Hi all. I work in construction. This afternoon I was walking and I spotted this bunny grazing underneath the superintendent’s office trailer at a job site. (It’s a middle school.) I immediately recognized it wasn’t wild. It was semi-friendly and unafraid of me. It took me three tries, but I finally caught it with minor scratches. It wouldn’t drink water for me, but it’s terrified.
Everyone there couldn’t believe I caught it. I guess there’s actually two bunnies there, the other is grey. I couldn’t find that one. They said this one was the skittish one, and they both almost got squished by machinery a few times. They said the bunnies are inseparable. I looked high and low, but the grey one was nowhere to be found. The guys on site have my number for when they see it again.
I drove an hour home with this bunbun chilling in my backseat. I couldn’t even find a box. But it’s so chill! It just snuggled against my jackets the whole ride.
I got home and I grabbed my dog crate in storage. Set it up and put a blanket down. That’s where I’m at right now. Where do I go from here?
I’m a huge animal lover. I’m super knowledgeable about dogs and fish. I’m assuming the typical bunny cage thing isn’t going to be sufficient as most beginner cages for pets aren’t. However, I don’t know the first thing about bunnies.
I don’t know if I’m keeping it yet. I don’t know if my dogs will be fine with it, I don’t know if we have the room, I don’t know if my boyfriend is going to be happy about it.
On hand, I have red and green peppers, tomato, frozen carrots, and frozen green beans. Should I offer the bunny some of these? How do I get it to drink? Will a water bowl suffice? I know the poor thing likely needs a vet, but that might have to wait until tomorrow or the weekend.
Do I have to be worried about temperature? Or noise? How fragile are bunnies? Am I going to give it a heart attack? So far the dogs are curious, but leaving it alone. It is a bit dirty. Not sure if I should try to bathe it.
by Locknessia
29 Comments
Feed alfalfa hay and a big bowl of water. For vegetables, feed only leafy greens such as lettuce, parsley, spinach. Do not feed non-leafy greens. Honestly this rabbit looks very young, so be very sparing feeding vegetables, no more than a half a cup. Alfalfa hay is essential and your first priority, rabbits can get very sick if they go more than 8 hours without food!
The crate is a great place to keep this little one for now (if you plan on keeping them long-term you’ll need a larger space). This can also be its travel crate on the way to the vet if you’re not comfortable transferring them between the crate and a smaller carrier.
Start reaching out to rescue shelters so you can surrender this kiddo and they can get veterinary care and start looking for a forever home! CONGRATS on a successful rescue, you’ve saved this kid’s life 🙂
Well she needs a seat belt! It’s the law!
Should get some hay..buns need lots of hay
Such a beautiful baby, thank you for saving him 🙏 he needs a hiding spot, plenty of hay and water! As soon as he calms down a bit a vet visit is necessary!
Really hope that you can save his buddy as well… he must be terrified, especially now that his friend is gone..
First steps:
The dog crate is a great start on an enclosure. If you keep the bunny, you’ll want something a bit larger like an x-pen that gives them more room to hop around, but the crate you have is perfectly fine for now. Bun bun will be comfortable and safe.
They’ll need water. A bowl is best, the drip bottles are unnatural, they do best with a bowl. Bunny is probably super scared but leave water out and they’ll drink.
Bunnies NEED hay. It’s 80% of their diet. Timothy hay is the most common, orchard grass is also an excellent choice. You can get hay at any pet supply store, it’ll be overpriced, but it’s easily available immediately. I buy my hay by the bale from a local farmer – that’s the best bang for your buck and the freshest hay you’ll find. It’s often the best long term option if you keep bun bun. But, if it’s a baby, alfalfa hay is what you’ll want.
Bunnies should also have dark leafy greens (not the pale ones like iceberg or cabbage).
Other veggies are treats that should be given in very small amounts – just a few bites worth a day; fruit is an even treatier treat that needs to be in even smaller amounts. Carrots are obviously a vegetable, but should be treated more like a fruit because of their high sugar content. (Carrot greens though count as dark leafy greens.). Green beans can be iffy for them. Of the things you have on hand, the bell peppers are your best option.
If you have any dandelions and/or dead nettle growing in your yard and you don’t use chemicals, those are fantastic leafy greens bun bun can make a meal out of. Any other plants or weeds, you can share what you’ve got growing and we can help you find some bunny safe options. Lots of weeds are actually super healthy foods.
Temperature: bunnies don’t do great with extremes. If it’s hot, a frozen water bottle to snuggle up to can help a lot as can fans. If bun bun is shaking, they might be too hot.
Put a box or something inside the crate that bun bun can hide in. When scared (and often just in general) rabbits like to hunker down in small dark cave like places, so if you give bun bun something to hide in, they can retreat to that extra safe place if they want to.
Bath: NO! Rabbits should not be bathed. They don’t dry well, so they can get sick and infections from being left damp. And they generally hate water and it can be terrifying for them. So, no baths. They do a great job of cleaning themselves. You can help by wiping them off with a dry or barely damp cloth if really needed, but give bun bun a few days and they’ll likely be good and clean all on their own. If they’ll let you, a wipe down with a dry cloth can wipe away the dust, but only do that at this point if bun bun *wants* the contact it requires.
They are easily scared, but just watch their body language and let them run and hide if they want, let them approach you, handle them gently, and keep a very close eye on any interactions with the dogs and make sure bun bun feels safe with the dogs around and you’ll be fine.
Wouldn’t bathe it. Just setup the hay and water and leave it alone for awhile to chill out.
If you have plain dry oats on hand, they make for a nice treat and might help coax the bun. It’s junk food though. Pick up some hay, but give the bunny those peppers and tomatoes. Rabbits aren’t like dogs and cats. If they go a day without food, they’re in trouble. Leafy greens like lettuce are good. As well as herbs like cilantro. The general rule of thumb is that if a veggie makes you gassy, don’t give it to a rabbit. Just google everything before you give it to them to make sure it’s okay. Nowadays the info online is more trustworthy imo. Lots of sites will tell you that rabbits can only eat certain fruits and veggies sparingly, but this is probably okay to ignore as you’re figuring things out. This rabbit looks like it’s a healthy weight, but if it gets too much sugar in the next few weeks, I think it’ll be fine. Don’t get the rabbit too wet. If I notice some grossness on my bunny, I’ll just get a dish towel and get it damp with warm water. Then just gently scrub the area. Usually this annoys my bunny and he’ll clean that area. It’s less of a bath and more of a gentle nudge plus some extra saliva. A bowl of water that’s low enough for the bun to drink is good. Rabbits get a lot of their water from veggies though, so don’t freak out if the water consumption seems low.
Rabbits usually like to be clean. The young ones sometimes do have trouble catching on, but if you get a simple cat litter box and put a paper based litter (e.g plain uncolored Carefresh) in there, bun bun will probably use it and help with clean up. Putting a little pile of hay on one side also encourages them because fiber in, fiber out.
Pet store shopping list:
*hay
*high fiber pellet (don’t go for the ones with bits like flowers, just plain hay based is best)
*litterbox (just a cheap rectangular cat one is good, or a shallow rubbermaid tub will work)
*Paper based litter
Grocery store shopping list:
*lettuce (romaine, green leaf, or red leaf lettuce are all good choices)
*parsley
*oatmeal (plain steel cut oats. Cheap and relatively healthy treat)
Please, please, please try to keep your dogs at a safe distance from this baby. You are a saint for rescuing this bun but your breed of dog is especially prey driven. Better to be safe than sorry.
Oh good for you for rescuing this darling!!!
Careful about lettuce (sorry if this is confusing as so many people here suggest it) I just returned from the vet yesterday for my bun’s first check up and he warned against lettuce of any kind because of the risk of diarrhea. He suggested: cilantro, parsley, beet greens (tops of beets), carrot greens, dandelions, grass, hay (our bun is 4.5 months and he said Timothy bay is best).
Also, being prey animals means bunnies can trigger the attack/kill instinct in predator animals (dogs and cats). It’s like they can’t help it so watch closely and perhaps don’t leave them alone together while your bun is out of the cage.
Have fun with it, it’s lucky to have you!
please keep her and take care of her. bunnys are the best pets and best companions
Thank you for saving this baby 🤍
Others have given great advice here so I just want to say that I hope you find the other one. Rabbits are social animals and they thrive much more with another bun by their side. Although, you must fix them first before keeping them in the same space.
You are an awesome human and a friend to the buns. There’s great advice in this thread and in this sub. Something I haven’t seen mentioned is get a litter box. My bougie-ass rabbits get a layer of pine pellets and then soft paper bedding on top (Carefresh). You can put hay in the litter box too because rabbits like to eat and poop at the same time.
A few other people mentioned a hidey hole, and that’s a great idea. Don’t be surprised if he crawls in and doesn’t come out for a couple days. I promise you he is profoundly grateful 🥹
One other thing worth mentioning: to answer your question rabbits can be unfortunately very fragile. They have to eat hay constantly or their digestive systems shut down (GI stasis is the term), hence all the people telling you to get hay.
Once again, you rock!
If you decide to keep that beautiful baby bun I’d like to donate to help you with their care.
The sad truth is Rabbit shelters are *always* full and if this one lucked it’s way upon a good home I think you deserve to be rewarded for it
Thank you, thank you!
I really hope someone calls you about the second bunny soon, if they’re a bonded pair (which I’m almost positive they are) they can be prone to stressing easy without one another and could die as a result. rabbits are really fragile! but they’re so, so lovely and cute as pets if you can give them a good home. thank you for rescuing this one, I saw other commenters already left you good advice about daily life/needs
Awe thank you for saving the bunny but please save the other one too! 😢
In case you haven’t already, you should see if there’s a House Rabbit Society chapter in your area. Admittedly, YMMV depending on the individuals but generally, they’re at least a resource if you do need to rehome this rabbit.
I would wait until getting an estimate from the vet how old the rabbit is before providing alfalfa. Alfalfa is provided to baby bunnies until they reach 6 mos., then you transition to Timothy Hay. First or second cut hay.
we got a dumped REW back in april (: you can check out my post history(and my rescue’s socials, @allpearlsanimalrescue) to see more about her story and journey.
ive had another rabbit since april of 2016 so i was pretty prepared to take her in and care for her. she needed special medical care for several weeks, just recently finished 5 weeks of daily penicillin shots as well, and needed a slightly specialized diet.
everyone who meets her is shocked that she was neglected so badly & abandoned because she is so beautiful and sweet… but when she’s in a hormonal swing and beating the sh!& out of you, it makes a little more sense 🥲 the next step in her journey is getting spayed!
If you are not going to keep it then search for a rabbit rescue
Feed the bunny Timothy hay and give the poor little thumper a big bowl of water and a quiet room to stay in.
Keep it and love it
A rabbits main source of food is hay! You can find good brands like OXBOW on chewy and local pet stores. DO NOT get a gerbal water bottle, use a dog bowl! It’s best to leave ample of water in the cage it’ll drink when it feels the need to. Get a large litter box and fill it with hay! Bunnies use the bathroom as they eat and it’ll recognize to only go in the box! Things like carrots, and tomatoes are high in sugar and are treats that should be given minimally, too much can cause GI Stasis. 
Congratulations on the new addition to your family.
Looks just like my albino angora after she’s trimmed. Another thing to keep in mind is healthy buns poop frequently. If they stop for too long it can be a sign of gi stasis which can be fatal if not caught early. Extra fluids and hay are usually enough if caught early. You mentioned they were with another bun, they could be bonded and it would be good to get them back together.
I hope the grey one can be saved too ❤️
Everyone here does not understand what this thing is and that you need a holy hand grenade before it kills you and all bunnies you love stat!
There’s a very specific way to hold bunnies too, so just keep in mind that they don’t like to be picked up. If their back legs aren’t supported when you pick them up, one good kick can snap their own spines.
Lennon the Bunny on YouTube was a great resource for me when I got my bunnies. I think she has a playlist for rabbit care. There’s a lot of niche things you have to know when owning a rabbit, so her channel would probably be a good place to start.