7 Interesting Facts You May Not Know about Rabbits ...

When my husband and I decided to get pet rabbits for our children, I didn't ask the person selling them any questions. I honestly thought they would be easy to take care of, but I quickly discovered that taking care of rabbits requires a little more time than I thought. I decided that since they were going to be with us, I had to do some research to find out some facts about rabbits. One of the first things that I discovered is that a rabbit lives for about 10 years. This does vary depending on their breed and habitat.

Rabbits have such cute ears, which are very useful to them. They are able to use their ears to detect a nearby predator. Rabbits also use their ears to control their body temperature. If they are cold, they put their ears against their neck to keep warm. If they are too hot, they stick their ears straight up in an attempt to keep cool.

You may be surprised to know that baby rabbits are born without any fur. Their fur doesn't start to grow until they are a few days old. Surprisingly, a rabbit is also born deaf and blind. They are unable to hear until they are around 5 days old. Most baby rabbits start opening their eyes when they are 10 days old.

Rabbits have excellent vision. In fact, it's nearly impossible to sneak up on one of them because they can actually see if something is behind them. Sadly, rabbits do have a blind spot. Can you guess where it is? If you guessed in front of their nose, you guessed right. Even though rabbits can see all the way around, they are unable to see what's right in front of their nose.

Rabbits may look tough, but they are actually very fragile. As a result, we must be very careful when picking them up. Mishandling them could cause them to accidentally injure themselves. In fact, rabbits can kick their legs so hard that they can actually break their own back.

When most people decide that a rabbit may make a good pet, they only decide to get one. This is actually not a good idea. Rabbits tend to get lonely and do much better when they have a friend. If you decide to get more than one rabbit, make sure that they are happy together. If not, they may fight and can seriously injure each other.

Rabbits look very happy and playful, but most of them don’t like to be bothered by people. At times they can even become quite aggressive. They may grunt and lunge at people or objects. It’s even possible for them to bite when they feel threatened. If you have a new rabbit, it’s best to let them get used to being around you before you handle them.

My family has really enjoyed having pet rabbits. Has your family ever had a rabbit? What was your experience like?

Sources: extension.umn.edu, en.wikipedia.org