 Welcome back to The Tiny Herd. In today's video we're going to be going over the basics of rabbit care including everything you need and basic things you need to know to keep pet rabbits. I will be mentioning a lot of products in this video. I will link everything below in case you want to find any of these items for yourself. So first up we're going to talk about cages. When it comes to cages for rabbits the main thing you want to remember is that rabbits need a lot of space. They are large animals and can have a lot of energy. So regardless of what type of cage you choose you likely will have to give your pets time outside of their cage to get enough exercise. Pet store cages are not big enough for rabbits in most cases. Most of them are not even big enough for rabbits to turn around in comfortably and there are a lot of much better options for housing your rabbits so I do not recommend just going into a pet store to get a cage for your rabbit. So here are some options on good cages so you can use an extra large dog crate. They can work well as they are large and they are easy to clean. They are really good for setting up a home base area for your rabbits. You can also get an x-pen meant for dogs. So this is basically a large playpen that can be used to create an enclosure for your rabbit. It kind of just blocks off a separate area that you can use as your rabbit's little home base area to give it its own space. Just make sure they're at least three feet tall because rabbits can jump over anything lower than that. You can also build a CNC cage for your rabbit. CNC stands for cubes and coroplast. I personally would not use coroplast with rabbits because they tend to chew on everything but using the storage grids to make a cage works pretty well. You can make a base for a CNC cage for rabbits out of wood. I made mine out of melamine when I had a CNC cage when I first got my rabbits and it worked really well. Just make sure that you put something on the floor that will keep your rabbit from slipping all over the place because it is a pretty smooth surface. You can also choose to free roam your rabbits. This is my personal favorite option and what I do with my own rabbits. My rabbits are allowed to roam the entire first floor of our house with their home base in my pet room. We do have a baby gate on our pet room in case we need to keep them out of the rest of the house for some reason but in general they're allowed out 24-7. Free roaming allows your rabbit the space it needs to explore and exercise. Just make sure to bunny proof your house if you go this route. Cords and shoes are bunny favorites for chewing. I've even had my work backpack chewed up by Andy. Another important item you'll need for your pet rabbits is a litter box. Rabbits can be litter trained which is great since they need time outside their cage to explore. Cat litter boxes work well for rabbits as well as low storage bins. You want to put your litter box under your rabbit's hay rack to catch the excess hay and because rabbits mainly go to the bathroom while eating their hay so this cuts down on mess. I have a hay rack litter box combination that I found on Etsy and it's really great because the plastic tray comes out for easy cleaning and it keeps the hay contained in the wooden hay rack area. I will link it down below in case you're interested. It was a little expensive but I've had it for two or three years now and it's been really great. Whatever litter box you choose make sure it's large enough for your rabbits. Small pet litter trays from the pet store are usually way too small for rabbits to use comfortably and if you have two rabbits you want to make sure that they both will fit in it at the same time so that they're not pushing each other or arguing to both get in the litter box or to get to the hay. For litter in your litter box you can use a variety of different options. You can use paper-based bedding like Carefresh or Small Pet Select which is what we use. You also can use wood stove pellets or horse doll pellets. These work well for keeping the smell down. I tried these for a little while and my rabbits really just didn't like the texture of them and didn't really like going into their litter box as much so we switched to the Small Pet Select paper bedding. Cat litter can also be used just make sure it's paper-based and unscented only. No clay-based bedding. I also like to put a puppy pad down in my litter box before the bedding to make cleanup a little easier and so that it soaks up the pee. Next up you'll need a hayrack. Rabbits need access to hay 24-7 so a nice hayrack that is easy to access is a must. There are tons of options to choose from for this. Along with my litter box hayrack combo I also have made my rabbits a hayrack out of CNC grids that works really well. I have also seen people use wooden hay boxes, metal hay racks, and other types of wooden hay feeders. Again putting your rabbits litter box under the hayrack will encourage them to eat more hay while in the litter box. Along with the hayrack you want to provide the best quality hay you can find for your pets. Timothy hay is the most common choice for rabbits as it's easily found and it's healthy for them. I feed my rabbits bluegrass which is very similar. Just make sure the hay you choose is nice and green, leafy, and not too dusty. Next up we're going to touch on a couple different things having to do with your rabbit's diet other than hay. So for your rabbits water bowl you want a large heavy bowl or dish that your rabbit can't tip over. Bowls are the more natural option for rabbits and are usually recommended to help ensure they're drinking enough water. Rabbits can drink as much water as a 20 pound dog so you want to make sure they can have easy access to water at all times to make sure they're drinking enough. I personally use a gravity feeding dog water bowl. It holds about a gallon of water I think and fills up the bowl as the rabbit's drink and it works really well because it keeps their water clean and they're not able to tip it over and it's also really easy to clean itself. Next up let's talk about fresh vegetables. So they are an important part of a rabbit's diet. You'll want to provide vegetables to your rabbits every single day to keep them healthy. I usually feed green leaf lettuce, cilantro, bok choy and a little bit of kale to my rabbits every day and then add in a couple other things for a variety every so often. I'm going to link the house rabbit society website below that has a list of safe and healthy veggie options for your rabbits. Pellets should be the smallest part of your rabbit's diet if you choose to feed them. Some rabbit owners don't feed them at all. I feed my rabbits Sherwood Timothy adult rabbit food because it's considered one of the healthiest options for pet rabbits and it's pretty easy to find. You can really use whatever pellet dish you want for your rabbits. Just be aware that some rabbits will flip them over or throw them if they are light and easy to get a hold of. You might want to use a heavy dish similar to the water dish if you don't want your rabbits to throw their pellets everywhere. As for how much you should feed the general rule is a fourth of a cup max for a five to seven pound rabbit. There will be a link in the description box to the house rabbit society's information on feeding pellets as well if you want to learn more about that. In your rabbit's cage or home base area you'll want to provide them with a place to hide. This can be as simple as a cardboard box with a door cutout. You can find a ton of different options for rabbit houses online for different sized rabbits especially on Etsy. There are a lot of really cute wooden rabbit houses that you can find for a variety of different price points. Rabbits are very curious animals and they love to play so you'll want to get your rabbit some toys that will keep it from getting bored. Rabbits love to chew, shred, and throw things. So getting toys that work with these natural instincts is really great. My rabbit's personal favorite toys are a packing paper that they can shred, a cardboard, and anything made of willow. They also have a puzzle house that was made for hamsters that we stack up that they love knocking down and throwing the pieces around. You'll quickly learn what your rabbit's favorite activities are and which toys are their favorites. Spending time with your rabbits is also just a great way to give them some enrichment and interaction. Try letting your rabbit out for some free roam time and then sit in there with them. It's a great way to bond with your rabbit and give them something to do. Usually they enjoy coming up and sniffing you poking you with their nose and generally just kind of seeing what you're doing and why you're there. Finally the last thing you will need is some grooming supplies for your rabbits. The main grooming that needs done for rabbits is brushing and nail clipping. Rabbits shed three to four times a year and during the shedding period it's important to help your rabbit with its grooming by brushing it regularly. Rabbits clean themselves like cats so brushing them during shed helps remove some of the fur that they would otherwise be licking off. Rabbits cannot cough hairballs like cats can so you want to keep as much of that extra fur out of their system as you possibly can. Rabbits nails grow constantly so they will need clipped every few months. You can do this yourself or if you're not really comfortable doing that you can take your pet to the vet and have them do it for you. If you choose to do it yourself you'll need a good pair of pet nail clippers to get this job done. I will link some of my favorite grooming products down below in case you need some ideas on the things that you need. I hope this video was helpful and you learned something new about taking care of pet rabbits or it helped you get ready if you are going to be getting some pet rabbits soon. Hit that like button if you enjoyed this video and make sure to subscribe if you haven't already. I upload new pet related videos every Friday. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in my next video. Bye!