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March 14, 2006

Want a Bunny? Buy the Chocolate Kind

Brace yourselves, it's time for my annual Don't Buy A Rabbit For Your Kid speech.

Many people buy cute little baby bunnies on Easter, and it's hard to not do so... they are precious. But you've got to know what you're getting into: a healthy bunny can live almost as long as a dog or cat. You'll still have vet bills, you'll still have to clean up after them, and their care and feeding frankly, isn't much cheaper than any other pet. And if you only have one rabbit, you need to socialize it and give it a lot of love and care. And if you don't spend time with your rabbit, then it won't be a good companion to your family. It will likely be terrified of you, and nip and defend itself when bothered. Rabbits aren't dumb - they are, in fact, very smart. They can be house-trained and have very distinct personalities.

I got my first pet rabbit when I was 2 years old - as an Easter present. In fact, I named it Easter Bunny. It was just a little white bunny when I first got it, but it grew and grew until it was so big, I couldn't hold it. Not that I wanted to, it had a tendency to nip and bite and I was terrified of the thing. When my mother would clean its cage, I was responsible for sitting on top of the overturned laundry basket under which Easter Bunny sat. And I would cry and cry, thinking it would bite me, until my mother finished. Easter Bunny lived with us in Switzerland until we moved back to the States. It was given to my kindergarten class back in Zürich and I remember little else. My family didn't dare get another pet until almost 5 years later - this time it was a puppy.

I did not have another pet rabbit until I was done with college. My fiance and I had thought we'd adopt a kitten, but when we went to the shelter, they had rabbits instead. We picked out a mated pair (all our rabbits get fixed, there are more than enough baby rabbits in the world). They had been abused, but they were in a loving foster home and we liked the idea of two rabbits keeping each other company. Matched pairs live longer, happier lives. They take care of each other. Although they showed a bit of aggression from their prior circumstances, we were adults and decided we wanted them. We named them Bit and Nibble and bought all the House Rabbit handbooks we could find. The shelter showed us how to clip their nails and we took them home. We've spoiled them ever since. It's now been many years since either has nipped one of us and they are now almost 12 years old. You can check out some pictures of our various pet rabbits: Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere! and HOW-TO: Photographing Your Pet Indoors.

There was even a time, when they were younger, that they would hop up into bed with us early in the morning. Bit liked to jump over her baby-fence and come into our room and jump onto our sleeping bodies for some petting. But she'd do this at like 4am, and we'd jump up in bed, startled. She'd then get freaked and leap down off the bed, run down the hall, and we'd hear the crashing as she jumped back into her cage in her bedroom. (Yes, our rabbits have their own room). So we had to stop that, since we were afraid somebody was going to end up hurt.

A pet rabbit is a big responsibility, and don't be fooled by the fact that rabbits are quiet. Rabbits are the ultimate quiet sufferer. You need to pay special attention to make sure you don't miss the subtle signals they give you when something is wrong. Over the years, we've taken in other rabbits who needed special care, often stolen from their mothers before they were weaned, because they were the right size to sell for Easter baskets. Others were the leavings after the Easter season, when no one wanted a rabbit anymore, certainly not an adolescent who was tortured in the pet store but never bought, and ended up aggressive.

Rabbits are not good pets for kids. They need a lot of attention and you need to be always gentle with them. They also like quiet. So if your kid wants a rabbit, get a stuffed one, or a chocolate one. Or go to a petting zoo.

Many of the Easter rabbits given as pets end up abandoned. These rabbits are not wild, and they will often die. Those that don't end up feral, causing all sorts of problems in county parks and the like. Several years ago, a band of feral pet rabbits terrorized the gardens of upscale Los Gatos, California. Seattle's Woodland Park has to do an annual rabbit-catch in order to keep the rabbit-related problems in the park from escalating - property damage has been significant and native species are being pushed out.

Find out more about not owning a rabbit at “Make Mine Chocolate!™”, a campaign to educate the public about the responsibilities of owning a rabbit, in hopes that it will result in fewer cases of mistreatment and abandonment. If you're still set on having a real live rabbit, then I highly recommend the House Rabbit Society, a publically supported non-profit organization dedicated to all things rabbity and the best online rabbit website around.

Posted by sorsha at March 14, 2006 2:01 PM