Continuing with my story (which will probably be a book by the time I’m finished), we are on day 2 of rabbits. In the first post, I talked a little about the journey of how we now have rabbits in our garage. Let me share with you some of the details leading up to the actual day of picking up the rabbits.

In another post I’ll tell you how we had to clean out the garage and sell items to be able to fit 4 rabbit cages.

As mentioned in the previous post, we had little information to go on so I did the most obvious thing – look on the internet. What could go wrong?

First, we needed a cage. Joe and Em decided to go to a local outdoor market and see if they could find something. You may think “Really, an outdoor market?” Have you seen First Monday in Canton??? The World’s Largest Flea Market. They didn’t go to that one but a similar one closer to our house where they picked up two cages.

However, based on my internet research (where is Farmer Ted with rabbit information when you need him?) it said the rabbits need space to be able to move in the cage and they can sometime fight. SO, I told Joe that we needed more cages. This time I went to Tractor Supply and picked up two more cages (Yeah for the Black Friday sale!).

While there I also got 4 feeders, 4 hanging water bottles and 4 corner trays for them to pee/poop in. Based on my internet information, I think we are all set! (Side note, these were not all bought in one trip and the store is not in the same town but good news, I do now have an account with Tractor Supply).

And now the day we get the rabbits. Our daughter wakes up We wake up our daughter for school and on the way there she says “Less than 12 hours before I get my rabbits!” Actually, it was more of a squeal. Her excitement could not be contained.

That evening we drove to the school to get the rabbit with 3 of the cages in the back of the truck because the last one wouldn’t fit and yes, I was worried about only having 3 cages. We walk in the school, with Em filming a video to post later on TikTok, and find our way to the room. We enter and look around and to our surprise, the other people in the room had ONE small cage or a box or an animal carrier. WHAT?!?! How could these rabbits fit in those? What were they thinking?

Embarrassed that we had brought 3 cages, Joe snuck out to the truck and only brought in one. Now the wait. While waiting, we finally got a piece of paper with some information and now we could ask questions.

1. When you first get the rabbits, mark their ears with a Sharpie so you won’t get them mixed up when you weigh them.
2. Weigh each one to get a staring weight. Best thing to use if a food scale (another thing to buy).
3. For judging, these rabbits should only be between 3.5-5.5 pounds.
4. You have to hold them a certain way so they get used to it for judging.
5. They need to have their fur brushed daily for at least an hour. Not with a brush but with your hand.
6. Make sure they have food and water in their cages at all times.
7. One hour of play activity per day minimum.
8. Flip the rabbits on their back to get them used to being handled.
9. Weigh the rabbits regularly.
10. Clean the cages regularly.
11. More instructions to come…. (from the teacher).

What did we get ourselves into?

Next post – bringing the rabbits home. First night and day.