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I love animals.  All kinds.  I currently only have a fawn Flemish Giant named Lyle.  He''s the largest breed of domestic rabbit if you're not familiar with bunnies.  He is 20lbs.   He's named after Lyle the kindly viking in the Veggie Tales movies.   I also have a blue merle great dane, Cody.  So, I like big pets.  

I've had hampsters, guinea pigs, rats, mice, turtles, snakes, lizards, cats, newts, salamandars, and a large variety of aquatic animals.  

Oklahoma Howdy to Colleen,

I know a little bit about great danes. They are huge, but most of the ones I've seen are just big babies and gentle as they can be. I understand they are great around children.

 :D  Reference the giant bunny, please tell me more. Did you actually make it a pet, or do you keep it in a cage? I've led a sheltered life and never met anyone with a giant bunny for a pet. The regular questions come to mind, but they might sound funny. Is he house-broken and act like other pets in terms of playing and obedience? I'm also a city boy, but I'm almost certain they don't bark.   ;D  I'm curious about what type of sound they make and if they actually like humans like other pets. When you get through laughing about this, I really would like to know more about a giant rabbit as a pet. I've had hamsters and guinea pigs, but they didn't like anyone, especially me. I fed them and they bit me.   ;D

Tom

Hi Colleen :)

Your bunny sounds really cute :)

When I was little, we had 7 great danes...they were the sweetest dogs!!!  Now we have english mastiffs, but I still love the great danes!!!

Yes, you can housebreak a rabbit. They usually don't make much noise, and they can be taught to perform tricks. They can be trained to walk on leashes, and they will play (perhaps not the same as a cat or dog). The main danger with letting them run loose in the house is that they may chew something they shouldn't. The larger breeds don't seem to bite folks as much as the small ones, either.

I have a Golden Retriever and a very large American Toad (Bufo Americanus). My oldest brother has a leopard gecko, two tree frogs, a mud salamander, a slimy salamander, a spotted salamander, and a long-tailed salamander (I think). He also has a leopard or pickerel frog. He used to have a black widow named Medusa, but she died (my mom was real broken up ;) ). And we also used to have multiple scorpions back when we lived in the Southwest (New Mexico). My mom won't let us keep snakes. It's not because she's afraid of snakes, it's because she doesn't want to have to keep mice in the freezer.  :-\

Lyle stays in a rather large cage in the bathroom.  It has carpeting over the wire so the wire bottom doesn't irritate him (hey, you imagine living on wire).  He has a litter box which he uses faithfully (it is fits in the cage too).  Generally when I'm home he has "free" reign of the house.  I close most areas I don't want him in.  He's not quite like a dog, but I do use a dog harness on him (never use a collar they'd choke themselves).  I take him out for rides, and to the park.  Basically you have to follow him around.  I've taken him to church when teaching the 5 year old class about how God made animals.  He's very friendly and loves being pet.  If you hold him in your arms like a baby and rub his head he'll fall right to sleep.  He likes to play with things.  Rabbits are very curious creatures and will get into anything.  My rabbit is fearless and afraid of nothing least of all the great dane whom he tries to sleep on top of.  I never taught him to come to his name, but he will come to the sound of his treat bag rattling.  I use a spray bottle to correct him.  He has moods and if he is angry or upset he stomps around just like a petulant child.  He'll even grunt.  If he's agitated (like he was this past weekend from the new move) he will make a mess out of his cage (shredding the plastic litter liners, dumping his food, etc).  If he's happy he'll follow me all over the house begging for attention.  He likes to sleep on the radiator and play with the dog's toys by pushing them around with his nose.  He's an awesome pet.  People often complain that they stink, but if you regularly change the litter this shouldn't be a problem.  I have raised his kind and smaller breeds and found that the larger rabbits tend to be better about using their litter.  You have to be careful of making really loud noises around them as they can be frightened easily.  My bunny is an exception to this mostly b/c I used to drag him everywhere with me so he's used to people and new experiences.  I personally buy special litter that isn't toxic... it's recycled newspaper that is compressed to look like litter, and has non-toxic odor reducers and is dust free.  Costs a bit more but is best for my rabbit.  I buy his food in 50lb bags from Farm and Ranch for around $10.  It beats Petsmart and paying $6 for 5lbs.  Really they are great pets.

Wow...your Lyle sounds awesome!!!
My 6 yo had been BEGGING us for a rabbit for like 2/3 yrs now...but w/ the 2 mastiffs and our mixed breed...well, it would be a bit much I think.  I don't want to have to keep the poor bunny caged up, but my one mastiff is such a player, and so strong, I'd be afraid to let her lose around something that size(she's 180/185lbs).

How big are giant rabbits? I've seen some normal pet rabbits but never a giant one.

My brother used to have a black and white rabbit named Sarah, but she got out of her cage (which was outside at the time) one day and got run over. I also know a family who had a bunny named Basil. He was really funny. We would go over to this family's house and at different times Basil would all of a sudden start tearing around in circles at top speed kicking his legs everywhere. It was pretty funny. He lived around 10 years I think, maybe more. He died just recently.

      Flemish Giant Rabbits Show weights=
     Bucks, male senior -  min. 13 lbs, no max
     Doe, Female senior -  min. 14 lbs, no max
     The Largest that I,ve heard of is 79 lbs, in England

Eeep.  My Lyle is only 20lbs.  But 79?  Wow.  He's not that big.....Yeah, Cody (my great dane) is 150.  He's actually really good around new animals even the small ones.  He knows he's not allowed to hurt them.  I just have to worry about them getting bathed b/c he likes to lick them.  Cody actually doesn't even getting into Alpha male contests with other dogs when out.  I'm glad b/c he is a whole lot stronger than I am and if he wanted he could drag me around.   He just kind of looks at other dogs that owners are straining to keep back like they are nuts if he even acknowledges them at all.  

I actually moved in with my sis this past weekend so I'm living with a siamese cat, 2 rabbits (the other is a mini lop... broken sable), a cockatiel, and there are 2 more greatdanes that live outside.  It's busy.  I think my sister is working on finding homes for the cat and bird.  Personally it is too many pets, but I try to find time to give them all love even if only 2 are mine.... Busy busy busy.

Yeah...I know what you mean about too many pets IF you aren't on a farm.  My mom lives right next door...built a MIL's apartment onto the home so we could be near her w/ those med. problems....she also has 2 english mastiffs and a cat...and we used to have 3 cockatiels, about 21 hamsters(started off w/ 2!!!), and around 7 aquariums throughout our home.  I even took in 2 twin white kitties(identical) for about 2 months...son TRIED bringing home a coral snake...w/o asking first..and Lord only knows how many other animals show up on our door til we find the owners.  It's craziness, but my kids, as I do, LOVE animals :)

(http://www.boastore.com/assets/images/JUNE0309M400S.jpg)  (http://www.boastore.com/assets/images/FEB0415F1400S.jpg)


Here is what I like, though I don't have one yet.

Try stuffing that thing in a cage in the bathroom...

We've got 13 rabbits right now...(unlucky number, but hey, there's plenty of rabbit feet to counteract that.)

Oh, I love those things...provided they're under two feet... ;D

I know someone who has a female like that and a male, and they mated...not sure if the babies have been born yet though...will have to check and see.

Me and my brother are real big on snakes. We regularly go up to the Great Smoky Mountains and look for copperheads. We've found a few and my bro has even been bitten by one. It was his fault. He was being naive. :P Anyway, I'm trying to see if I can identify that snake. The closest thing I can come to is some weird corn snake. It has the corn snake/rat snake kind of head, but I'm clueless. What is it?

Oklahoma Howdy to All,

Colleen,

Thanks for the information on the giant bunny. He does sound interesting, but I think that I will limit my pets to dogs. My two old dogs can almost talk, and they only snort when you do something that upsets them.   :D

Willowbirch,

(13) rabbits - WHEW!! Let's see, that would be a herd of rabbits, right?   ;D

Forrest,

Those snakes look pretty in a picture, but there are only two different kinds of snakes:  (1) poisonous land snakes, (2) poisonous water snakes.   ;D  It's close, but I think that I would rather wrestle a gorilla.   ;D

Love In Christ,
Tom

'Course I've heard of rabbits. Did you think I was stupid?  :P

We raised them when I was younger.  Flemish Giants, French Lops (the other big ones), and Mini Lops.  We also had 1 Holland Lop, and a Rex.  The most we had at once was 32.  But we sold the babies.  We showed them with ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association).  Lyle is actually show quality if I cared to go to shows anymore, his parents are both Grand Champions, and he has the traits to be one himself.  I just don't have the time for that much and for now 1 is just fine.

Willowbirch,
I think he blackeyedpeas was just saying that with 13 rabbits you have a herd.  Not that you hadn't heard of them.  But I can't speak for him....

Oklahoma Howdy to Colleen,

 ;D  I think that Willowbirch was zinging me for using city boy terms. My wife is a school teacher, and I kid her with the term "herd" when talking about all kinds of groups of animals that are not called herds.  Here's the funny part:  I don't know what a large group of rabbits would be called, but "herd" works for me.  OOPS! - I just looked out the window and saw a herd of geese.   ;D

By the way, I just watched a show on animal planet that had giant bunnies as pets. They were playing with other animals, and it was a riot. I asked my wife if she wanted a pet rabbit, and she sent me to my room.  However, that's where I wanted to be anyway.   ;D

Love In Christ,
Tom

We don't have any boa's out here. But my husband is constantly shooting all other kinds of snakes. If you want, we'll mail you one!  ;D

        Their both BOA Contrictors, the one on the left is a Red Tail, the right an, Albino. BEP their nonpoisonous they live up to about 30 years, 10-12ft 50lbs

I had a boa for a while.  I named him Mars.  I sent him home with a missionary that was in our area.  Mom was scared of him and wouldn't come in my room with the snake there.  They are neat creatures.

My cousin had a boa that was HUGE, longer than 14 ft...and he lived to be somewhere between 17 to 20 yrs old.  (he was a SPOILED snake)

Okay, cool. No wonder I couldn't identify them. The only snakes I know are the ones that live in Tennesse, and boas definitely don't!

BTW, I asked earlier for the size of giant bunnies and I was given their weight, but what about height and length?

I've had a few rabbits too, I think I've had about three. When I was younger I had these two rabbits, one of them died and we're still not too sure why. The other my mom gave away..

On Easter morning I woke up, went out to feed my rabbit, and she was GONE! I found out a couple years back that the 'Easter Bunny' didn't really take her, but mom gave her away to some woman.

I think some of the weirdest pets I've had is a Robin and a Blue Jay. A cat (not mine) killed their mothers... not to give cats a bad name or anything, but I took in the only remaining hatchlings. This was about three or so years ago, when I was in sixth grade, and it wasn't too easy. They both had to be fed every few hours, even through the night.

I've also had horses, but we had to get rid of them when we moved from Kentucky. :(

Then there's cats, I've had a ton of cats. Not too many dogs, to be honest I prefer cats over dogs, and I've had some birds in my past too.

Oh dear!  ;D You'll laugh about that in a few years. Trust me. (The EASTER BUNNY took her?  ??? What an insult to a kid's logic! *sigh*) I've had some wild birds from time to time...they usually don't survive long for me, though.
Wierdest pet I've had so far: African Hissing Cockroach. 4 inches long, with an abdomen filled with air channels that "hiss" when it is disturbed. Loves chocolate and pizza cheese. It also purrs and responds to light stroking. It does not eat birds.  Who needs a cat?  :P