become much more territorial as she gets older if she hasn’t been spayed when younger. She may nip at you when reaching for her or even her food or water dishes. Providing the same person feeds the rabbit regularly, the aggression felt by the doe should subside. This sort of trait will vary between rabbits, but in some cases the doe can get very aggressive towards its owner and everyone that comes near it, so be wary. If you still favour the idea of having a doe, but want her purely as a pet, the best thing to do is to get her spayed. So many people make the mistake of not doing this, but if you are thinking of a long-term rabbit care plan, spaying should be top of your list.
Something else worth thinking about when working out your rabbit care plans is the grooming side of things. The wool breeds such as angoras and jersey woollies require extra work in grooming. The wool rabbit breeds will need quite a bit of time spent on them to ensure their grooming is properly done.
I would not recommend buying a rabbit without first seeing it, nor would I recommend purchasing a rabbit from a pet store. Once you know which breed of rabbit you would like to buy, do an online search for a breeder in your local area. Next, head over to visit the breeder and the rabbits they have. Have a look around the rabbit area and note down what the conditions are like. Ask if you can hold a rabbit. This is the point where you can check the rabbit’s reaction to seeing their hutch door being opened. Rabbits that love attention will immediately come to the door, some will even make happy grunting type noises. In some cases though, rather timid rabbits will move backwards as though they don’t want picking up. Look out for these signs as they could indicate that the rabbit won’t make a good pet.
Searching for a rabbit should be fun, but you should also make sure you think about all the important details that rabbit care involves. There are many sizes, colours and choices and finding the right one for you can be time consuming but will be very rewarding in the end.
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