TRUCK the rabbit seeks new forever home, ideally with kids

137th Ave near Bancroft Ave, San Leandro CA

Description

Truck the rabbit is a large (but not giant), black (w/ some brown pepper) male flemish giant. He was born in April '20 and has been with us since May 2020. He has grown a lot and seems to be at his full weight/size now, at about 8.5lbs. He is not fixed. He has mostly been an outdoor bunny, sleeping in a hutch under our pergola and spending the days out of the hutch free-range in the backyard. We chose Truck as our pet for a couple primary reasons: the Flemish Giant breed is known to be docile around children and low-maintenance w/r/t grooming and hygiene. Both are true. Truck has never once acted out with us or the kids. That said, a year in, the kids have not bonded in the way we would have wished. Instead, they are afraid of Truck's tickles in the same way they're afraid of being licked by dogs. While we would probably overcome this in time, there's another... perennial reason that things are too challenging for us to deal with. After looking at over 100 open houses, we chose our home in large part because of the backyard. The landscaping was thoughtfully designed with raised beds and was tended to by a master gardener before us, setting us up for gardening success. While we heard a couple of stories about rabbits getting into gardens, we thought we could defend against it. We did okay last year, probably because of the rabbit's smaller size, but this year is turning out to be a stressful disaster already. Like everyone else dealing with their own everything else, we don't need any additional anxiety and have made the difficult decision to find Truck a new home with a family less focused on gardening--ideally with older, caring children that won't make the bunny feel like the Elephant Man. We (mostly I) have shown Truck a lot of love over the year. I put 20+ hours and lotsa dough into his finely crafted hutch, where he's very comfortable, and I have painstakingly clicker-trained him to come to the hutch at meal and snack times and nighttimes. He's been my lap-top companion while I've worked (on finding work) from home for a year and he is tickling my toes as I write. He likes when I rub his head with my feet. In warmer weather when the doors are open, he has free range into the house and garage. Is Truck housebroken? Basically. On several particularly cold nights this winter, he stayed in garage with his food and did his business in his litter box. While he probably could be an indoor rabbit, I think he'd probably be happier running and lying around outside as he has been. Treed or more enclosed outdoor areas are always better. While Truck is free to a good home, his hutch is for sale for $200 obo. Ad for hutch here on CL can be found by its title, "high-quality, well crafted bunny rabbit hutch". Obvs can't let go of the hutch until we can be assured the rabbit's going to a good home. Looking to re-home asap. Thanks for reading through.