giant rabbits

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EmmaClaire

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Hi all i was wondering if anyone on here keeps giant breeds of rabbits and if so are they easy to look after and were do you keep them and how much do they cost i have always wanted one but wouldnt go into it until i had done my homework on them :) :)
 
I have a french lop - but not quiet giant - like the continentals anyway. Sayign that his dad weighed 1stone4 :o :o :o ;D
 
What are you talking about? They live as long/longer than a guinea pig :-\ ?
 
My college had 3 giant rabbits but one student dropped it and its back was damaged and he had a wonky back and couldnt hop properly :-\ She was like that when i started but she had to be put down as there was something else up with her :'(

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I'm not sure of breeds or anythiing but we had a huge rabbit when i was younger and he lived to at least 9. I'm a petite 5ft2 and i could only just fit him on my knee. I think he was a french lop but not positive, but he was definately huge. :)
 
PerfectPiggies said:
What are you talking about? They live as long/longer than a guinea pig :-\ ?
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I think Clare means they have shorter life spans than other rabbits, like medium ones can live past 10 i think! whereas giant breeds only tend to live like half that apparently :(
 
jnenbnb said:
PerfectPiggies said:
What are you talking about? They live as long/longer than a guinea pig :-\ ?
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I think Clare means they have shorter life spans than other rabbits, like medium ones can live past 10 i think! whereas giant breeds only tend to live like half that apparently :(
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yes thats what i ment :)
 
If I am not mistaken the Flemish Giant is the largest of the giant rabbit group - the Continental Giant is slightly smaller and the British breed of Giant rabbit are a little smaller still.

They need a lot of room (obviously) and if you are intending to have a Giant as a house rabbit, they can, of course, be extremely destructive. Glad you are doing your homework. They are really lovely animals.

Helen.
x
 
I found this list...
Small - 2 to 6 lbs (0.9-2.7 kg)
American Fuzzy Lop
Britannia Petite
Dutch
Dwarf Hotot
Florida White
Havana
Himilayan
Holland Lop
Jersey Wolly
Mini Lop
Mini Rex
Netherland Dwarf
Polish
Silver
Tan

Medium - 6 to 9 lbs (2.7-4.1 kg)
American Sable
Belgian Hare
English angora
English Spot
French angora
Harlequin
Lilac
Rex
Rhinelander
Satin Angora
Silver Marten
Standard Chinchilla

Large - 9 to 11 lbs (4.1-5 kg)
American
American Chinchilla
Beveren
Californian
Champagne d'Argent
Cinnamon
Creme d'Argent
English Lop
Giant Angora
Hotot
New Zealand
Palomino
Satin
Silver Fox

Giant - 11 lbs (5 kg) and over
Checkered Giant
Flemish Giant (Patagonian)
French Lop
Giant Chinchilla

From...
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rabbits/a/rabbitbreeds_3.htm
 
The rabbits at my college has a different name to them giant ones but i cant remember what they are called :P :P
 
I have a French lop, and his grandad was 8.....I'm pretty sure he will live to older than 4
 
We have a giant lop bunny and I have to say it is so friendly. The best rabit we have had BUT it does cost a small fortune. In a day he eats this long list (spent ages with the vet working out how much he should eat and so on)

4 large carrots
1 very large bowl of pellets, about 1/2 a kg at the minimum
1 tesco carrier bag full of hey
A different veg, maybe 1/2 a cabbage or a couple of tomatoes or 1/2 a cucumber

Treats like chew sticks and so on last a few minutes if that.

He also has a big hutch and run combo (custom made) but to buy you would be looking at well over £200 for something they can fit in, standard runs do not give them enough room to stand on back legs as bunnies do when they look around, same with the standard hutches.

We made something like this (except ours has two stories for the hutch and also the run we made it as it was easier to do so than buy one) HUGE HUTCH AND RUN

And before that we did buy something like this when he was a baby
Chicken Coop

And with big hutches you need lots of wood shavings (or what ever you use) plus straw / hey / bedding and they need a fair bit of cleaning out because they eat and drink alot and what goes in much come out!

Ours is litter box trained which makes it easier, he has a litter box in his run he uses also when he comes inside he uses his box.

We are lucky, our bunny is not a digger so can be left in the garden to run around without too much supervision. We are also lucky we have 6 foot solid fences with fox proof tops and 4 foot cement foundations under the fence so nothing can get over or under!

They are a joy to own but do take time and money. Ours has a skin condition, nothing major just gets very dry skin on his ears so we have to cream them every day. Nothing huge but just another thing to add to the list
 
The best housing for a giant rabbit is either free range in your house (giant rabbits are normally bigger than a domestic cat so think of it on that size range) or a massive custom built shed!
Theres a fair few giants popping up in rescues since Pets@home started selling them so I'd visit www.rabbitrehome.org.uk
 
We had a french lop and she lived till 10years old.
Depending on how they are looked after you never know how old they will live.. but ours was definately giant and lived a long happy life :)
 
I give charlie tablespoon of rabbit mix, if that, and only a small bit of veg twice a week....He mainly just eats grasses/hay...Hes lives inside...not had any vets bills yet, other than his jabs, so couldnt comment but he will be neutered as soon as hes old enough O0

Thye life span of a french lop, is different to other breeds of giant rabbit - frenchies are expected to live much longer than 4 years :)

I wouldnt have charlie if he couldnt live in the house...I dont like keeping animals outside in the best of times, but if i kept him outside, he would HAVE to have a friend, and would need pretty much the whiole garden 24/7.
 
Our bunny prefers to be outside rather than in. He is not keen on things like the TV for some odd reason and we hardly have it loud. He likes roaming around but he does come in every evening and in the summer you can just leave the door open so he can come and go as he pleases. We are lucky he is not in to chewing cables, I know some that are.

PerfectPiggies, do you really only give your rabbit a tablespoon of rabbit mix, if that? And only veg twice a week? My vet would go nuts if I did that. I guess it depends on the size of a bunny but thats less than my piggies eat. We had our bunny measured and the vet worked out on his size and age what he should be eating. And also that pellet food was really needed for their teeth and hey and veg do not grind teeth down as well as the pellet food. And as I am sure you know rabbits teeth grow up and back and if not kept down can actually grow in the the eye sockets.
 
Cherry did say 'He mainly just eats grasses/hay' which i thought was right for rabbits? :-\
 
Rabbits can live on just hay/herbage or grass O0 Think of wild rabbits - Their immune system can take in grass and hay and doesnt need anything else really to digest their food O0
 
My dear house bunny has no front teeth and she cant eat grass and hay like before, she LOVES baby food which i give her about 4 times a week, she also likes to beg for bread and bannannas.
When my other two were alive and floppy had teeth they would eat grass all day long and be happy as larry (who is larry?)
This is floppy sharing a nana...
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Me and my bridge bunny Debbie
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Floppy and her butterfly friend
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Floppy and bridge bunny blossom being slippers
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Sofa invasion!
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Aw Clare they're lovely :smitten: :smitten: I saw a giant rabbit in P@H yesterday when I was buying hay. He was only a baby but was huge! Never seen a rabbit that bit lol ;D They said their lifespan was about 5 years which I thought was pretty short compared to others :(.
 
I had a beautiful New zealand white,but pts 18months ago! :'( He was fab! :smitten: :smitten: Think he may have been about 7-8yrs old! :smitten:
 
Too much dried mix is BAD for rabbits, as is too much veg - its down to personal preference when you feed veg, but I give him maybe 2 carrots and some leafs per week...Rabbits shouldnt have anywere near as much veg as guinea pigs.

Charlie has a fantastic diet, dried mix is a cause for bad teeth, it doesnt help - Its hays and grasses that wear the teeth down.
 
I feed what my vet says to feed. I once questioned the fact that shouldn't a rabbit just graze on hey and such and was told thats fine for small rabbits but big breeds would need a sack a day to survive because of the size of him. I was also told due to his skin condition he needs a good amount of veg. And due to breeding and parents being raised on commercial food many rabbits need this commercial food. My bunny is about 2 years old now and has blood tests every six months due to skin condition and the meds he takes, they always do a full set of bloods and aparently he is fighting fit. I guess its like all pets, people have different views. Some people only feed guinea pigs home made foods and veg, other mix with commercial food, other just commercial food and hey. There is so much farming and interbreeding in the pet world these days that the healt of an animal is hard to garentee and in my view if there not suffering, vets are happy and the animal is happy all is ok.
 
FluffyFriends said:
I feed what my vet says to feed. I once questioned the fact that shouldn't a rabbit just graze on hey and such and was told thats fine for small rabbits but big breeds would need a sack a day to survive because of the size of him. I was also told due to his skin condition he needs a good amount of veg. And due to breeding and parents being raised on commercial food many rabbits need this commercial food. My bunny is about 2 years old now and has blood tests every six months due to skin condition and the meds he takes, they always do a full set of bloods and aparently he is fighting fit. I guess its like all pets, people have different views. Some people only feed guinea pigs home made foods and veg, other mix with commercial food, other just commercial food and hey. There is so much farming and interbreeding in the pet world these days that the healt of an animal is hard to garentee and in my view if there not suffering, vets are happy and the animal is happy all is ok.
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Good grief! I know nothing about rabbits so it may sound a stupid question, but is that a normal size for agiant rabbit?
 
I think it depends on what giant breed it is Julie, i 'think' some are bigger than others. not positive though lol! i fed my rabbit veg, dried food and hay every day and he was 10 when he died! must have been doing something right :) thats not a bad age for an outside bun! x
 
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