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Average life span: of 5-15 years

Rabbits make excellent pets. Because of their nonaggressive behavior and quiet manner they are becoming a popular house pet. They are relatively easy to care for and can be litter box trained.
Handling:
Improper handling may cause serious, life threatening injuries to your pet rabbit. Fractures and dislocations of the back, can cause paralysis of both rear legs. These injuries occur when rabbits are suddenly frightened and attempt to escape. If a pet rabbit violently struggles, it should be released. Try to pick up your rabbitt when it has calmed down. A rabbit's spine is relatively lightweight and fragile. When a rabbit becomes frightened, it struggles by kicking its back legs. This can cause overextension of the muscles of the lower spine, which can cause an injury to your pet's spine. Rabbits should never be picked up by their ears. If you are concerned about being scratched by their claws, place a towel over the rabbit's back and wrap it around the body to restrain all four feet before picking up your rabbit. You may also trim their claws as needed. Pick up a rabbit by sliding one hand under its breastbone and grasping both front legs between the fingers of this hand, then use your other hand to hold and support the rear legs as you pick up your rabbit.
Housing:
Rabbits can be housed indoors or outdoors. Keep your indoor rabbits in a suitable enclosure when they cannot be supervised. Provide your rabbit a roomy cage with either a solid or wire floor. If you keep your rabbit in a cage with a wire floor, provide a solid surface on about half of the floor space to prevent injury to your rabbit’s feet. Use compressed pine, or recycled newspaper for bedding in solid floor cages. Clean the wet bedding out daily. Change out all the bedding, clean and disinfect the enclosure in a well ventilated area or outside weekly, with a dilute bleach solution. Clean the enclosure more often if needed. Rabbits can be easily trained to use a litter box. Place the litter box in the area where your rabbit uses the bathroom most often and place a little wet litter and fecal pellets in the box to encourage your rabbit to go there. If your pet is to be kept outside protect it from excessive heat and cold. Always provide shade and a place to get out of the weather. You should always monitor your pet rabbit when it isn't in its cage. Some rabbits will chew on their cage and whatever is in the enclosure, you can provide chew toys made for rabbits and small animals or small dog chew toys.
Food:
Commercially available pelleted foods for rabbits will provide all of the essential nutrients to your pet, as long as the pellets are fresh. The pellets should be available at all times unless overeating and obesity are a problem. You should feed your young rabbit pellets made of alfalfa and pellets made of timothy for your adult rabbit. Quality alfalfa hay for young rabbits or timothy hay for adult rabbits should always available. This may reduce intestinal problems. Other foods they may have as treats include dark green lettuce, spinach, alfalfa sprouts, carrot tops, beet greens, carrots, and apples. These items should not be offered in larger amounts because they are water rich and lack the nutrients of the pelleted diets. All foods should be provided in heavy bowls that resist tipping over. The sides of the bowl should be high enough to keep bedding and fecal pellets out of the food. Clean the food bowl often.
Water:
Use a large water bottle with a sipper tube to provide fresh clean water. Water bottles should be cleaned daily. You can add vitamins to the water however the water must be changed daily to avoid bacteria growth.

Note: If your rabbit becomes ill or is injured consult your veterinarian immediately.
Note: All animals including pet rabbits can carry germs that may infect humans. Here are some simple precautions that can reduce the risk from getting sick from your pet.
Always wash hands after handling your pet or after cleaning up after your pet rodent
Keep your pets cage clean and free of soiled bedding
Clean cages in well ventilated areas or outside, use a diluted bleach solution to disinfect cage, and all nonporous items kept in the cage
Do not kiss pet rodents or hold them close to your face
Do not allow pet rodents around food preparation areas
Do not allow pet rodents to come in contact with wild rodents, their droppings or nests.
Pregnant women or persons with weakened immune systems should consider not owning a pet rodent. If they do have a pet rodent, the pet should be kept in a seperate room and cared for by other people.
Note: This care sheet is a general guide, to learn more about your pet consult a book about it.