What Can I Do With Rabbits?

You want to get a rabbit. They are so cute and fluffy. But what do you do with them?

Here are some different things that you can do with or find a use for rabbits.

Show Them

Many people get purebred rabbits and show them. This can be a very rewarding experience for you. You can show your rabbits at an ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) sanctioned show, at your local county or state fair or a 4-H show.

This is a good way to go if you want to breed your rabbits and find a market for them. If you do plan on breeding your rabbits for show, make sure you start with at least a trio of rabbits. That is, a buck and two does.

The rabbits should be of at least breeding quality if not show quality. You may pay more for the rabbits, but you will be breeding show quality animals.

In many 4-H and county fairs there are also showmanship events going on. This is where you are showing the judge how to check your rabbit over for problems. If you are interested in this, you should contact your local 4-H rabbit leader and sign up.

Breed them

Breeding rabbits can be a very rewarding experience. It is fun to see all those baby rabbits hopping around the pen.

But, breeding rabbits needs to be done responsibly. You shouldn't breed your rabbit just because you want cute bunnies to play with. A rabbit can have up to 9 or more babies in one litter. There may also be complications with the pregnancy and kindling. Are you ready to keep, clean after, and feed and water all those rabbits?

If you do decide to breed your rabbit(s) here are some things to think about before you start. 

1. Can you find homes for them? You will have to eventually sell them or they will overun you soon enough. People who want to buy rabbits will buy them for the reasons you see here on this page. Show, 4-H, meat, fur, agility, breeding and pets to name a few. Find out how to advertise and where to advertise. Newspapers, Internet, flyers in stores and rabbit shows are good ways to get the word out.

2. Do you have the space and finances to do this? You should have at least one buck and two does. Then when the babies come you will need to feed them as well until they are sold or leave your home. You will need a pen for each rabbit (buck and two does) as well as rearing pens for the weaned babies.

3. What could happen during the pregnancy and birth?  Sometimes things will go wrong when you breed. The doe might not get pregnant. She might miscarry. She may have the babies outside the nest box, which is fatal for the kits. She might have a kit get stuck. She might have too many kits to take care of. A baby might not be fully formed. The doe might stomp the kits to death or over groom one or more. Find out how to deal with these problems before they arise.

4. How do I take care of the kits? Baby rabbits are taken care of by mom until they are weaned. The only thing you have to do is feed the mother and, carefully, get the babies used to you. Sometimes though, things go wrong here too. The doe may not have enough milk for everyone, A baby could get diarrhea (which could mean death), a baby may have soft stools stuck to its fur that need to be cleaned off, the mother could die. You should know what to do if these things happen.

5. Do I want to keep any of them for future breeding or other uses? If so, you will need to get equipment beforehand so that you do not end up in the spot of what to do with the extra rabbits. Baby rabbits of differing sexes can only be together for up to 10 to 12 weeks before they can start breeding.

If you think ahead before you decide to breed, breeding can be a very rewarding experience for you and your rabbits.

Rabbit Agility

Rabbits like to jump and hop around. So it would be a natural step to get involved in rabbit agility. I have a page about rabbit agility on this website, and I believe I have a link to a rabbit agility website on my links page.

Briefly, rabbit agility is where rabbits run a course that has jumps and contact equipment. If you have ever seen dog or cat agility, it is very much like this.

Rabbit agility is a very new sport here in America. Rabbit hopping is also becoming a big sport as well. It is very big in the United Kingdom. There is a video of rabbit hopping on my rabbit agility page. This is a great way for you to have fun with your rabbit.

Use Them for Food or Sell Them for Food

All right, so maybe you don't think that a fluffy bunny should be used for food, but I have to say that rabbit meat tastes very good, not to mention that it is a very healthy meat. Their fur is warm and soft as well. Remember, those hamburgers and Barbequed chickens were once running around too. Rabbits are prey animals and are eaten by hawks, eagles, wolves, coyotes, owls, etc.

If you choose not to eat them, maybe someone else will. Besides people, dog breeders, snake breeders, and bird of prey breeders use them for food for their animals. At least this could be a way to market your rabbits to help pay for the rising cost of feed and equipment.

Market Their By-products

Rabbits leave things around that you could use for a variety of purposes.

Rabbit poop is very good for several things. Dried rabbit poo is fed to catfish. It is also one of the best fertilizers around because you can apply it directly to your garden.

Earthworms and nightcrawlers can be raised in dirt mixed with rabbit poop. Because of the great fertility of rabbit poop, the dirt is filled with nutrients the worms need and I hear they get pretty big. You can sell these little guys to your friends, neighbors, family and stores for profit.

You may also be able to sell rabbit pelts from your meat rabbits to furriers and other people who use rabbit pelts or make your own coat, purse, liners etc.

Join a 4-H Rabbit Club

4-H is a great place to learn about rabbits. I learned more about rabbits in my childrens 4-H club than I knew all my life before that. Rabbit clubs have market clubs, agility clubs (although not many clubs do this yet, we are hoping to get the sport going here in Michigan), showmanship and showing, as well as quiz and knowledge bowls, crafts and projects for your kids to do.

Keep Them As a Pet

O.K. so you don't want to do any of the above. So just love your rabbit, play with him and let him know that you care about him by taking care of him every day. Rabbits need attention or they will turn "wild". By this I mean they can get skittish, be hard to handle when you need to take them out of their pen, start to bite and get mean.

Having a pet means alot of responsibility on your part. Your rabbit cannot feed himself, get his own water, clean his pen, go for a walk and go to the doctor when he gets sick. You have to be the one to do this.

Some things that you can do with your pet rabbit at home is to hold him, groom him, build some simple agility equipment and let him play on it. Teach your rabbit tricks. Build an excersize pen in the back yard for your rabbit to play in. (Never leave your rabbit outside in an excersize pen alone.)