happy alone?

Question
Hi there I have a mini rex shes a beautiful little bunny about 6 months old now. I was wondering does the rabbit get lonely living by itsself? with no other rabbit sounds or smells around? I do say hello to her, talk to her pet and and cuddle/take her out when i get the chance i do work most of the week every week and am begining to think that she lives a rather boring lonely life. I was not really wanting another rabbit and am asking if theres anything i can do that takes up not too much time to keep her more occupied or happy i just think its a boring lonely life but is it really to a rabbit? I have no idea just looking for advice, she is tiny could i get a guinea pig or chinchilla for company in a much bigger cage? or is that a very bad idea?  Also   how much pelleted food should a mini rex be getting she seems to have put on some added weight...she just looks over weight.  Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi Tara,

I often wonder this myself because although some people claim that they get lonely there is really no way to tell what a rabbit is thinking.  All of our rabbits live by themselves.  They do have other rabbits in cages next to them but they can't groom each other and snuggle like you would see bonded rabbits do.  The best thing to do is to give them toys to play with.  Simple things like blocks of untreated wood can entertain them.   We buy the plastic wiffle type balls for all of our bunnies.  Some of them play with them and others don't touch them.  Some bunnies will be entertained just by having lots of hay.  They like to burrow and if you have a cage that would allow you to give her extra hay she may like to burrow.  We have a few rabbits that insist that they have a perfect little place to hide in the hay.  Every time we clean their cage they spend the whole day putting it back the way they like it.  If you can find a farmer that sells hay by the bale it is a lot cheaper.  Make sure to get 2nd cut because it is less weedy.  Most farmers are responsible enough to make sure the hay is good quality.  

As long as the bunny is getting out to run around and do binkies she should be fine.  If you don't have a bunny proof home I would recommend one of those large paneled dog crates.  They are a bit on the expensive side but it gives them room to run around and act like bunnies while we humans have to work.  When we had a house bunny we attached his to his cage so that he could run around and it gave him about 10 extra feet of running room.  If you don't mind cleaning up the mess you can also give her old phone books.  They love shredding them to pieces.  Cardboard boxes work will also.

I would not get another animal to bond her with unless it was a neutered buck.  Chinchillas and guinea pigs aren't ideal companions for them and it would only take one swift kick from the rabbit and they would be severely injured.  If you can't get a neutered buck and you don't have time to bond them it is really best just to give her as many activities as you can while you are at work and to let her out for a while at night.  

Mini rex are tricky because although the ideal weight is 4 pounds they can carry two non dwarfing genes which makes them bigger.  It is not uncommon to have a 5 pound Mini Rex.  We have one that is 7 pounds and he is not heavy he just inherited some of the genes from the standard Rex where they initiated from.  If they have a big bone structure then they need a bit more feed.  If they have excess skin around the neck and body then they are either eating to much or not getting enough exercise.  It is really hard to describe but basically if she has a nice firm body with out excess skin than she may just be a bigger rabbit.  They can continue growing up to a year old and this may be what you are noticing.  

There are many different opinions on feeding.  The House Rabbit Society recommends a vegetable diet.  One of the vets I work with insists that rabbits be fed only about 1 teaspoon of pellets but have an unlimited hay diet.  The American Rabbit Breeders Association recommends 1 ounce per pound of high quality pellets.  The only 3 that all agree on is that they be given fresh timothy hay.  For a Mini Rex on a pellet diet I would recommend a feed of 15 or 16% protein.  Anything higher and they get chunky and because of their fur structure anything higher seems to put them into a perpetual molt.  Make sure that the pellets are good quality that you get from a feed dealer.  The stuff at places like Walmart is really not that good for them.  If you can find a Purina Dealer I personally like the Purina Fibre 3 Rabbit Chow because it does not have corn in it.  Some of the other feed mills are starting to produce good corn free pellets now that they realize that the corn is really not good for them.  Some of the good feeds are Purina, Heinhold, Pen Pals, Blue Seal. If you choose to keep using the pellet diet I would do the 1 ounce per pound and give her lots of hay.  Keep an eye on her flesh condition and if she starts to get bony over the back then she needs a little more.  If you feel she is truly getting chunky then try cutting back and giving her more hay.  If you are able to get an area for her to run in that should help her lose a bit of the weight.  You can also take a 4x4 and have it cut to fit in the middle of her cage.  If you put the water on one side and the feed on the other she will jump back and forth and that is a great exercise.

I hope that the information helped.  Please feel free to let me know if you have anymore questions or need anymore help.

Good luck to you and your precious bunny.

Pam