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About Lee Meyer (Mr.)
Expertise
I have 5+ years of experience with House Rabbits, rescue groups, and working with shelter rabbits. I do educational talks about house rabbits. I advise potential adopters, supervise bunny 'dates', fundraising/educational rabbit events, and help rabbit owners with their rabbits. I will answer questions about: general behaviors, body language, housing, toys, bunny-proofing, diet, spaying/neutering issues, nail clips, preventative measures, diet, and health questions. I will not discuss: anything that deals with rabbits for fur, food, factory-style breeding, deliberate or casual breeding by pet owners, or experimentation.

My focus is solely on rabbits as loved pets. It's why I'm a House Rabbit Society member rather than an ARBA member. If you don't view your rabbit the same way you would a pet dog or cat, please ask another expert your question.

I am not a veterinarian and cannot conclusively diagnose your rabbit. My advice does not take the place of a good rabbit vet. IF YOU THINK THERE'S A PROBLEM, DON'T WAIT FOR A REPLY, GET TO A VET IMMEDIATELY!!! Sometimes what appears to be a small problem is life-threatening.

The House Rabbit Society has references on their site for vets they have researched. There are US and international links here for vets all over the world with rabbit experience: www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

I recommend the following resources to all rabbit owners:

House Rabbit Society - online rabbit info (www.rabbit.org)
Book: Rabbit Health in the 21st Century 2nd Ed. by Kathy Smith
Book: House Rabbit Handbook 4th Ed. by Marinell Harriman

Experience
House Rabbit Member since 2004 Discover Your House Rabbit organizer - 2006 Rabbit Adopter since 2004 HAWS Board of Education member (rabbits) since 2005 HAWS Rabbit Volunteer since 2004

Organizations
National House Rabbit Society, Wisconsin House Rabbit Society, Humane Animal Welfare Society (HAWS), Education Board Member for Rabbits, Friends of HAWS

Education/Credentials
BSEE, MSEE (Electrical/Computer Engineering), Marquette University

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Veterinary Medicine > Rabbits > How do you teach a young rabbit to lick ball?

Rabbits - How do you teach a young rabbit to lick ball?

Expert: Lee Meyer (Mr.) - 11/11/2009

Question
He gets his chin and chest all wet when drinking from a bowl because he raises his head with his mouth full. I switched to a bottle but instead of using his tongue he's trying to bite and chew the tube to get water.

Answer
Hi Tom,

several answers to this one.

First, he will figure it out, because like almost all water bottles, it drips and he is smart enough to know it's got water in it.

Second, rabbits discover and test things with their teeth and tongue and mouth (their mouth is like our hands) so him learning about how the water bottle feels and such is normal. Plus, they are chewers and like to try to chew and nibble on things so this behavior isn't abnormal.

Third, he has to lear n how he wants to get water out of the bottle. Everybody drinks a little different.

Fourth, it is better to position a water bottle spout at his head level when he is sitting in his normal position. You don't want to put it too low ot the ground, it's harder for them to drink it low. It is better to be up at their face level, it will feel easier to drink from at that height.

Fifth, make sure nothing is below the bottle or blocking him to get into a good position to drink easily from the bottle. That means his food bowl shouldn't be under the water bottle, and the space around it should be open so he can get to it easily without anything around it.

You can also tap the ball bearing, with him watching, and show him your finger with water on it. But definitely make sure it's at a proper height for him, because yo uwant him to be comfortable when drinking, as this will encourage him to drink more often and be better hydrated, which is extremely important in small animals that do not have a lot of body fluid volume, and can get dehydrated very quickly and go into shock and die.

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