Brand new rabbit
Pair this with the first-week lane
The starter guide teaches the big truths. The first-week support sheet helps the room actually carry them.
1W
new rabbit
first week
carry it
Care · Starter guide
First rabbit basics
A calm front door into the six major Care chapters and the first-week starter lane.
This is the starter page for humans who need the big rabbit-care corrections first: space, hay, water, health watching, safe handling, and companionship.
Start with the rabbit’s real needs, not the myths people carry in with them.
Major chapter
Habitat & space
Set up the rabbit’s daily world more safely.
Main lane
Major chapter
Feeding & water
Anchor daily care in hay, water, and routine.
Major chapter
Health signals
Learn the quiet warning signs humans miss.
Major chapter
Safety & prevention
Reduce avoidable fear and harm in the home.
Starter page identity
Learn how this page is supposed to work before you wander through it
The starter page is a calm on-ramp: one rabbit guide stack, one notebook rule, one doodle role, and a clear boundary for when to leave this page and go faster.
Starter map
Starter route
Use this starter page as a doorway, not a dead end
These are the next useful moves when the big basics are landing and the room needs the right companion page, sheet, or faster lane.
Next useful move
Something feels off
Leave the starter lane and speed up
When the room is drifting into warning-sign territory, switch from basics to the faster path and health watching surfaces.
SOON
health
watch
faster lane
Room setup is the problem
Cross into habitat + safety
A lot of first-week trouble starts in the room: traction, cords, gaps, hideouts, litter flow, and over-handling pressure.
ROOM
setup
traction
prevention
Ready for deeper reading
Switch from starter page to chapter doors
Once the giant basics make sense, use the path hub to choose the situation-first doorway into the fuller handbook.
MAP
path hub
chapter tree
cross-links
Key foundations
Start with the big care moves
This page keeps the field-guide tone but slows one practical rabbit-care lane down into a clearer first read.
Field read
Starter move 01
Give the rabbit real space
Rabbits are not cage decorations. Space, traction, hiding spots, and room to move are part of care from day one.
Habitat
Think floor life, not tiny confinement.
Hiding places are part of safety, not extra fluff.
Movement and rest both need room.
Starter move 02
Feed for rabbit health, not cartoons
Hay and water are the everyday backbone. Myths and treat-heavy thinking throw rabbit care off fast.
Feeding
Hay first changes everything.
Fresh water is not optional or occasional.
Gentle routine matters more than novelty.
Starter move 03
Watch quietly and act early
Rabbits often hide distress. The quiet changes matter — appetite, posture, energy, litter, movement, and social shifts.
Safety
Do not wait for dramatic collapse.
Stillness can mean comfort or concern.
Gentle handling protects trust and bodies.
Observation plates
Observation Kit in this lane
These pages still use the sanctuary-native rabbit study language, so the deeper reads feel like part of the same humane field guide.
Observation Kit
Field tools
Object diagrams and quick references
Small supporting graphics for the things humans handle or set up around the rabbit.
Reference set
Guide notes
What Care keeps correcting here
These notes pull from the main Care chapter lessons and keep the subpage grounded in the real handbook.
Field notes
Guide note 01 · main lesson
Lesson
Red flags
Signals that deserve more attention
These are the moments where humans should stop normalizing what they are seeing and take the rabbit seriously.
Do not shrug off
Red flag 01
Tiny starter setup
If the rabbit is being brought home to a cramped cage with little room to move, that is a care problem, not a personality trait.
Space affects behavior, stress, and body health.
Red flag 02
No hay / poor water access
A new-rabbit setup that centers treats, pellets, or aesthetics instead of hay and water needs correction immediately.
Feeding basics belong on day one.
Red flag 03
Rabbit living alone by default
Humans often plan for a single rabbit without understanding how important companionship can be.
Bonding should be careful, but social care still matters.
Common mistakes
Human habits this page is correcting
Care is not about blaming people for learning late. It is about making the wrong pattern visible early enough to change it.
Course correction
Common mistake 01
Buying the starter kit, not building the life
People often mistake the pet-store shopping list for real rabbit care.
Setup
A rabbit needs a full living setup, not just a container.
Comfort, traction, hiding, and room matter as much as bowls.
Common mistake 02
Handling too much, too fast
A new rabbit does not need to be constantly picked up to feel loved.
Trust
Let the rabbit learn the room first.
Relationship-building often starts on the floor, not in the air.
Common mistake 03
Treating confusion like stubbornness
Early stress, stillness, or caution is often misread as the rabbit being difficult.
Reading
Slow the room down.
Look for fear before judging behavior.
Quick checks
Pause-and-check reminders
Small before-you-assume checks that help humans slow down and choose safer care.
Check list
Quick check 01
Does the rabbit have room to move, hide, rest, and come out by choice?
That is one of the first habitat corrections to make.
Quick check 02
Is hay truly the daily center of feeding, with water always available?
A rabbit diet built around myths creates problems fast.
Quick check 03
Would you notice if the rabbit suddenly ate less, moved differently, or seemed off?
Early watching is part of love, not overreaction.
Continue through Care
Keep moving through the handbook
Special pages are not separate from Care. They sit under the major chapters and help humans go deeper without bloating the top level.
Chapter tree
Major chapter
Habitat & space
Set up the rabbit’s daily world more safely.
This deep page still lives inside its main chapter lane.
Major chapter
Feeding & water
Anchor daily care in hay, water, and routine.
This deep page still lives inside its main chapter lane.
Major chapter
Health signals
Learn the quiet warning signs humans miss.
This deep page still lives inside its main chapter lane.
Major chapter
Safety & prevention
Reduce avoidable fear and harm in the home.
This deep page still lives inside its main chapter lane.
Checklist support
Printable starter support you can actually use now
This lane now has real one-page sheets for the first week, daily watching, and low-pressure setup work so humans can carry Care into the room.
Use in real life
Starter sheet
First week checklist
A calm first-days sheet for setup, daily watching, and slowing the room down before pressure takes over.
1W
new rabbit
first week
setup + watch
Daily support
Daily health watch sheet
A one-page appetite, water, droppings, posture, and energy check to keep early drift visible.
WATCH
daily check
quiet changes
health
Teaching hosts
Bunnies still guiding the page
The rabbits still interact here — not as pasted-on mascots, but as the gentle guides teaching people how to care better.
Guide rabbits