Rabbit's DON'T belong in cages!!!

chicken farmer

Songster
10 Years
Feb 7, 2012
1,505
99
244
Southern,Ohio
The natural life of a rabbit is to dig,burrow,run,hop,eat grass,be together,feel the dirt underneath there paws,live in burrows underground and just be rabbits. Rabbits do NOT get any of that in a hutch/cage all they can do is sit there and hop a foot or so and that's all they get. Could you imagine there life and how boring,dull,and hell it must be? And there sitting on a wire floor that hurts there feet and like I said they must be bored out of there mind and not very happy. Imagine if you were in a all wire cage and how bad your hands and feet would hurt from your body weight on top of wire and you would only have enough room to hop a foot or so and turn around.You wouldn't have a nice place to cuddle up or be warm or feel safe and be happy and have a fulfilling life that you loved.
Like I said if you think about you in that small wire cage your whole life with nothing to do except turn around and hop and eat and drink on wire you would wish to be dead. That is no life at all for a rabbit,I mean you wouldn't do it to a dog or cat and a rabbit is no different. Look at wild rabbits or any animal for that matter,they have up to miles of territory and have burrows and they know there's food here and water here and my burrow is over here and I like to sleep under this bush over here and these logs are good hiding spots and ALL the things they love and have in there habitat. Rather you raise them for meat/4-h/pets or whatever think about where your rabbit lives it's whole life and you expect it to live there when you are raising them and they didn't choose to be put in that little cage behind the garage. And a lot of rabbits I have seen just sit there,chew or mouth the wire a lot just out of boredom and frustration of being in there.
Yes,I have 2 hutches in my backyard and I have a buck in one and a doe in another but soon I'm gonna get a spot in the yard about 30 by 30 foot section and dig down about 5 feet than put wire than fill it back up and put wire around that so they can dig down but not be able to get out. And I'll have them a box and food and water and they can run,be together,dig burrows,eat grass,get out of the wire hutch and be rabbits and live a happy/healthy/natural life. I live on a little homestead and have chickens,ducks,garden,compost pile and other things here in the country and might raise my rabbits for food sometime soon but whatever reason your raise them for think about where YOU make them live there whole entire lives at and how you could make it better and for them. And the only reason people raise them in cages is because of easy clean up since the urine and poop falls right through the wire,but that doesn't matter look at there sad live's.
Thank you rabbit raisers for reading this and hope you guys understand where I'm coming from with this and how you could make your rabbits life's better. I know it isn't the easiest task but we could still do something for our rabbits. Here's a page that show's and gives you information on natural or colony rabbit raising and it is very helpful and is a great idea http://raisingrabbitsessentials.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Raising-Rabbits-in-Colonies-fljaoy.pdf Thanks for reading!!
 
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There was a short article in either Mother Earth or Grit a few months back about a couple who had adopted a similar approach. Very interesting reading - thanks for sharing,
 
I see what your saying but with show rabbits breeders, like I, don't have time to catch them wipe them off or give them a bath, and take them to the shows. Wire cages are there to keep them clean and protected from things that want to eat the and diseases. This is a great idea for pet rabbits or retired show rabbits. :) I might try this for my non-show bunnies. :) great idea.
 
Here's a quote from the page I pasted above ''For those of you who have a negative impression of colony rabbits. I want to let you know that my rabbits show very well, judges are impressed with the over all condition of my rabbits and when told they are colony rabbits, of course they are shocked, they had that bad impression too.''
 
my rabbit's have a section.. well technically two.. they have a 10 x 11 one that they aren't allowed in right now becuase i'm growing grass in it.. (one more week!) and the second is kind of temperary, 5 x 6 in both, i don't have a wire bottom but i do have wire mesh buried about 3 ft under ground connected to the walls.. so basically they can dig all they want as long as it's not out of their safe enclosure. It's their instinct to dig.. so why not let them? During the night though, they do go to their own seperate cages/hutches
 
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