How to stop an impulsive pet purchaser?

My little sister (age 14) decided today that she was going to make a desperate plea to my mother for her to have a rabbit. She did this by pulling out our old, rotting plastic rabbit hutch and attempting to clean it, and placing a picture of our old bunny and a note that said "I miss her. Can I get a bunny for Easter, please mama?"

My mom, having the same impulsive personality, decided that it would be a GREAT idea. :mad:

.....

I'm kind of mad right now, neither my sister or mother are listening to me when I tell them how I feel about this. My sister has had many pets before (leopard gecko, mice, fish, gerbils, who knows what else) and, in my opinion, failed to care properly for them or plan ahead. They say they want to get a bunny through a rescue, though I dunno if they'll even adopt to someone who has pet snakes, lol.

So... what I want to do is figure out how to stop her from getting a rabbit, or at least slow her down and have her do some research. Also, I'd appreciate any information on why rabbits aren't ideal pets for kids and require a lot of time and work. I don't think I'll be able to stop this, but I'll try.

I don't want to make this into a rant, so I'll stop there for now. Thanks.

convince her that your snakes will be bothered by the smell of rabbits so having a rabbit is out of the question. then convince her to get a snake since theyre awesome... as the older sibling these diabolical plans come to me too easily :D

When I think of kid I think of like 4-9 when they have no sense of responsibility, at 14 your sister should be old enough to care for a rabbit, but if you are looking for a good argument ask her what she is going to do with it when she gets bored with it. Ask your mother what she will do with it when your sister eventually moves out. The adoption agency will hopefully help drive home just how much responsibility having a rabbit will be and your mother will ultimately be responsible for it.

There is only so much you can do about it if your mother is supporting your sister. Hopefully your sister has learned from her past experiences and will take better care of the rabbit.

Haha. Yeah, I'm not too keen on the idea of my snakes having to smell rabbit all the time.

I'm just really frustrated about this. No one is on my side and they're all rainbows and butterflies about this and sugar-coating rabbits like they're mice.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

When I think of kid I think of like 4-9 when they have no sense of responsibility, at 14 your sister should be old enough to care for a rabbit, but if you are looking for a good argument ask her what she is going to do with it when she gets bored with it. Ask your mother what she will do with it when your sister eventually moves out. The adoption agency will hopefully help drive home just how much responsibility having a rabbit will be and your mother will ultimately be responsible for it.

There is only so much you can do about it if your mother is supporting your sister. Hopefully your sister has learned from her past experiences and will take better care of the rabbit.

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My sister is immature for her age. From what I've seen she doesn't have much responsibility and is not very good at researching and planning ahead.

The unfortunate thing is that to my knowledge, she hasn't learned from her past experiences. It's ongoing as I just recently cleaned her rancid fish tank (there was slime and sludge all over the place, the fish were all moping at the bottom).

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Originally Posted by rebelrachel13

they're all rainbows and butterflies about this and sugar-coating rabbits like they're mice.

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i just lol'd so hard:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Convince her to get a baby rabbit and when she starts to neglect it accidentally drop it into the snake's enclosure :D
That was a joke, dont really do that lol.
Just tell the adoption lady you have snakes and she probably wont let your family have a rabbit...

As a mother, it can be hard to tell them no. On the other hand, we had a rabbit for many years. They can be sweet, but they have very sharp nails that need constant trimming (which they don't usually like). They also are stinky. Their urine has a very strong smell. Very frequent cleaning. Maybe tell your mom to have your sister show some responsibilty first. By earning enough money (from chores, working etc.), to pay for the rabbit, shavings for tray, water bottle, food, food dish, and toys. See if that lasts, how persistent she is. If she can make it, maybe she is ready.

I would perhaps bring up the other pets that she's not taken care of properly, urge her to do a lot of research, or perhaps even "accidentally" leave a few rabbit caresheets up on her computer :D

If you tell the adoption lady you have snakes, she's not likely to give you a rabbit, but that also may reflect poorly on you in her eyes. After all, to her you'd just be some weird person with snakes that wants to buy someone's cute fluffy pet bunny and feed it to your snake.

You can say this to your mom and sister:


The rabbit needs daily play time out of the cage (~3 hours a day or so). They are not a display animal. Will you have time for this?
Will you have the time to spend toilet training the rabbit? Will you tolerate potty accidents when the rabbit is out for play time? Who's cleaning the rabbit messes up? Have you bunny proofed your house/room? How will you tolerate chewing and digging? If the rabbit becomes ill, do you have the time and money to take it to a vet?


And regarding snakes and rabbits. I've tried feeding newborn rabbit kits to my big snakes. They didn't know what to do with them. The rabbits were left untouched overnight when these snakes are food pigs. I threw a rat in with the rabbit the next day and the rat was instantly gone. I know all snakes react differently to other animals, but the chances of the rabbit smell bothering your snake probably is very small. Many people do keep their rats and snakes together in the same room after all and haven't seen any ill effect.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

You can say this to your mom and sister:


The rabbit needs daily play time out of the cage (~3 hours a day or so). They are not a display animal. Will you have time for this?
Will you have the time to spend toilet training the rabbit? Will you tolerate potty accidents when the rabbit is out for play time? Who's cleaning the rabbit messes up? Have you bunny proofed your house/room? How will you tolerate chewing and digging? If the rabbit becomes ill, do you have the time and money to take it to a vet?


And regarding snakes and rabbits. I've tried feeding newborn rabbit kits to my big snakes. They didn't know what to do with them. The rabbits were left untouched overnight when these snakes are food pigs. I threw a rat in with the rabbit the next day and the rat was instantly gone. I know all snakes react differently to other animals, but the chances of the rabbit smell bothering your snake probably is very small. Many people do keep their rats and snakes together in the same room after all and haven't seen any ill effect.

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1. your rabbit ate a rat lol? :D
2. i know it wont bother the snake but i was saying that she could use that as an excuse as to why a rabbit would be a bad idea

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

1. your rabbit ate a rat lol? :D

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I thought the same thing lol

I think you are asking the wrong group of people for advice on how to deter impulsive animal purchases... :D

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

I think you are asking the wrong group of people for advice on how to deter impulsive animal purchases... :D

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Boy howdy ain't that the truth!!!!

I would convince her that she probably wants something smaller than a rabbit, like say a pet pair of rats, and that way she can take care of her pets while in the mean time she can also give you some free feeders if they have babies. You can also bring this up to your mom in saying that, when lil sis gets tired of taking care of them....you have the perfect solution!!

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Originally Posted by PweEzy

I would convince her that she probably wants something smaller than a rabbit, like say a pet pair of rats, and that way she can take care of her pets while in the mean time she can also give you some free feeders if they have babies. You can also bring this up to your mom in saying that, when lil sis gets tired of taking care of them....you have the perfect solution!!

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best idea by far :gj:

That's a good idea, thanks! I love rats, and I wouldn't mind a couple feeders. I will bring this up to my sister subtly, just by asking her if she's considered rats at all. ;) If it's inevitable that my sister is going to get a pet, I'd rather it be something less complicated and time-consuming (and carpet-consuming, lol).

How about a virtual pet instead... :p
JK


No costs, no housing, no mess.

I have three indoor bunnies, and I would NOT recommend them (rabbits) for someone who doesn't have a lot of time on their hands and who isn't responsible.

They're urine SMELLS awful, but can be tamed down with some vanilla extract added to their water bottles. I still clean cages at LEAST every other day, and sometimes even then I can still smell the urine (the bunnies are kept in our snake room as well). Also, their bedding gets anywhere and everywhere (I use aspen) and can be a pain to clean up on carpeted surfaces (it clogs vacuums easy too).

Also take into account clipping nails and buying lots of chews for them to gnaw on. My buns hate their nails being done, so it's a bit of a hassle to get them clipped (wrapping them in a towel to do it) and money for chews, cleaning products, food, toys, etc adds up quickly.

I'm a big fan of spaying and neutering as well, and that's PRICEY. My girl bunny was $200+ to get her spayed, and my last male I need to neuter will run me at almost $200. Neutering is definitely a MUST if you end up with a boy rabbit (ie from a petstore or whatnot) because they will spray all over the place (like a cat) and stain carpets/furniture if you don't clean it up quickly. Plus, bunnies live longer and healthier lives when they're fixed, but again that procedure isn't cheap.

I love my bunnies and wouldn't get rid of them for the world, but they are a BIG commitment and I recommend anyone to think really hard before taking one on as a pet. I think your sister would do better with a easier to care for pet.

Just my .02

One thing no one else brought up, do either of them realize how BIG a bunny can get ?

I've seen them 2 plus feet long and at least 6 or 8 pounds. They don't stay tiny and cute for long. They get as big as most housecats.

A bunny that size needs a lot of room, are they prepared for that ?

You said it was an old cage, has either of them thought about the total expense of this "Easter Bunny" ? Sure $10 or $15 for a bunny is one thing, but close to $100 for all the necessary supplies could be enough to dampen mom's enthusiasm.

Gale

Sadly when it comes to mother daughter pets there's usually no stopping it

We used to show rabbits. We had at one time five four space stacked rabbit condo's with some other miscellaneous cages. About twenty rabbits in our basement. These were wire bottom cages with trays under each one filled with pine shavings. If you let up on cleaning holy crap they stunk. Also unless she is going to treat it as a throw away pet there is tons of stuff to keep up on. Nail clipping, teeth clipping in they don't get enough to chew plus baby rabbits can get mallocclusion where there bottom teeth grow in front of there top ones then they can't eat and will starve. They can get urine burn from improper care plus rabbits can just up and die for absolutely no good reason. In our ten years of raising and showing I can tell you all this stuff can happen and more. Rabbits can be hard to take care of properly plus depending of what breed they can be mean and some time vicious . believe me when I tell you I have had my hand laid open many times by a grumpy bunny. With all the bad we loved breeding and showing rabbits but they can be work to keep healthy.

At least she doesn't buy a new pet every two weeks like a certain friend of mine who I have tried desperately to get to stop her pet purchasing craziness. Her latest idea is to get a breeding pair of RTBs and if they get too big...(more like when...she's never really even had a pet snake until a few weeks ago when she decided on the spur of the moment to buy three breeding pairs of KSBs)...she wants to give them to me. :rolleyes: While I wouldn't complain about a couple of healthy BCIs...it's still absolutely ridiculous.

I hate it when people buy up animals like some disposable commodity that they think they can get rid of or ignore when they are bored. I definitely agree that the rat idea is a much better one. At least then, if she gets bored with them, you'll be able to take care of that. I would argue that Rabbits are at least as much work as a cat, if not more. :/ Point that out to your mother and see if she's still game. Also, as has been mentioned, make sure your mother is aware that she will more than likely end up caring for it and that she is willing to make that commitment.

I have a rabbit, a dwarf Hotot buck. He's a hoot and a half but he's also a LOT of work, equal to if not as much as my snakes, both on a daily basis as well as weekly. And his food/bedding/toys/upkeep/care/ add up pretty fast. They're a lot of fun to have but as has been said previously, they aren't (shouldn't be, anyway!) a throw-away pet, in spite of what people think. They're considered an exotic and there aren't a lot of vets that deal with them, at least in my area. The ones that do work with them tend to charge more than a dog, cat, etc. Mine is litter trained and I'm working on training him to "play" a mini piano I bought him...that's progressing about as well as can be expected, lol!

This web-site has some great information on it and while some of it can be taken with a grain of salt, most of it is right on the money and is great to start the discussion process or maybe more importantly, the thinking process prior to your sister jumping in with both feet to the detriment of the animal.

http://www.rabbit.org/


For me, personally, I see each and every animal I purchase/adopt as being a sacred obligation; laugh or scoff if you want, but that animal, more so even than a child, is completely, 100% dependent on me for E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G and as such it's my responsibility to provide for it, regardless of it's size, appeal, attitude/disposition, etc. Not trying to harp the Sarah Mclachlan commercial, as I truly despise the HSUS but just saying, something to think about if she is capable of pondering something larger than herself. Don't mean to be mean or hateful, just sincerely hope she rises to the occasion rather than continue with what sounds like her less-than-stellar status quo. I dunno, just my dime's worth of insight on the topic.

I used to have 2 chinchillas. Me and my sister (she was 10 years old, I was 17) bought them together, and decided which one is mine and which one is hers. We agreed that we split up the cleaning and so on. The first couple of weeks went great, the chinchillas bond to us very well, until she stopped taking care of them as we agreed from start. Of course I took care of them. 2 months later I sold them, because I was not ready back then to have 2 chinchillas. It was very sad, but I thought I would get some backup from my sister. I loved my chinchillas so much !

Now, two years later I am ready to buy myself 1 chinchilla. The only problem is that my mom (yes, I still live with my parents) will probably not allow me to own one again. I wish she would understand why I sold them 2 years ago. it wasn't because I was tired.

What I am trying to say is that most small kids (not all of course) say they will take care of a pet, which they will do the first couple of weeks, but in most cases they will get tired of it. Hopefully your sister will take care of the bunny if she gets one, but tell her it is work to do every day of its life. Good luck !

Unless your sister is like me when I was little, I would do everything in your power to stop the possible hell that she may spawn. (I was serious about pet keeping from day 1 when I received two hamsters. Never gave up on them no matter how bad they smelled and how hard and much they bit. Loved and nourished them their entire existence. :))

Simply put, seriously review to your mom and your sister the statistics of your sister's failure. Blatantly state that you will have no part in nannying your sister's pets and when she (your mom) is left with the difficult responsibilities for care of the rabbit, or when it is found rotting and dead, drenched in it's own urine, it will be her fault for adopting such an animal and further prove your point that your sister thinks of animals as miscellaneous toys as opposed to a conscious organism that relies on its guardian to thrive.

Alternatively, badger your sister and your mom on all the responsibilities of owning the rabbit and continue to do so if/when they receive it. If they fail to do their responsibilities, further threaten to re-home it to coincide with animal abuse laws. That at least helps with my irresponsible-dog-owner sister. (It apparently isn't enough though. Sadly, she's older than me but it more messy and irresponsible. Never cleaned her hamster, drowned one, and neglects the poor "family" dog, albeit she claims to be the dog's owner. Gives me an excuse not to nanny it, but don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for it.)

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