The Bunny Chat Thread - For Bunny Owners

[Compost King]

OK now that my rabbits are all set up and boring (boring is a good thing) I have to find out what age is a safe age to breed them. I know its possible for them to reproduce young but its not always successful. All my rabbits were born in June, do I wait 6 months? (Dec/Jan) or do I breed them sooner?

 

[Teneniel]

You can't see it in the picture I took, but Tiny Tim (the br-red nz buck) has a maple chunk in with him he throws around and chews on. I moved it into his box to get it out of the way so I could take pictures. The rest of his toys he's ripped up already - he'll get new when he moves cages over the next couple weeks. He's only been with us for 6 weeks after all...

my oldest doe is a thrower. This morning I left my hefty garden rake in the run on accident and I found it WAY across the run with her flopped over next to it looking very self satisfied

 

[Teneniel]

OK now that my rabbits are all set up and boring (boring is a good thing) I have to find out what age is a safe age to breed them. I know its possible for them to reproduce young but its not always successful. All my rabbits were born in June, do I wait 6 months? (Dec/Jan) or do I breed them sooner?

you get longer life out of your does if you wait 6 months. Sometimes the boys don’t figure it out until closer to 7-8!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Wow, that sounds like an awesome setup!

I've just seen so many people that keep rabbits in teeny tiny cages all their lives amd neglect them, but that's far from the case here!

Me too - often pet owners tbh. But here's a picture of my 6' tall partner INSIDE one of my rabbit cages during construction of the outdoor breeder hutch. Based on this, I think we're doing pretty good. XD

Hanging hay bundle for NZW/FG mix grow outs. (Box that disintegrated the next week and replaced in the background.)

Tractor time with NZWs

One of the 4x4x2 garage cages with a 10lb adult rex doe. (She LOVED sitting in her box, even when the cage was freshly cleaned, and she would always move it into the middle and run laps around it when she wanted to get moving. She was our best doe ever. Really sad - her breeder got out of rexes and I can't get her line any more.)

Sharing corn stalks last year. One of these kits is Donut - the mom to the two harlequins I just posted.

So, like.... We're not perfect. But we're educated on their care and we try. (And I do love showing off pictures I've taken of my rabbits.)

 

[LapisLazuli]

I read in Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits to keep them in their hutch and not let them be on the ground because of worms, mites, etc. I've seen other people who do let their rabbits be on the ground so I'm kind of confused any clarification would be greatly appreciated. Also what are the pros and cons of letting rabbits on the ground and not letting them on the ground.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

OK now that my rabbits are all set up and boring (boring is a good thing) I have to find out what age is a safe age to breed them. I know its possible for them to reproduce young but its not always successful. All my rabbits were born in June, do I wait 6 months? (Dec/Jan) or do I breed them sooner?

I breed starting at 6-8 months for does, smaller ones mature a little faster. I've had an oopsy or two at 5 months and they never ended well, and seemed to just stop the does growth entirely so I don't go younger.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I read in Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits to keep them in their hutch and not let them be on the ground because of worms, mites, etc. I've seen other people who do let their rabbits be on the ground so I'm kind of confused any clarification would be greatly appreciated. Also what are the pros and cons of letting rabbits on the ground and not letting them on the ground.

Storeys guide is kind of meh.

Rabbits CAN get worms, mites, etc, and that's one reason why people don't like using bedding and ground. I use bedding and have gotten mites (easy to treat). I've never had worms (harder to treat). And that's true you can get both being on ground.
But like all animals there's kind of a trade off. Storeys guide is very much American CAFO Agriculture Techniques. It's not focused on welfare/holistics much. Rabbits on the ground are much more active, they get a lot more exercise, they express a lot more natural behavior. And if you've got a secure pen that's unlikely to get parasites into the soil because wild animals can't get into it as easily. But the risk is still there and very real.
So it's about whether the risk of illness outweighs the potential for happier regular rabbit behavior in your own setup. Like if your goal is meat animals, a parasite load could be REALLY detrimental and treating that many rabbits is expensive. But the risk of an occasional parasite load in a pet rabbit might not outweigh its happiness and treating 1-2 rabbits is much cheaper/easier than a whole herd.

 

[LapisLazuli]

Thanks for the reply that certainly clears things up!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

It's worth noting, treating internal parasites in rabbits is VERY hard. Like doses of panacur can take months depending on the extent of the parasite load and the damage can be permanent.

Externals (fleas, mites, etc.) is easy to treat (ivermectin for fleas, baby oil for earmites) and more common in rabbits with natural (hay/straw) bedding.

Lots of people avoid both with hanging/stacked wire bottom cages. I use bedding because I think the enrichment of getting to dig through hay is worth the cost of treating for fleas or mites once or twice a year. Tractor time is controlled for my rabbits so I can monitor the conditions carefully and mitigate the risks (like making sure the ground is dry and has lots of grass), which I could not if they were on ground 24/7. But different strokes for different folks - this is just what works for me.

 

[Compost King]

I read in Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits to keep them in their hutch and not let them be on the ground because of worms, mites, etc. I've seen other people who do let their rabbits be on the ground so I'm kind of confused any clarification would be greatly appreciated. Also what are the pros and cons of letting rabbits on the ground and not letting them on the ground.

Storeys guide is kind of meh.

Rabbits CAN get worms, mites, etc, and that's one reason why people don't like using bedding and ground. I use bedding and have gotten mites (easy to treat). I've never had worms (harder to treat). And that's true you can get both being on ground.
But like all animals there's kind of a trade off. Storeys guide is very much American CAFO Agriculture Techniques. It's not focused on welfare/holistics much. Rabbits on the ground are much more active, they get a lot more exercise, they express a lot more natural behavior. And if you've got a secure pen that's unlikely to get parasites into the soil because wild animals can't get into it as easily. But the risk is still there and very real.
So it's about whether the risk of illness outweighs the potential for happier regular rabbit behavior in your own setup. Like if your goal is meat animals, a parasite load could be REALLY detrimental and treating that many rabbits is expensive. But the risk of an occasional parasite load in a pet rabbit might not outweigh its happiness and treating 1-2 rabbits is much cheaper/easier than a whole herd.

I have to agree with ChocolateMouse on this. I have kept rabbits in cages before when I tried making a meat rabbit rabbitry and it depressed me. I figure the parasite issue will be easy to semi easy to deal with and the rabbits might be over all healthier and happier with my rabbit pen/Colony set up. Storeys is going to tell you the best thing to do for livestock, which I am ok with doing but they are not going to tell you what's best for the rabbits well being. Its all in how or why you want to raise rabbits. If you are raising strictly for meat then cage them up and make the best meat possible, if you raise them for other reasons cages might not be the best thing for them.