{"id":490,"date":"2020-03-28T10:26:06","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T10:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/?p=490"},"modified":"2024-01-07T15:34:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T15:34:40","slug":"8-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-bunny-this-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/8-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-bunny-this-easter\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy A Bunny This Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The bunny is the symbol of Easter, and during this period, buying a real bunny as a gift for their children is a popular way to upgrade from the chocolate version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bunnies are wonderful and cute pets, but owning a bunny is not like buying a toy. A bunny takes care, money, and love to nurture and take care of. Otherwise, the health of the bunny can be put at risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why shouldn\u2019t you buy a bunny for Easter? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Bunnies are a long term commitment<\/strong><\/li>
  2. Bunnies and children are not a good mix<\/strong><\/li>
  3. Bunnies are not dogs<\/strong><\/li>
  4. Bunnies are not outdoor pets<\/strong><\/li>
  5. Owning a bunny has hidden costs<\/strong><\/li>
  6. Bunnies have different personalities<\/strong><\/li>
  7. Bunnies sleep cycles don\u2019t match a humans<\/strong><\/li>
  8. Bunnies are work<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    These eight points are reasons why you shouldn\u2019t buy a bunny\nas a gift for Easter. However, what if you are willing to put in the work to\nraise a healthy, happy bunny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies Are A Long Term Commitment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Buying a bunny as an Easter gift can be short-sighted. Bunnies live long lives. They can live for 12+ years! See our post on \u201cWhen do Bunnies Stop Growing<\/a>\u201d for the average lifespans of the 15 most popular domestic bunny breeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s important to be prepared with knowing that gifting a\nbunny is a long term commitment and can\u2019t be given and forgotten about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies And Children Are Not A Good Mix<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    As cute as a bunny is, sadly, they are not the best pets for children. Children are full of energy and want to follow and chase the bunny so they can pat and pick them up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We experience this first hand when we let our bunny play outside and the next-door neighbours child comes to play with her. Our Grooty gets more and more stressed as she is chased from hiding place to hiding place to escape being potentially picked up and handled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies are prey animals and don\u2019t feel comfortable being\nchased and followed. While they can be playful, this is done through throwing\nand chewing their toys and being close to their humans at ground level. This\nmeans lying on the floor with them and letting the bunny come to you. Something\na child definitely struggles with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Perhaps your children are a little older, then getting a pet\nbunny and teaching your children how to be gentle with her is a great learning\nopportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies Are Not Dogs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Dogs love being petted, picked up and cuddled, being taken for walks, and being a vacuum cleaner for your leftover food that you\u2019ve dropped on the floor. Bunnies generally don\u2019t like to do any of these and being a vacuum to your leftover food could potentially cause health problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As a bunny warms up to you, they can love being petted and touched. But they still won\u2019t like being picked up. You can even train your bunny to go for short walks! But this takes lots of time and patience and trust between you and your bunny. Hence, a bunny should be a long term investment rather than a short term Easter gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies Are Not Outdoor Pets<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Cute Grooty<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Outdoor hutches were originally invented as housing for meat\nbunnies. Keeping them outside exposes them to seeing predators and uncomfortable\nconditions that can really stress your bunny. Lots of bunny stress can be\nfatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies should be kept inside with the family. Once your bunny warms up to you, they can be the most loving animals as they lie next to you on the floor and kiss you with their nose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies are social animals and need interaction with their bunny friends or their humans. Furthermore, keeping them in a hutch or cage outside doesn\u2019t give your bunny the space they need. They should be able to stretch their legs, boing, and run circles around large areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Keeping them in a cage or hutch is going to make them more prone to obesity due to the lack of movement and is just sad for the bunny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Owning A Bunny Has Hidden Costs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Buying a bunny doesn\u2019t just come with the bunny themselves. There\u2019s the bunny playpen, litter box, food and hay, toys, vet visits, spaying or neutering, and bunny proofing your house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some of these things you may not think about when looking to purchase a bunny. But if gifting a bunny, these are the things that will need consistent upkeep. Bunny upkeep each year can be approximately $750 per year so it is worth considering if you have the money to look after a bunny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies Have Different Personalities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    While all bunnies seem cute and cuddly, only a very small\npercentage of bunnies actually like being picked up and cuddled. The vast\nmajority would rather be left alone or will come to you for some pats and lie\nnext to you. You could even have a bunny that despises all human contact and\njust does their own thing but this is much rarer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you have a bunny that is very nippy, then this could\ncause harm to your children. You\u2019d be better off gifting chocolate bunnies and\nif you want to go down the pet road for your kids, then a puppy dog would be a\nbetter choice. However, that comes with its own set of responsibilities!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies Sleep Cycle Doesn’t Match A Humans<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies are most active during dusk and dawn. Which means they generally sleep much of the day and night. We\u2019ve experienced this first hand with Grooty scratching our door like a puppy at 6 am every single morning. Or going to bed at 10 pm and Groot jumping on our bed and running rings around the duvet while rolling everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If a bunny is a gift for your children, when your children\nwant to play with your bunny is likely when your bunny is wanting to sleep! It\ncan be difficult to see when your bunny is asleep during the day as they can\nsleep with their eyes open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bunnies Are Work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Last, but not least, bunnies are work. While a dog you can let outside to do their business, a bunny needs a litter box inside the house. Perhaps more than one. That means this litter box will need regular cleaning. See our article \u201cHow to litter train your bunny?\u201d<\/a> to see how often you may need to clean it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Further, a bunny loves to chew on things around your house\nespecially if they are made of wood. We are pretty sure wires look like\nspaghetti to our bunny so that is another thing you have to consider. Buying\nwire protectors or finding a way to hide your wires from your bunny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you have boxes filled with items you are keeping, expect those boxes to also be destroyed. As bunnies like to chew on almost everything, your house can look like a farm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Moving from a litter box to the hay, they can have bits of litter and hay stuck to their fur which they drag around the house. We vacuum our entire lounge and within the next few hours, it doesn\u2019t look like we\u2019ve even cleaned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now that you\u2019re aware that a bunny is a long term commitment\nversus a short term Easter gift, where does the tradition of the Easter bunny\nactually come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why Does A Bunny\nRepresent Easter?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    It seems the Easter bunny originates from pagan traditions during their celebration of the start of spring<\/a>. The pagan festival Eostre is dedicated to the Goddess of fertility who is depicted as a bunny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The bunny represents the symbol of fertility and just like springtime, it is the renewal of life. Funnily enough, springtime is also when baby bunnies are born<\/a> as bunnies give birth as soon as the weather warms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The earliest account of the Easter bunny dates back to the 17th<\/sup> century in Germany where an Easter bunny was believed to nest colourful eggs to children<\/a> that were well behaved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Since then, the Easter bunny pagan tradition has merged with the Christian religion as the re-birth of Jesus is like the renewal of life in the springtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Wrapping Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When looking for that gift to top your previous years’ Easter present for your children, please stick with the chocolate versions of these precious bunnies. If you have older children and are looking to make another addition to the family, then a bunny can make very loving house pets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We love our Grooty and her company every day. We were prepared knowing the expenses and the long term commitment we\u2019d have to make. If you read through these points and they didn\u2019t scare you, maybe you are ready to make the commitment too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The bunny is the symbol of Easter, and during this period, buying a real bunny as a gift for their children is a popular way to upgrade from the chocolate version. Bunnies are wonderful and cute pets, but owning a bunny is not like buying a toy. A bunny takes care, money, and love to […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1435,"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/1435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunnyparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}