Children and Pet Rabbits
Parents will often get a rabbit specifically as a pet for their child. Your child looks at you with those big eyes and says “please” and the rabbit comes home. But rabbits are unlike cats or dogs and don’t react the same way to child behavior.
Rabbits have abilities that evolved in the species over thousands of years.They’re quick, have needlelike claws and teeth, and an escape response that motivates them to flee at the first sign of danger. But those very aids to the rabbit can be harmful to the child.
When a rabbit feels threatened it may bite. Rabbit teeth and jaws are powerful enough to cause a very nasty wound to a child, as my son quickly learned. Teach the child to stay alert, not to startle the rabbit, and keep its hands and arms away from teeth. Both parties will be happier, and so will you.
Rabbits have powerful hind legs. When possible they’ll use them to run away at top speed. When they can’t flee, they’ll fight. But the claws on their hind feet, even trimmed, can rip a nasty gash in a child’s hand, arm or face. To reduce the odds, teach the child not to stress or startle the rabbit. Approach slowly, don’t hold the rabbit when it squirms, and never yell or squeal in its presence. Those ears are large for a purpose!
Kids will need to be shown how and when to hold a rabbit (and how and when not to). Rabbits rarely enjoy being held firmly, and then only for short periods. They often enjoy human company, sitting beside someone and being gently stroked.Generally, though, it’s a good idea to stay away from the ears which are a natural magnet for children. The rabbit uses those for survival and interfering with them will sometimes produce stress.
Rabbits can see almost 360 degrees around. An eye is located on each side of the head giving them a wide angle of view. But because of the placement, they have a blind spot about 10 degrees wide just below the chin.The rabbit adjusts for the lack of depth perception we have from stereoscopic vision by moving its head. They judge the distance of objects by parallax (the two different views gained from two different angles).
Teaching a child about the rabbit’s visual and auditory systems helps them understand how the rabbit approaches the world. That makes it much easier to explain why some things are safe and others are potentially harmful or stressful to the rabbit.
But beyond physical safety for both the rabbit and child, there are a number of helpful lessons to instill.
Rabbits can be trained to perform a number of amusing behaviors.Helping the child to do that, involving it in the training, benefits both the child and the rabbit. The rabbit perceives the child as a companion and the child learns to develop skills that apply to many situations: patience, gentleness, careful observation and so on.
Find more information on rabbits at LuvMyRabbit.com
Categories: Pets Tags: pet, pet rabbit, pet rabbits, rabbit, rabbit cages, rabbit food, Rabbits, taking care of rabbits
Pet Rabbits- Life Expectancy and Other Interesting Rabbit Facts
Rabbits are fascinating creatures, not least becuase they seem at first blush to be so common. But, in fact, rabbits come in several dozen breeds and exhibit behavior that is surprising to anyone who hasn’t owned on.
There are approximately 50 different breeds of rabbits recognized by the America Rabbit Breeders Association and there are more types of rabbits. But, of course, as a professional association concerned with keeping things orderly they have fairly strict standards. Snowshoe hares aren’t among them, for example. Hey wait, they argue, we’re interested in only domestic breeds. Fair enough. But do the rabbits know the difference?
But all those breeds have one thing in common that is something they are NOT: they’re not rodents. Though similar, rabbits are Lagmorphs. It sounds like something from a science fiction book? Rodents are Rodentia.
They have an interesting way of maturing, too. The average rabbit that is well cared for can live for about 10 years, whereas humans live for an average of 75 years. The like expectancy varies from breed to breed. Yet a human isn’t sexually mature at 3 3/4 years (75 divided by 20, which is 10 years/0.5 years), while a six month old rabbit is. They grow up fast, don’t they?
Their gestation lasts about a month, and it is true, they can have a lot of babies. Baby rabbits are called ‘kits’. But don’t confuse ‘kit’, as in rabbit baby, with ‘kit’ as in tool bag. They don’t like it when you try to pry beer bottles open with their teeth.
those teeth never stop growing, either, unlike human teeth that shift but don’t lengthen after adulthood. That’s not usually a problem, since they like to gnaw on just about anything they can get their hands on. Or, more accurately, their teeth on. Oh, maybe that is a problem where you live?
But they’re not just mindless chewers. Rabbits are a lot smarter than some people think. Rabbits can be litter trained and can even perform tricks. One Japanese man raised a rabbit called Oolon (after a type of tea). The rabbit could balance small objects on its head as it walked (or hopped) along. Quite a feat when you consider that most humans can’t do that, especially if they have to hop.
Rabbits can also be affectionate. Part of that head balancing ability may come from a rabbit’s tendency to tuck its head under an owner’s chin. Of course, you have to get along fairly well for a long time to get it to relax enough to do that. Rabbits are somewhat high strung. Or, maybe they’re just particular.
The stress they feel comes about whenever they sense danger. That is very easy for them to do since their eyes have almost a 360 view of what is around them. Set on the sides of the head, they geta peripheral view of almost 180 degress on each side. But because of the arrangement, they do have an approximately 10 degree blind spot directly in front just below the nose.
So, if you stand in front of your rabbit and lecture them about something they did wrong, don’t assume they’re stupid or stubborn. They may just not be able to see you. Of course, with those ears they don’t have any excuse for not hearing. They may just be ignoring you. They’re pretty smart creatures, after all, and they know your shoe was made for chewing even if you don’t.
Categories: Pets Tags: Interesting Facts about Rabbits, pet rabbits, Pets, Rabbits
