Bringing Your Rabbit Home
So you’re getting a new rabbit!
My first rabbits were a trio of Palominos, (i.e. two females and one male). I fell in love with the Palomino color, their majestic appearance, and their docile characteristics. Once I had decided on the breed I wanted, I found several breeders and interviewed them at length. Sharon, the breeder I chose lived in Kansas. The only problem is that Kansas is halfway across the country from where I lived, in New York state.
Sharon had been doing this for years, and she had shipped rabbits all over the country. Her extensive knowledge of the breed, and the whole shipping process reassured me. She explained in detail the shipping process and told me she would send them via Delta Airlines. They would arrive at JFK International airport and the airport would call me to inform me of their arrival time.
It was a hot day in August, the kind of day where, when you step off the airplane, it feels like a blanket of humid heat falls on your shoulders. My husband and I arrived at the cargo office, away from the main terminals, and in no time we were face to face with a metal carrier and our three Palominos.
Their carrier didn’t seem to allow them to turn around, but I remembered Sharon telling me that the close quarters would keep them feeling safe and secure. If a rabbit travels in a larger carrier where they can turn around, or even jump, they can get scared by noise, or what they’re seeing around them and injure themselves, or even worse, break their back.
Forty-five minutes later the three rabbits were in their cages, watered and fed. We left them alone to explore their new home. They had traveled a little over twenty-four hours, taken two planes, and arrived safely.
I am an opera buff, so I named them Carmen, Turandot and Figaro. Within two months Carmen gave birth to her first litter. Turandot, however, never became a mother. She enjoyed many a male visitor’s attention and mounted repeatedly by her sister, but for whatever reason, she remained barren. Many years later I figured it out, and I believe that the heat Turandot endured throughout the trip made her barren. Rabbits are sensitive to heat, and probably having them travel at that time of year to our part of the country, was not the best scenario for them.
So when you bring your new rabbit(s) home, keep him or her in a rabbit carrier, that will limit their movements. Think of how a lot of babies enjoy being swaddled and how it makes them feel safe. If you’re traveling in the heat, make sure your bun is comfortable, and postpone transport all together if you cannot control the temperature. If you transport by car, make sure your A/C is working. I know from experience that leaving your windows open in a heat wave is not sufficient to keep animals comfortable if they are traveling in the back of your car.
