Rabbit Litter Question

[Werechicken666]

Hi All,

I'm converting a large chicken tractor into a rabbit tractor and had a couple questions I wanted to run by y'all.

1) Is there any issue with adjacent male/female rabbit enclosures with wire separations? IE Fighting through the wire.

2) The coop portion of the tractor has a built in double nesting box level with the floor of the coop and a trap door to the run. My plan is to move the impregnated female from her usual enclosure to the coop with the trapdoor closed until the kits would be old enough to move to the fully enclosed run. However, since the nesting box is already has a divider to make it a double bay, could I put two impregnated females into the large coop with each having their own nesting box? Otherwise I would remove the divider making a single large nesting box.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Bunnylady]

Any time you have two rabbits separated only with wire, there is some potential for fighting. IME, most rabbits don't seriously fight through the wire, but there have been a few notable exceptions that resulted in missing body parts. Mostly, though, those were same-sex conflicts. Bucks spray to mark their territory, and a doe caged next to a buck will get sprayed. Also, there is some risk of breeding through the wire. I'm not quite sure how they manage it, but it does occasionally happen; I don't know that it's something you really need to worry about, but it is something to be aware of.

As to whether you can house two bred females together - that will depend on the does. Some does can get along, but does are pretty territorial as a rule; pregnant does particularly so. Some people manage to keep rabbits in colonies, but whether a colony works usually depends on how much space is involved and just how mellow the rabbits are. If the does were "friends" before they were bred, they may continue to get along, but there is still a risk of them trying to use the same nest box and babies may get inadvertently killed in the process.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

A solution I've seen for separating rabbit cages with wire is to do double wire dividers, so that there is more space between each cage to prevent fighting. I suppose it won't necessarily prevent spraying, but if you do the dividers with enough space, it may not be as much of an issue. It's an easy solution that doesn't use all that much extra material.

 

[Werechicken666]

I appreciate the information. Missing body parts, huh? It would be pretty easy to design a gap of two inches between the wire of adjacent cages. Since inadvertent mating might be a problem, I'll probably do same gender adjacency. Given the two inch gap, it should prevent any injuries and with genders on separate levels, it should eliminate accidental impregnation.

 

[Copper Creek]

I'd recommend urine guards if it is a male by a female.