I also have two bunny tips for anyone interested:
1. Chamomile tea (diluted half strength for a 4 lb bunny, cooled and unsweetened) can be used to calm down a bunny who is overly nervous. Every bunny is different, but it may be worth a try especially if you have to travel with your bunny and you know they're stressed by it.
**If they don't seem to care for the taste, you can combine it with some unsweetened and cooled peppermint tea. You can also use just the peppermint tea to trick a sick bun into drinking water.
MAKE SURE ANY TEA YOU GIVE YOUR BUNNIES IS AN HERBAL TEA THAT IS CAFFEINE FREE. In our case, Simon gets frightened of rain storms that cause howling wind to the point that he'll give himself a minor bout of GI stasis from not eating during the storm. I put the tea in his water bottle that evening and made sure to give him plenty of hay and a scoop of oats to make him thirsty before the storm hit. He was fine the next day. Just don't leave the tea in the water bottle too long--overnight is the longest I'd go and make sure to thoroughly wash it out with soap and water afterwards.
2. Use safety pins to hold a piece of cloth to the lower bars of the cage if you have a bunny that enjoys digging in their litter box and kicking litter all over your floor. This saves having to vacuum in front of their cages every few days.
5 comments:
I have a bunny that never drinks water (she's a dwarf, and finds the wet leafy greens sufficient water). I always wonder how I'd give her water/mint tea when she would need it?
Is it possible that the bunny doesn't know how to work whatever type of water dispenser you used? If that's the case, you may try offering water in a dish/bowl that can't be tipped over or you could try making the water come out of a ball type/valve type water bottle while the bunny is watching and leave a drop on the end of the dispenser. They catch on pretty quickly after that.
It could be that your bunny simply isn't thirsty because she's getting all of the water that she needs from the greens you feed her. You could try to cut back on the greens a bit or make sure you pat them dry of excess water before giving them to her to induce her to drink actual water. Sorry I can't be of more help.
I'd also recommended using a regular bowl.
Btw, thanks for the bunny tips! ~Sylvia.
You're welcome Sylvia! One can never have too much random info. :)
I actually do offer it in a bowl (which is what she is used to from her shelter). I was simply told not to worry since she's a dwarf, and gets all her water from greens. :)
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