Before you buy a bunny for Easter…

Bunzilla and Bunminster An Easter message from Bunzilla and Bunminster (and me).

1. Do not buy a bunny this Easter because they look cute and fluffy, or because someone lumped bunny and Easter together like puppy and Christmas. You all know what happens when the festive tinsel comes down.

2. Buns are a 8-12-year commitment and attract expensive vet bills as they may need an anaesthetic to figure out what's wrong being prey animals who hide their ills.

3. If you are buying, adopt don't shop. We have no shortage of bunnies and don't need to encourage breeders. Wythall Animal Sanctuary already has a roomful of rabbit rejects so they will be brimming in a few weeks as people wake up to rabbit realities.

4. Two rabbits really are better than one as they groom each other, keep each other warm and bond in pairs. BUT select two that actually like each other; test them out at the rescue centre – or you'll be paying for the aftermath of Bunny Fight Club.

5. Know that bunnies much prefer bananas to carrots – Warner Bros was WRONG. However, these should only be given in small amounts as treats. All they really need to eat to be healthy is…

6. …"grass and hay, or hay and grass" are rabbits main food, said our vet. You can also give them a small daily handful of pellets, such as Burgess Excel or Selective Rabbit Food, to ensure they get all-round nutrients, and some fresh greens (here's a list of suitable fruit/veg for rabbits from the RWAF). Obese bunnies are common due to wrong feeding, too many treats etc. Buns are perfect little lawn mowers. But don't expect any other kind of garden to survive. PS. Don't treat your lawn with weed/feed if you're letting rabbits roam in your garden.

7. Don't keep them hutched. Hutched rabbits get lung problems. They need daily exercise in a run or, even better, a garden area, and access to grass. Make sure your garden is bunnyproofed – they can and will dig their way out under flowerbeds. (But they may come back for bananas if they do escape.)

8. Most hutches are waaay too small – the RSPCA recommends at least a six-foot hutch with at least 3-4 hops worth of space. Most pet shops sell them much smaller – and these only suit tiny bunnies. A bunny sits up like a meerkat so you need enough space for them to stretch up as well as out, or as Bunstagram calls it #bunnyperiscope.

If you can deal with all this, then buy away – a bundle of furry joy awaits. And rabbits are the new cats.

And then you can join in with the cool kids on Bunstagram.

love

Lady Bunzilla Bartleby-Bobbin von Thumperfoot & Professor Bunminster Fuller

PS. Once you get a bun, get this book which explains everything: Caring for your Companion Pet Rabbit.

PPS. Come find us on Instagram @bunminster_and_bunzilla for more daily pix like the following:

This is us during the recent eclipse, enjoying some apple bark.

Mr-and-Mrs-B

This is where we live:

Bun-garden

And this is how we play Bunny football!

Headnudge/Bye.


Hire/commission me: fiona [at] fionacullinan.com