A black-and-white spotted rabbit standing up on a grey rug beside a wooden coffee table

What living with a rabbit involves

Half an hour of chores, the rest is company

Daily care takes 20 to 30 minutes: top up the hay, put down fresh greens and a measured scoop of pellets, change the water, and scoop the litter box. The rest is company. Rabbits are most active at dawn and dusk, which suits a working household, and they need three or more hours a day outside the pen to run and explore. They are prey animals, so trust is earned on the floor at their level. Most rabbits dislike being picked up but will flop beside you, nudge your hand for petting, and leap and twist in the air when they are happy (keepers call it a binky).

Ways to keep rabbits

House rabbitA companion animal that lives indoors and shares your living space. This is where nearly everyone starts, and the base kit covers it.

Start here

Visit a rabbit rescue and ask to meet adult rabbits that are already spayed or neutered. Sit on the floor and let them come to you: the one that hops over to investigate is a good first rabbit.

Rabbit.org: adoption

Rabbit ShowingRaising a purebred rabbit to its breed standard and entering it at shows, where a judge handles each animal on a table and ranks the class. There are about 50 recognized breeds, from 2-pound dwarfs to giants over 15 pounds, and youth classes for kids.

Start here

Go to a local show as a spectator before you buy anything. Pick one breed you like on the tables, talk to the people who raise it, and buy a tattooed, show-quality junior from one of them rather than from a pet store.

ARBA show search

Rabbit HoppingA sport like horse show jumping in miniature. The rabbit wears a harness and clears a course of low rail jumps while you follow on a long leash. Any healthy, confident rabbit over four months old can learn.

Start here

Get your rabbit used to wearing a harness indoors for a few minutes a day. Once it ignores the harness, lay a single rail flat on the ground and reward it with a small piece of leafy green each time it steps over.

American Hopping Association for Rabbits and Cavies

Angora RabbitsFour long-wooled breeds (English, French, Satin and Giant) kept for fiber as much as company. The coat is harvested about every three months and spun into yarn, and it needs grooming every week in between.

Start here

Ask a breeder to let you groom one of their rabbits before you commit to buying. Twenty minutes with a blower and a comb will tell you if you want to do this every week for the next ten years.

National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club

Open a card for the first thing to do. Showing, hopping and Angoras each end in a button that adds their gear to the kit. The house rabbit card needs nothing beyond the base list.

Dutch markings

How to get started

Tick these off as you go

Finding a rabbit to adopt

A white lop-eared rabbit eating a sprig of greens on an upholstered wooden chair

What a rabbit eats

Hay first, everything else by the cup

Grass hay, unlimited

Timothy, orchard or oat hay should be about 80 percent of the diet. A rabbit eats a pile roughly its own size every day. The long fiber keeps the gut moving and wears down teeth that never stop growing.

Leafy greens, daily

About one packed cup per 2 pounds of body weight. Romaine, cilantro, parsley, bok choy and carrot tops are safe staples. Introduce one new green at a time.

Pellets, measured

About a quarter cup per 5 pounds of body weight a day for an adult. Buy plain timothy pellets with no seeds, corn or colored bits mixed in.

Treats, tiny

A tablespoon of fruit or carrot a day at most. Both are sugar to a rabbit.

Under seven months

Young rabbits get alfalfa hay and unlimited alfalfa-based pellets, then switch gradually to the adult diet.

Housing and rabbit-proofing

Pen size

At least 4 by 4 feet for one medium rabbit, and tall enough to stand upright in. Pet-store rabbit cages are too small to live in. A folding exercise pen gives four times the floor for less money.

Pen height

36 inches stops most rabbits. Small athletic breeds can clear 30.

Flooring

Rabbits have fur on their feet instead of pads and slide on bare wood or tile. Put a washable mat or a low-pile rug under the pen. Avoid wire floors, which cause sore hocks.

Indoors beats a hutch

An outdoor rabbit faces predators, heatstroke above about 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and biting flies that carry disease, and it sees far less of you.

Litter training

Rabbits pick one corner. Put the box there with hay in it, since they eat and go at the same time, and move stray droppings into the box for the first week.

Chewing

Cords, baseboards, book spines and remote buttons are all fair game. Protect what you cannot move, and keep something legal to chew in every room the rabbit uses.

A small brown rabbit sitting on a white windowsill with rain on the glass behind it — On the windowsill

Health and vet care

Spay or neuter at four to six months. It stops hormonal spraying and fighting, makes litter habits reliable, and removes the high risk of uterine cancer in unspayed females. Rescue rabbits usually come already fixed.
A rabbit that stops eating or stops producing droppings for 12 hours has a medical emergency called GI stasis. Go to the vet the same day, even on a weekend.
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV2) is a fatal, highly contagious virus now found in wild and domestic rabbits across much of the United States. A vaccine is available: ask your vet about the yearly shot, even for an indoor rabbit.
Never lift a rabbit by its ears or scruff. Put one hand under the chest and the other under the rump and hold it against your body. A rabbit that kicks out in mid-air can break its own back.
Do not bathe a rabbit. A soaked rabbit can go into shock or chill. Spot-clean with a damp cloth instead.
Trim nails every four to six weeks and brush weekly, daily during a heavy shed. Rabbits cannot vomit, so swallowed fur has to pass through.

Finding a rabbit vet

Rabbit.org: rabbit vets near you Free advice on finding a vet who treats rabbits

A tan young rabbit washing its face with its front paws on a tiled floor — Washing its face

What trips beginners up

Expect a cool reception for the first few weeks. A rabbit that thumps, hides or turns its back on you is being a normal prey animal, and chasing it or picking it up sets you back.
Expect droppings outside the box for a while. Territory marking fades after spaying or neutering and once the rabbit feels the room is its own.
Expect hay everywhere. It tracks out of the box and across the room, and sweeping becomes part of the daily routine.
Do not buy a baby rabbit at Easter or from a pet store on impulse. Sexing mistakes are common, and two babies can become a dozen in three months.
Do not put two unfamiliar rabbits together. Unbonded rabbits fight hard enough to cause serious injuries, and bonding is a slow, supervised process on neutral ground.
Do not fill the bowl with pellets or feed seed-and-fruit mixes. A rabbit that fills up on pellets eats too little hay, which leads to overgrown teeth and gut trouble.
Do not use cedar or pine shavings or clumping cat litter in the box. The first irritate the lungs and liver, and the second can block the gut if eaten.

Where to learn more

Rabbit.org has the deepest free library on house rabbit care, written by the educators behind the house rabbit movement. A local rabbit rescue is the best in-person teacher: most will show you how to trim nails and pick up a rabbit safely, and many run bonding sessions. For breeds and shows, the American Rabbit Breeders Association lists every recognized breed and its national club. The American Hopping Association for Rabbits and Cavies publishes the hopping rules, and the National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club covers the four wool breeds.

Free care guides, breeds and clubs

A fawn long-wooled rabbit with a wispy coat sitting on grey decking — A long wool coat

About the shopping list

The pen is the biggest one-time purchase, and hay is the biggest running cost: budget $40 to $70 a month for hay, greens, pellets and litter per rabbit. Hay is far cheaper bought by the large box or by the bale from a feed store. There is no hay rack on the list because a pile in one end of the litter box works better. Set aside money for the vet as well. A spay or neuter costs $150 to $400 if your rabbit does not come fixed, and an emergency visit can run several hundred dollars. The showing, hopping and Angora items are add-ons you only need for those paths.

Two young brown-and-white rabbits sitting side by side on a pile of hay — Two rabbits on hay

Fill the pen

Compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the cart. Clicking a card selects it there. The first line, the rabbit, is not something you buy online: it comes from a rescue, a shelter or a breeder. The showing, hopping and Angora gear joins the kit once you switch on Rabbit Showing, Rabbit Hopping or Angora Rabbits.

Rabbit or bonded pair

essential · The animal

The rabbit itself. An adult from a rescue has a known personality and is usually already spayed or neutered.

Not sold on Amazon · rescue or breeder

Not sold on Amazon. Adopt from a rabbit rescue or animal shelter: fees run about $60 to $150 and normally include the spay or neuter surgery. For showing or Angora wool, buy from a breeder who belongs to the national breed club, typically $50 to $250 depending on breed and quality.

Indoor exercise pen

essential · Housing

The rabbit's home base when you are out or asleep. Eight 2-foot panels make a 4 by 4 foot square.

budget

MidWest 36-Inch Exercise Pen, Single Door, 16 Sq Ft Play Area

4.6(46.3K)

$40.99

Rabbit Keeping

What living with a rabbit involves

Ways to keep rabbits

How to get started

What a rabbit eats

Housing and rabbit-proofing

Health and vet care

What trips beginners up

Where to learn more

About the shopping list

Fill the pen

Rabbit or bonded pair

Indoor exercise pen

Timothy hay

Timothy-based adult rabbit pellets

Large litter box

Paper pellet litter

Heavy ceramic bowl

Hideout house

Hard-sided pet carrier

Chew toys

Cord protector tubing

Small animal nail clippers

Soft grooming brush

Washable pen floor mat

Wire show carrier

Digital small-animal scale

Rabbit harness and leash

Adjustable practice jumps

Pet grooming blower

Steel grooming comb

Blunt-tip grooming scissors