Advice for moving?

As some of you may have seen from my other posts, I'm planning a big move in a couple weeks. I'll be traveling from northern Ohio to Tennessee, a roughly 9 hour drive (or a bit longer depending on how many stops we make, lol). So far, it looks like my mom will be driving her SUV down to transport my dogs, cats, rats, and rabbits down so I don't have to worry about what to do with them and a U-Haul. I will pretty much have to make this all go in one trip, I just don't have the money to make more than one trip.

I figure the first thing I'll do when I get down there is get the rabbits situated. Probably set the cages in the grass or something while I work so they don't have to be cramped in the carriers longer than necessary.

Any tips for making this trip as easy as possible for the rabbits? I've traveled long distances with them for shows before, and I've moved the rabbitry to new locations before. I want this to go as smoothly possible though, as I've cut down to the bare minimum and can't take any risks losing anybody. I've got rabbits ranging from ~8 weeks up to ~3 years of age, everything in between.

Thanks! =)

We recently moved with two adult buns and eight 10-week-old kits. Everybody was very helpful.

I don't know how many you have, but they recommended I put the adults in separate critter carriers, since they are more likely to freak out than the young ones. Putting the kits in a cage or in a box in the back seat of the car was suggested. I really liked the box idea.

So I got a nice, big, sturdy, new box and put Feline Pine in the bottom and then a lot of hay on top. Then I put the kits in. In less than five minutes, I had kits hopping around my feet. They had chewed a hole in the box. Glad I found out that wouldn't work BEFORE I was driving down the road!!!

I had a 24x24" cage, so I used it.

I put a tarp down over the back seat of the car (up the back and even the doors some too). I put old towels down where the cage was to be, then put the cage in. I put a bunch of hay in the cage, and then we loaded it with bunnies.

I put the carrier with their mom in it beside the cage, and the carrier with the dad beside that next to the other door.

The trip was 5 hours long and went off without a hitch. We did stop halfway, and I offered water to the babies, but they were all highway hypnotized and only one of them moved -- and that was to nudge the water bottle. I don't think any of them had urinated at all during the trip, either.

Good luck with your move!

When we moved (grant it it was only an hour drive) we left all the rabbits in their own cages and put them all into the back of a mini van with it's seats removed it took a couple trips because 20 some cages are not going to all fit in one van. But they went from basement > van > new rabbitry in their own cages and no one stressed over it, mainly because they're all use to travelling to shows anyways.

I would give them some probiotics before and after the trip as a precaution, we have something called Best in Show, which is pretty much the same thing has benebac it's like yogurt with out the excess calcium and lactose, and it's a miracle worker for when rabbits go off feed or if weanlings get enteritis. Or if you have babies who are orphaned before they're weaned.