rabbit age

Question
I bought a dwarf hotot bunny rabbit on October 1st 08 from a swap meet. I
was told that she was 25 days old. I am keeping what I call a rabbit journal
to document age, weight, and date along with notes. So I took her to my local
produce shop and put her on the scale by the register. She weighed 0.46 if a
pound. Dies that weight match that age? Also she is now 44 days old and
she weighs 0.69 of a pound, is that good? Also, hold her like a lot and take
her everywhere I go, when I put her in her cage she is okay with that for like
2 minutes then goes crazy wanting out. I take her right out and she cskms
right down. And she constantly licks me. I am beginning to think she was too
young to be sold?

Answer
Hi Nicole,

weight isn't nearly as important as long as she is healthy.  She was sold way too early and before she was properly weaned.  What you need to do is make sure she always has enough food to eat.  Food pellets without extra stuff (no nuts, seeds, fruit pieces) in them.  Oxbow Timothy and Oxbow Alfalfa pellets are great.  Give her 1/8 to 1/4 cup of each per day, if she seems to get through that much in a day.  More important is hay.  Timothy hay, or Orchard Grass hay, along with a little alfalfa hay is critical to keeping her healthy.  They are made to eat hay, and they need it to stay healthy.  She should always have hay to eat, and you need to top it off periodically with fresh hay throughout the day.

One thing you can do is instead of locking her in her cage, get an exercise pen gate (usually they are 8 paneled gates) and pen off a small area around her cage.  That way she can stay out, or go up into her house when she wants.  And she will go up, because she has her water crock/bottle there, and her food pellets there.  You may need to put another litterpan out in this area if she decides to mark outside her cage in this little area.

Lee

PS - the constant licking is good, she really likes you and appreciates you taking care of her.  She has bonded to you.  Rabbits don't like being alone at such a young age.