The Hops & Flops of Bunny Ownership

This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and/or make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Gifted products will be noted as such.

I recently received a message from a lovely reader asking me to share about owning a bunny and it just made me so happy. For one, I hadn’t even thought about writing about LuLu (duhhh) and two, I am always so glad when people request certain topics. That makes my life easier and I love hearing what you actually want to read about. (Go to my contact page to share ideas with me or ask questions!) So I decided Easter was the perfect time to write about bunnies.

You all probably know that I have a bunny by now via Instagram, but I want to share with you LuLu’s story and the hops (pros) and flops (challenges) of bunny ownership, so that you can make an educated decision and not be blinded by bunny cuteness. And if you decide that you need to get a little bunny friend, don’t forget to consult The Comprehensive Bunny Name List… a site that cracks me up to this day. Don’t forget, if you know of a bunny whose name is not on the list, please contact them 🙂 lol

Let’s Talk About LuLu

Lulu was the very first present that Cam ever gave me. Bold move, sir! I was turning 21 and was going to be out of town for the weekend of my birthday, so Cam and I met halfway at a sushi restaurant in Lancaster to celebrate over dinner. When we arrived in the parking lot, he opened up the back of his car and there she was! All ears. I was so happy I sang to her the entire 1.5 hour long drive home. Cam found her at a feed store near his house, so we think she is a Mini Holland Lop (not totally sure). And that’s not the only thing we were unsure about. (We found out a few months later, when we decided to get her neutered, that LuLu was actually more like a Lou…a boy…but I decided to ignore that indefinitely because…too confusing for my heart…)

LuLu’s one ear has always stuck up in the air and the other always flops down. It is the cutest heckin’ thing. If you try to raise one or lower one, they go right back to where they were. She is a caramel, brown color with big brown eyes. She loves ginger snap cookies and flopping her whole body down on the ground and rolling over. Here she is in Cam’s room when he first got her.

On my first night with LuLu, she slept in a cage on my bedroom floor and I think I spent half the night with my phone flashlight shining on her to make sure she wasn’t a dream bunny. But she was definitely real. Especially real when she started drinking from her very loud water bottle for a solid 20 minutes in the middle of the night. I decided to move her downstairs the next night.

When I went back to college in the fall, LuLu moved in with my roommate and I and lived under my bed. I still think that is pretty hilarious. She would run all over our apartment and then stay in her cage while we were in class or when we were sleeping. This was definitely not college-approved, but no one ever found out. And it was an incredible de-stresser for all of our college friends. It also taught me even more about responsibility than going off to college already does.

LuLu now lives in a large penned in area in the vestibule of my house. The two big shaggy dogs love her and when she runs around the kitchen, they corner her and lick her until I make them stop. She is not scared of them at all, while other rabbits may have a heart attack. That’s not a joke. She is an adorable little love bug who likes me and grunts at everyone else.

The Hops of Bunny Ownership

There are so many pros to having a bunny as a pet. They really do get to know you and once you gain their trust, they get really attached to you. LuLu knows me and my voice and will lick my fingers or nudge me with her head, hop on my stomach or back while I’m laying down, and stand on her back legs to see me in the morning. She is so cute and fun to get to know.

Another benefit is that you can litter train a bunny. You can buy scented training pellets that will attract them to go to the bathroom. If you want your bunny to be a total house bunny, you can place boxes with these pellets around your house where you would like them to go. Cam trained LuLu before he even gave her to me (bonus!) so LuLu runs back to her cage to go to her Lu loo. (<– Omg that’s funny!) Overall bunnies are very easy to take care of. The biggest time commitment is cleaning up their cage area and litter box.

Bunnies really do those adorable hops and jumps. They are called binkies and guess what… they do them when they are happy. So that’s adorable. They jump into the air and twist their head and feet in opposite directions and it makes me laugh every time.

The Flops of Bunny Ownership

Before you go buying a bunny for Easter, you need to heavily consider the commitment it takes to properly care for a bunny. I have had LuLu for almost 5 years and they can live up to 10 years. This is not a short time commitment. Just because they are small, does not mean they will be a short-lived pet (i.e. a goldfish). Here are some cons or challenges that you should consider:

Bunnies chew wires, furniture, rugs, baskets, etc. This can be remedied by not allowing them access to those items, but just so you are aware.
Bunny pee and poop smells bad. Bunnies, on their own, smell fine and don’t need to be bathed.
Bunnies shed every 6 weeks. You will need a vacuum.
Bunnies (especially male ones) can “spray”. They jump and pee at the same time (ew). This can be fixed by…getting them fixed. This will cost some $$.
Bunnies need space. Do not buy a bunny and leave them in a cage. They need a large area to move around in or need to be let out for a long period of time each day.

Here is what you should expect to do daily, weekly, and monthly for your furry friend:

Daily Care

Every day, LuLu requires a bowl of dry bunny food, a big handful of Timothy hay, fresh vegetables, and water.

Weekly Care

Each week, LuLu needs her cage cleaned, which requires fresh bedding for the tray under her cage and litter in her funny bunny toilet (I use cat litter box stuff). I also vacuum quite a bit, because her stuff gets everywhere. The picture below is of “cleaning night” in college.

Monthly Care

Approximately each month, I buy her food and hay which costs me about $20. This does not include vegetables. Also, bunnies molt or shed once a month, so every few weeks the vacuum requirements go way up for excess fur.

Any Hare Raising Questions?

That’s about all I can think of to tell you about having a bunny as a pet. I absolutely love LuLu and none of the challenges would have kept me from giving it a shot! No one in my family or even Cam knew what a long term commitment a bunny would be. I guess he must really like me to give me a 10 year long present 😉 Drop any questions you have below and I would be so happy to help you decide! And now I will fill this post with every photo I have of LuLu.

xoxo,

jojo