Buy A Rabbit And A Rabbit Hutch To Keep Your Kids Happy
Kids love pets and there's so many pets to choose from. Big and small, feathered or furry there's so many choices for parents of children who are clamouring for a pet. But in my view one of the best pets or children is a rabbit. Lets see why a rabbit is a great pet and how you go about housing their rabbit in a great rabbit hutch.
Rabbits make wonderful pets for kids. They are very social, fun to be with and love spending time with people. They can be house trained so you don't need to worry about mess, and kids love a rabbit as a pet. A pet rabbit generally lives around 10 years so you need to understand that once you have a pet rabbit you will have one for quite some time.
A rabbit has a relatively simple diet. You can buy bags of rabbit food at the pet shop and they are also happy to eat hay and vegetables. In particular they like to ask green vegetables like broccoli leaves and spinach as well as carrots and some fruits. Rabbits are quite cheap to feed.
If you're thinking of getting a rabbit for a pet for your children there are some things to consider before you rush in and buy your first rabbit. The main consideration is housing the rabbit. You will need a rabbit cage, or what is often known as a rabbit hutch. A rabbit hutch is a simple construction that allows your rabbit to browse outdoors on grass whilst also having shelter from the elements in a part of the hutch.
Most rabbit hutches are made from timber and wire. Rabbits are generally housed outside and most rabbit hutch are portable enough to be moved around. There is a compartment that is protected from the weather so the rabbit can be comfortable and dry while sleeping and there is also an area to allow your rabbit to hop around for exercise and nibble on the grass.
You need to be careful using wire on the floor of your hutch. Rabbits don't like walking on wire and if the hutch is to be lifted off the ground, which can be useful in very cold or damp weather, the wire will need to be covered in some sort of material to protect the rabbit's feet, for example hay.
If you've decided to use wire then it works well allowing the droppings to fall through the wire, making cleaning easier. But again if the hutch is off the ground use a material like slats that allow the rabbit droppings to fall through but which doesn't hurt the rabbits feet.
You can use a solid material like wood or metal. Metal doesn't soak up urine like wood so doesn't smell as wood can do, and so is easier to clean, but neither metal or wood allows the rabbit to eat grass off the ground.
How big should the rabbit hutch be? Generally most hutches sold in pet shops are too small. Suggestions I have seen are that the cage should be 3 or 4 times the size of the rabbit, but I think that is way too small. Bigger is much better, but if you buy a small rabbit hutch you must take your rabbit out daily to exercise.
And build a hutch with a good door as you need to clean the hutch and replace the hay each day.
A rabbit is an excellent pet for kids. Do your research on rabbit breeds, and give yourself plenty of time before you buy one to sort out a solid, effective and well built rabbit hutch.
It's not hard to build your own rabbit hutch, that's part of the fun.
