Hi, my name is Aileen Carol Hogspot, with Friends of Rabbits, talking about how to care for
your rabbit, and we are going to talk about social needs today. I am going to reference many of
the things in front of me, but let’s get started off, everybody loves toys. Rabbits need toys, toys,
why? Well, because they enjoy having fun, they enjoy playing, they enjoy making noise, they
enjoy things they can chew, chewing is a natural behavior for them. Their teeth consistently
grow, so they need to keep chewing to relieve that pressure. They also have a variety of different
types of textures they can use. I have willow here, different types of mats, a rabbit may prefer
different types of texture as they’re chewing. For instance we have a maze mat here, we have a
sea grass mat here, we have a straw mat here, some of which if they’re given they’re obviously
use well, love well. There are toys that make noise, this is some woven palm with a bell, now
obviously you can't just find a toy in your house with a basket that you may have been given or
any other thing. You need to be worried about the toys that you’re giving your rabbits, have to be
made for your rabbits. For instance these toys here, look like they’re colored, they are colored,
but this is food grade coloring, so it doesn’t affect the health of your rabbit. A colored basket or a
lacquered basket may not be the best thing for your rabbit and it could affect their health. So
make sure that what you’re buying was meant to be a toy for you bunny. Obviously, if you don’t
provide toys for your rabbit, they’re gonna find another substitute, such as telephone book or any
books that you might have in your book shelf. Obviously this is not good, because there’s glue in
the book binding and that’s not something that you gonna want your rabbit to be biting on. Now,
rabbits need space, they may stay somewhere for quite some time, but they need to be able to
stretch, they need to be able to play, they need to be able to exercise. They like jumping, they
like running, like stretching out, they like making noise, they enjoy playing with each other.
Rabbits by nature are social creatures, and will interact well with other rabbits and other species.
However, before bringing your rabbit into a pet friendly home already, please make sure that you
reach out to your animal group, spay or neuter them first and they will be able to help you make
that transition into your new home a pleasant experience. These are some of the things that you
need to think about when you’re looking at social needs for your rabbit. We are now going to
talk about hygiene.
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