Rabbit
Small Mammals
The gentle, litter-trainable companion that loves to binky!
Mike looks after his sister’s rabbit, Otis, for weeks at a time.
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🤓 Did you know? Rabbits can jump up to 4 feet high and run up to 25 mph. They're surprisingly athletic!
🗓️ The first week
The numbers a new owner needs in the first week, each taken from the article that explains it.
- Space
- 8 square feet of enclosure plus 24 square feet of exercise space. In practice a foldable metal exercise pen, 4 feet by 4 feet or bigger.Setup guide →
- Time out
- At least 5 hours a day to run, and permanent access to a run or a rabbit-proofed room is what the welfare research points at.Setup guide →
- Floor
- No wire flooring. Vinyl or linoleum over plywood, washable rugs, or fleece.Setup guide →
- Hay
- Unlimited grass hay, 80 to 85% of the diet. Alfalfa is for babies, juveniles, and nursing does, not healthy adults.Feeding guide →
- Pellets and greens
- Roughly 1/8 to 1/4 cup of high-fiber timothy pellets per 5 to 6 lbs of body weight daily, and chopped vegetables scaled to body weight with at least 3 varieties of leafy greens.Feeding guide →
- Litter
- A large cat-litter-box style box with paper-based or wood-pellet litter and hay in or over it. Never clumping litter, pine, or cedar.Setup guide →
- Company
- A neutered, opposite-sex pair close in age. Solitary rabbits showed less behavior of every kind.Enrichment guide →
- Vet
- A rabbit-savvy exotic vet, found before you need one. Twice-yearly wellness exams, and ask about the RHDV2 vaccine.Health guide →
- Spay or neuter
- $150 to $500 or more, budgeted separately. Adoption fees often include it.Cost guide →
- Budget
- $150 to $600 to set up, $60 to $100 a month, and a $500 to $1,000 emergency fund.Cost guide →
- Lifespan
- 8 to 12 years indoors, some to 14 or beyond. Outdoor rabbits average about 3 to 5.Setup guide →
- Heat
- Comfortable at 61 to 72°F. Risk climbs once the room passes about 80°F. Indoors, a draft or damp bedding causes more trouble than a cool room.Heat and cold guide →
- Nails
- A trim roughly every 6 to 8 weeks, with styptic powder within reach before you start, one or two nails per sitting for a rabbit that fights it.Grooming guide →
- Molting
- A rabbit cannot vomit swallowed fur, so a heavy molt is a GI risk: brush through it and keep the hay in front of them.Grooming guide →
- Vet trips
- A sturdy hard-sided carrier the rabbit cannot chew through, secured in the car, with the cage mate along and food in front of them.Vet trips guide →
🚨 Emergency card
Call the vet now if you see any of these.
- No food or droppings for 8 hours. Twelve is already an emergency.
- A bloated or tense abdomen
- Hunched posture, or teeth grinding at a harsh, audible pitch
- Visible fly eggs or maggots in fur
- Open-mouth breathing or persistent discharge
- Sudden lethargy or hiding
Rabbits need a rabbit-savvy exotic vet, not a standard small-animal clinic. Find one before you need one.
📰 Where to go next
How Much Does a Rabbit Really Cost?
What the pen, the spay, and the first year really cost, and why the emergency fund is not optional.
Rabbit Housing: Why the Old Pet-Store Cage Isn't Enough
The space standard, why indoors nearly doubles the lifespan, flooring, and litter training in one move.
Rabbit Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating
Hay, pellets, and greens by life stage, the toxic list, and the reasons a rabbit stops eating.
Rabbit GI Stasis: The Silent Emergency Every Owner Should Recognize
The emergency itself: what normal droppings look like, the early signs, and why waiting is dangerous.
Common Rabbit Health Issues and Why You Need the Right Vet
Dental disease, flystrike, uterine cancer, RHDV2, and the list of signs that mean the vet today.
How to Handle a Rabbit Without Hurting It
The two-hand lift, the football hold, why trancing is fear and not calm, and the stress signs.
Rabbit Enrichment: A Companion Beats Everything Else You Could Buy
Why a bonded pair and a permanent run change more than any toy, then the dig box and the rest.
🛒 What to buy
Prices and the reasoning behind each item are in How Much Does a Rabbit Really Cost?.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common rabbit emergency?
GI stasis, where a rabbit's gut slows down or stops entirely, allowing gas to build up. A rabbit that hasn't eaten or passed stool in 8 to 12 hours is an emergency, not a wait-and-see situation, with eight hours the point to call a vet and twelve the point it is already urgent.
How much space does a rabbit need?
8 square feet of enclosure plus 24 square feet of exercise space for one or two rabbits, with at least 5 hours a day to run in it. In practice that means a foldable metal pen, 4x4 feet or bigger.
How should I choose a companion rabbit?
Neutered, opposite sex is the usual recommendation, and the research adds a detail worth knowing: a larger age difference was associated with a lower friendship index, so pairing animals closer in age is the better bet.
📚 Encyclopedia
Rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus
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Rabbit Care Package
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📰 Deep Dive
🐰 How Much Does a Rabbit Really Cost?
🐰 How to Handle a Rabbit Without Hurting It
🐰 Common Rabbit Health Issues and Why You Need the Right Vet
🐰 Rabbit Housing: Why the Old Pet-Store Cage Isn't Enough
🐰 Rabbit Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating
🐰 Rabbit Enrichment: A Companion Beats Everything Else You Could Buy
🩺 Health and More
💊 Antibiotic-Associated Enterotoxemia: The Small Mammal Danger Most Vets Don't Warn You About
🌡️ Heat Stress and Cold in Small Mammals: Temperature Ranges and Emergency Signs
🩺 Getting a Small Mammal to the Vet: Carriers, Car Travel, and Anesthesia
✂️ Grooming, Nails, and Molting in Small Mammals
📏 Rabbit and Budgie: Two Classic Pets, Almost Always Kept Too Small
🤩 Fun Facts
🐰 Purring Bunnies
Rabbits purr when they're happy! Unlike cats, they do it by softly grinding their teeth together. They also do 'binkies' (joyful leaps and twists in the air) when they're feeling playful.
🐰 Rabbits Need Exercise
Rabbits are not low-maintenance pets. They need at least 3 hours of exercise outside their enclosure every day to stay healthy and mentally stimulated.