Bunnies.

[Joolz]

A friends cute ikkle bunny wabbit cornered a ferret in the garden Had to rescue the predator..the rabbit bit me!!

[Quatermass]

Evil rabbits! Damn, I thought the only evil rabbit was Pauly Bruckner from The Unwritten!

[Alanz]

My Grandaughter has a rabbit she's 6, so it's mostly muggins here that looks after it, and yes they can be quite nasty at times, if i put my hand in the hutch to give it greens sometimes it does try to claw me and yes they do need cleaning out regular and it really stinks in the toilet area of the hutch so you will need to put lots of sawdust in the toilet area to soak the Urine up which will need disenfecting too and also yes they will need a run as well as the hutch cos if you give them the run of the garden they will find a way out plus you will get plenty of Cat attention and possibly Foxes, still good luck on your choice.

[Tonyblack]

They also need plenty to chew on as their teeth never stop growing. My friend keeps rabbits indoors and they have ruined her furniture, wallpaper, carpets and the cables from her TV and computer.

[Alanz]

O.M.G i would never let a rabbit loose indoors as like G/pigs and Hamsters will gnaw on the plastic coating on wire, we lost a Hamster under the floorboards when we lived in Married Quaters once, it came out after a week though, a bit bedraggled but ok.

[AuntyVague]

Am I reading what you said right Alanz? You had a hamster chew through the floorboards? Now I have an image of tiny critters with massive teeth gnawing their way through house and home and possibly terrorizing the cats in to the bargain!

...a new stick insect for the girl suddenly seems like a brilliant idea! Or I should at least make her read this thread

[Tonyblack]

My kids had a hamster. It gnawed its way out of the plastic tank it was kept in and I ended up putting a pile of books over the hole. These also got chewed.

[KingCarrot]

:shock: Am I reading what you said right Alanz? You had a hamster chew through the floorboards? Now I have an image of tiny critters with massive teeth gnawing their way through house and home and possibly terrorizing the cats in to the bargain!

...a new stick insect for the girl suddenly seems like a brilliant idea! Or I should at least make her read this thread

Any insect on a stick is a stick-insect temporarily... you should use that to your advantage. Ants and woodlice are free

[KingCarrot]

Ignore me, I am a little loopy today.

NEVER use Phenibut as a sweetener for your coffee!

[Alanz]

:shock: Am I reading what you said right Alanz? You had a hamster chew through the floorboards? Now I have an image of tiny critters with massive teeth gnawing their way through house and home and possibly terrorizing the cats in to the bargain!

...a new stick insect for the girl suddenly seems like a brilliant idea! Or I should at least make her read this thread

Yep we lost it for a week it got behind the skirting boards that was in Naval married Quaters they were not very well made but they will chew so i'd stick with a Stick insect pardon the pun...much safer they dont move all that quick

[Del]

Hi Aunty V.

Peoples... you are all talking to an Aussie wanting to get a rabbit!

Here in Queensland I think you need a Magicians Licence to get a rabbit. Otherwise you cant keep them domestically.

You need to check your state laws AV. If you are in NSW...

2 Rabbit licence

The Rural Lands Protection Act 1989 currently requires each person who wishes to keep two or more rabbits to obtain a licence. The Act requires that rabbits not be vaccinated with the fibroma (myxomatosis) vaccine. A rabbit licensing kit, containing an application form and relevant literature on conditions for keeping rabbits, is available through NSW Agriculture offices.

Rabbits must be kept in accordance with the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals—Intensive Husbandry of Rabbits. This is a requirement for obtaining a licence. The Code specifies minimum cage sizes and provisions for supply of food and water to farmed rabbits. It also stipulates procedures for the correct handling and transport of rabbits. It is therefore recommended that prospective rabbit farmers and any authority responsible for issuing an approval for rabbit farming obtain a copy of the Code.

In addition, other legislation may apply in certain circumstances to the rabbit farming industry, including:

All persons keeping one or more rabbits must abide by the following requirements, whether or not a licence is required:

The rabbits must be of a recognised domestic breed or hybrid of a domestic breed. In no circumstances is a wild type of rabbit, or hybrid of a wild type, to be kept at the premises.

The rabbits must be kept in a rabbit-proof enclosure.

The rabbits must not be released, abandoned or left in any situation which would allow them to roam at large.

The occupier of the premises where the rabbits are kept must allow the rabbits and the premises to be inspected at any time by an officer authorised for that purpose by the Minister, or by any employee of the Board, in whose district the premises are located, who is authorised for that purpose.

Rabbits must not be vaccinated with the fibroma (myxomatosis) vaccine. No fibroma vaccine shall be kept or brought onto the premises. No rabbit that has been vaccinated with fibroma vaccine shall be kept on or brought onto the premises.

The rabbits must be kept in accordance with the Code of Practice for Intensive Husbandry of Rabbits, produced by the Animal Health Committee to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Resource Management.

Also you will need to protect YOUR rabbits from feral rabbits.

Guinea pigs are much better although you will need a protected place for them in your cold weather (and make sure snakes cant get under the enclosure in summer) and that rats and mice cant get to their feed (which will also attract snakes).

Better still... just put a leash around that huge huntsman spider you found and tell her its a possum... a many legged possum.

Oh and its not just rabbits that can be vicious. We had a pet kangaroo we raised from a joey. It was a buck and when it got full grown it used to attack men... never women just men. Nasty thing. Dangerous too.

[Tonyblack]

Of course, I'd forgotten about the rabbit problem in Australia. Rabbit-Proof Fence is a great film though.

[Del]

Ooops! You live in Victoria AV.

Might like to read this:

http://www.rabbitrunaway.org.au/Aspects ... tralia.pdf

You might also read the bit further down the page about mozzies. It is saying that most rabbit hutches dont allow for heat in summer and most importantly no rabbit hutches aren't mosquito proof... which means a mozzie carrying the myxie virus can bite the rabbit and thus kill it.

Uninformed owners do not mosquito proof outdoor hutches, and there are no hutches sold on the
market that are mosquito proof. A new strain of Myxomatosis was released around Dec 2009 with
vets reporting deaths of pet rabbits over the whole of the Melbourne metropolitan area. Rabbit
advocacy groups and vets are working to improve this situation through educating rabbit owners.

I seem to remember that the DPI released another batch of myxie through NSW and VIC this year.

Also a piece in there about "bonded pairs". Seems full of information.

[Mycroft Vimes]

Now ratties make far better pets for kids.

Surely you mean a Siberian hamster,don't you?
And if none of you are going to post it,i'm going to still have to,i'm afraid :

'Look at the bones!'

[Del]

Yeah... show the wee daughter that AV.... and see if she still wants a pet rabbit !

And thank you Mycroft!