Don’t Buy Your Kids Live Easter Bunnies

At Easter, if you’re thinking of buying your child a live “Easter bunny,” stop and think about whether you’re prepared to raise a rabbit. If you are, and you’ve done some research and decided you’d like to own a pet rabbit, then Easter is as good a time as any to bring your rabbit home. On the other hand, if you’re only thinking of this rabbit as an “Easter bunny,” then you should probably stop and think about the fact that this is a living creature, and not bring it home unless you really want a pet rabbit—for the rest of its life.

If you are thinking about bringing home an “Easter bunny” and raising it, the first thing you should know is that a baby rabbit will probably live at least ten years, and you will be responsible for his care for that time. Rabbits are relatively easy to care for, but do require daily food and water, and plenty of attention, love and play time.

Rabbits are not actually good pets for small children, so if your children are too young to really appreciate and understand how fragile and timid rabbits are, and act accordingly, a rabbit is probably not the best pet for your family.

Assuming you’ve decided that you do want to raise a rabbit, you will need some basic supplies for taking care of your rabbit. Start with a large hutch or cage, indoors or out. You need a cage that will be at least five times the size of the rabbit, to allow for plenty of room for lying down and playing, as well as sleeping, eating and drinking. You may also need bedding for the bottom of the cage, or cardboard for the bunny to stand on to get off the uncomfortable wire in his cage.

You’ll need a feeder and water bottle that fit on your bunny’s cage, and commercial food, as well as some hay and dark leafy vegetables, for feeding your bunny.

You may also want to litter-train your bunny, in which case you will need, of course, a litter box and litter, and a guide on how to train your bunny.

And you will need to spend a lot of time with your bunny, give him lots of love and attention, and, if at all possible, give him another bunny as a friend, because bunnies are extremely sociable and get lonely by themselves.

If all of this sounds like more than you’re prepared to handle, then a live “Easter bunny” is not a good choice. If you believe someone you know might decide to gift your family with a bunny, make it clear that you would not be able to accept such a gift. And if someone does gift your children with a bunny, give it back or find someone who can raise it well. You are not obligated to raise a rabbit if you’d rather not.

On the other hand, if you feel raising a rabbit as a family pet is something you and your family really want to do, why not make it an Easter bunny, rather than a just-any-day-of-the-year bunny?