Should I leave nesting boxes in the rabbits cage all the time?

Celeste5 · Oct 21, 2024

Hi! I put this exact paragraph in the replies of another post but I thought it might attract more attention if I put right posted it. I’m a new member of this sight so I hope this is the right place to put this question. So, I’m pretty new to raising rabbits, like this is still my first year of raising them. I have two does and two bucks living in a large cage, colony style. Everything I’m reading during my research says I should not leave a nesting box in their cage all the time but I don’t exactly see why? From what they say, it’s just because the rabbits might use the nesting box as a litter box, but I also know what side of the cage they do their business on, so couldn’t I just put the nesting box on the other side? Because I’m new I don’t really know if I have pregnant does or not but I do know the bucks have been going after the does. I really don’t want to loose the first litter because of my ignorance. The temperature here is also getting pretty low at night which was another reason I thought maybe I should leave a nesting box in their cage all the time. If this was the right place to leave my question, any help or information I could get would be great. Thank you so much!

tambayo · Oct 21, 2024

Colony setting should be plenty of room for a nestbox (or 2, 3, 4).
Bucks like all males will compete for females and right to breed. Your does may miscarry from that chasing and your bucks may fight. I'd split the colony and give each buck their own doe.

Celeste5 · Oct 21, 2024

tambayo said:
Colony setting should be plenty of room for a nestbox (or 2, 3, 4).
Bucks like all males will compete for females and right to breed. Your does may miscarry from that chasing and your bucks may fight. I'd split the colony and give each buck their own doe.

This may just be stupid on my part but I assumed when I started that having a colony meant more than two rabbits in a cage at a time. The woman I got my rabbits from said she was only able to get her does to have babies in a colony. Is a colony just how many rabbits you have in total or is it per cage? I just tried to look it up and didn’t really find an answer. Is it better to have a pair per cage?

Preitler · Oct 21, 2024

Colony means a group of rabbits in a rather large area, where they can sort out their social structure. Multiple does, can't tell about bucks since I have never done it this way. Might depend on how the bucks get along.

I have all my does together (2 active, 2 retired), and bring the does to the buck when I want. I don't need many litters, and no winter litters. As far as I've read, in a working colony the does set the pace of breeding.
One buck with one doe, with what I've experienced I would think that the doe as single target for his attention could be somewhat overwhelmed- I had 2 bucks (in succession) with a spayed girl as free roam house bunnies, they spent hours following her around oinking every day, now that I got another buck my house rabbit got snipped, much more laid back now, not a Pita to everyone anymore.

When I had just 2 does I let the buck live with them for 3 weeks when I wanted them bred, that worked great. Litters were up to 2 weeks apart though.

I would keep the does together, there is so much social interaction going on among them, imho that's one of the great things of a colony setup. Or my girls group setup.

If your nestboxes don't gat abused, leave them in. If you don't know when a doe is about to kindle, be sure there are enough boxes.

Celeste5 · Oct 21, 2024

Preitler said:
Colony means a group of rabbits in a rather large area, where they can sort out their social structure. Multiple does, can't tell about bucks since I have never done it this way. Might depend on how the bucks get along.

I have all my does together (2 active, 2 retired), and bring the does to the buck when I want. I don't need many litters, and no winter litters. As far as I've read, in a working colony the does set the pace of breeding.
One buck with one doe, with what I've experienced I would think that the doe as single target for his attention could be somewhat overwhelmed- I had 2 bucks (in succession) with a spayed girl as free roam house bunnies, they spent hours following her around oinking every day, now that I got another buck my house rabbit got snipped, much more laid back now, not a Pita to everyone anymore.

When I had just 2 does I let the buck live with them for 3 weeks when I wanted them bred, that worked great. Litters were up to 2 weeks apart though.

I would keep the does together, there is so much social interaction going on among them, imho that's one of the great things of a colony setup. Or my girls group setup.

If your nestboxes don't gat abused, leave them in. If you don't know when a doe is about to kindle, be sure there are enough boxes.

Thank you so much! That helped dispel a lot of my confusion. So you would recommend separating the does from the bucks and only putting them together every once in a while? I could easily split my large cage into two sections as me and my dad built it ourselves but do you think two males together by themselves would be a bad idea? Further splitting them, two does in a cage, and a male each in two other cages also doesn’t quite seem like a good idea to me. I don’t want the males to get lonely all by themselves or… well depressed I guess would be the right term. I just want all of them happy and safe while also having kindles. Would you have any further suggestions?

kusanar314 · Oct 21, 2024

Celeste5 said:
Thank you so much! That helped dispel a lot of my confusion. So you would recommend separating the does from the bucks and only putting them together every once in a while? I could easily split my large cage into two sections as me and my dad built it ourselves but do you think two males together by themselves would be a bad idea? Further splitting them, two does in a cage, and a male each in two other cages also doesn’t quite seem like a good idea to me. I don’t want the males to get lonely all by themselves or… well depressed I guess would be the right term. I just want all of them happy and safe while also having kindles. Would you have any further suggestions?

Most domestic rabbits are raised in individual cages and do just fine. They are social by nature but they are fine in their own cages and males will fight each other.

If you want to do a colony, I would separate one male from the girls, and when you get a litter, save a couple of girls from that litter and when they are big enough give them to the other male, that way you have 2 cages with the males separate.

RabbitsOfTheCreek · Oct 21, 2024

Celeste5 said:
This may just be stupid on my part but I assumed when I started that having a colony meant more than two rabbits in a cage at a time. The woman I got my rabbits from said she was only able to get her does to have babies in a colony. Is a colony just how many rabbits you have in total or is it per cage? I just tried to look it up and didn’t really find an answer. Is it better to have a pair per cage?

I always merge my litters together when they're old enough but I'd never consider it a colony

Celeste5 · Oct 21, 2024

Thank you so much. I think I will go ahead and split one of my bucks from the group.

Celeste5 · Oct 21, 2024

This was all very helpful. Thank you to all of you! I will be splitting a Buck from my group of four and I will also be buying at least a couple nesting boxes. Thank you again!

Rabbits by Accident · Oct 26, 2024

This is very interesting! I just built a mini-colony setup planning 2 does in each. I would love to have the ability to have my two bucks together, but I think they might have to be raised together from babies. I don't think it would work to put two adults together. One of my previous bucks broke into his son's cage & they fought & the son castrated the father (well, maybe not castrated, but in any case he was quite bloody, never tried breeding him again)

Anyway, I wanted to ask - how large is your cage? How big are your rabbits?

I know what you mean about wanting them to have happy lives! I've had mine in quite large individual cages since I started a couple years ago. I had shelves, etc, but I always hated it. Last litter, one doe got very depressed when I sold her last kit, so she is going to get to keep a daughter next time & they'll be a mini-colony. I do put them out in a large 'play' area every day or so, but they have to cycle through so each one only gets out about 1x per week. They don't like going back to their cages, for sure!

Celeste5 · Oct 30, 2024

Rabbits by Accident said:
This is very interesting! I just built a mini-colony setup planning 2 does in each. I would love to have the ability to have my two bucks together, but I think they might have to be raised together from babies. I don't think it would work to put two adults together. One of my previous bucks broke into his son's cage & they fought & the son castrated the father (well, maybe not castrated, but in any case he was quite bloody, never tried breeding him again)

Anyway, I wanted to ask - how large is your cage? How big are your rabbits?

I know what you mean about wanting them to have happy lives! I've had mine in quite large individual cages since I started a couple years ago. I had shelves, etc, but I always hated it. Last litter, one doe got very depressed when I sold her last kit, so she is going to get to keep a daughter next time & they'll be a mini-colony. I do put them out in a large 'play' area every day or so, but they have to cycle through so each one only gets out about 1x per week. They don't like going back to their cages, for sure!

The large cage I was keeping all four of them in to begin with is 45” long, 33” wide and 29” tall. Since I split the does from the bucks, this space seems too big now. Along with having happy animals I also want to have an efficient farm and that just doesn’t seem very efficient anymore. All the rabbits I have are a medium size. To give you an idea, one is a rex rabbit and another is one of those blondes you can find at TSC sometimes.
I have a couple questions for you if you don’t mind. One is, I noticed you mentioned shelves. Are those the stacking cages? During my research into a better cage set up I found several people selling stacking cages online. We use a similar system for our quail and it works pretty good most of the time. If the shelve you were talking about are like that, why did you dislike them so much?

Celeste5 · Oct 30, 2024

Rabbits by Accident said:
This is very interesting! I just built a mini-colony setup planning 2 does in each. I would love to have the ability to have my two bucks together, but I think they might have to be raised together from babies. I don't think it would work to put two adults together. One of my previous bucks broke into his son's cage & they fought & the son castrated the father (well, maybe not castrated, but in any case he was quite bloody, never tried breeding him again)

Anyway, I wanted to ask - how large is your cage? How big are your rabbits?

I know what you mean about wanting them to have happy lives! I've had mine in quite large individual cages since I started a couple years ago. I had shelves, etc, but I always hated it. Last litter, one doe got very depressed when I sold her last kit, so she is going to get to keep a daughter next time & they'll be a mini-colony. I do put them out in a large 'play' area every day or so, but they have to cycle through so each one only gets out about 1x per week. They don't like going back to their cages, for sure!

The website isn’t letting me post my full answer and questions so forgive me if this is in several smaller pieces.
The cage I had all four of the rabbits in before I split the does from the bucks is 45” long, 33” wide and 29” tall.

Celeste5 · Oct 30, 2024

Rabbits by Accident said:
This is very interesting! I just built a mini-colony setup planning 2 does in each. I would love to have the ability to have my two bucks together, but I think they might have to be raised together from babies. I don't think it would work to put two adults together. One of my previous bucks broke into his son's cage & they fought & the son castrated the father (well, maybe not castrated, but in any case he was quite bloody, never tried breeding him again)

Anyway, I wanted to ask - how large is your cage? How big are your rabbits?

I know what you mean about wanting them to have happy lives! I've had mine in quite large individual cages since I started a couple years ago. I had shelves, etc, but I always hated it. Last litter, one doe got very depressed when I sold her last kit, so she is going to get to keep a daughter next time & they'll be a mini-colony. I do put them out in a large 'play' area every day or so, but they have to cycle through so each one only gets out about 1x per week. They don't like going back to their cages, for sure!

I’m sorry, idk what’s going on with the website. I’ll just ask my last question and hopefully the post will go through. I don’t want to be bothering you with post after post. You mentioned you put your rabbits in a play area. I wanted to ask how you transport your rabbits from their cage to the play area. I don’t know about your rabbits but mine definitely do not like being picked up. They remind me every time with deep scratches why I should not pick them up. The cage I mentioned before has the opening at the top so that the rabbits cannot escape if the lid should be left open. I hope that never happens, but I have quite a large farm and I can forget what I was doing sometimes taking care of everyone else. With the opening at the top, it makes it very hard to get the rabbits out especially since they fight me the entire time. I’ve almost given up giving them a play area in the grass because of how much they scratch me when I’m trying to move them. I want them to be happy, but I also don’t wanna be scratched and I especially don’t want them to scream at me. My family had two rabbits when I was really little and I remember going to pick one up and it screaming at me which really frightened me.

Anyway, any tips you can give me would be great.

tambayo · Oct 30, 2024

Predators grab from above, bunny just thinks its going to be eaten alive. Front opening cages are a lot easier for this. Other then that, keep them close to your body so they are safe and have no room/reason to wriggle, panic and try to get away. And while you can handle them, also keep the nails trimmed. That along with long sleeves will stop most of the scratching and panic induced injuries to you.

Rabbits by Accident · Oct 30, 2024

Hope I can answer all your questions but don't worry about multiple questions to me anyway, I don't mind at all.

Pictures are worth 1000 words so here is my blog with info on my setup. Which is what I am changing away from, but answers most of your questions.
https://wackypup.com/rabbit-tips.html

I use wire dog cages - huge front opening doors & room for shelves. I feel like an overlord with slaves, so I try to make it as pleasant for them as possible, which means lots of room & various levels even if it increases my work a tiny bit (not much actually) I was keeping the breeding does in cages that are 36"x48"x30" high - just one doe in each cage.

My girls are around 13+ lbs. This is Calypso. She got really depressed when I took her last baby away, she LOVES her babies. Anyway, I decided I would figure out a way to have them have roomies & found this video where a guy made a mini-colony with 2 does. I've got more info & pics in my post here:
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/new-...age-inspired-by-kummer-homestead-on-yt.37637/

I bought a couple GIANT 4'x8' dog kennels where I am putting 18" of dirt in the bottom so they can dig & be cooler/warmer - it's over 110 here in the summer sometimes. So each pair of rabbits will have 4'x8' of space with dirt to dig in

TRANSPORTING: I just pick 'em up. You'll get better at it. When I started, I was kind of afraid of them & their huge teeth LOL
These are the tips I have
1) Always talk to them & pet them first - say the same thing
- I always say "ready" ... "I'm going to pick you up - get READY - are you READY? Be READY" etc
2) hold them with their feet away from you - under their upper legs & HOLD THE BACK OF THEIR NECK
3) if they start to kick - just drop your arm & hold them only by the back of their neck - and say 'NO'
4) I look them in the eye & tell them they're wonderful LOL I don't know if it helps, but I always kiss them & tell them they're the best rabbits ever. Mine are EXTREMELY calm, even though weeks or months will go by with no handling at all.
5) No way would I be clipping rabbit toenails LOL ... just sayin'
Don't have time for that! If I couldn't pick them up, well they just wouldn't get picked up!
6) if you want arm protection, Harbor Freight has nice thick LEATHER arm covers for cheap - they are used for welding. Also leather gloves. That's what I used when I first started, but now I go in bare armed & bare midriff LOL If one ever goes off on me, I'm screwed LOL I'd probably just drop it (although the neck thing works wonders)

I have only had one rabbit that was EVIL! I sold her off with a warning, she was INSANE! She would spin in a circle trying to bite you while you tried to pick her up. EVIL!!!

I think part of it might be that they are Tamuk rabbits which seem to be much calmer & more laid back than other breeds. I know they're much, much friendlier than the Californians I had before.

Don't be overwhelmed, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate already. The rabbits will be fine if they don't get to 'play' - they mostly just sleep anyway LOL

Feel free to ask any questions at all, or just vent. You can reach me through my website if you want

It's all good!

Celeste5 · Oct 30, 2024

Rabbits by Accident said:
Hope I can answer all your questions but don't worry about multiple questions to me anyway, I don't mind at all.

Pictures are worth 1000 words so here is my blog with info on my setup. Which is what I am changing away from, but answers most of your questions.
https://wackypup.com/rabbit-tips.html

I use wire dog cages - huge front opening doors & room for shelves. I feel like an overlord with slaves, so I try to make it as pleasant for them as possible, which means lots of room & various levels even if it increases my work a tiny bit (not much actually) I was keeping the breeding does in cages that are 36"x48"x30" high - just one doe in each cage.

View attachment 43528

My girls are around 13+ lbs. This is Calypso. She got really depressed when I took her last baby away, she LOVES her babies. Anyway, I decided I would figure out a way to have them have roomies & found this video where a guy made a mini-colony with 2 does. I've got more info & pics in my post here:
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/new-...age-inspired-by-kummer-homestead-on-yt.37637/

I bought a couple GIANT 4'x8' dog kennels where I am putting 18" of dirt in the bottom so they can dig & be cooler/warmer - it's over 110 here in the summer sometimes. So each pair of rabbits will have 4'x8' of space with dirt to dig in

TRANSPORTING: I just pick 'em up. You'll get better at it. When I started, I was kind of afraid of them & their huge teeth LOL
These are the tips I have
1) Always talk to them & pet them first - say the same thing
- I always say "ready" ... "I'm going to pick you up - get READY - are you READY? Be READY" etc
2) hold them with their feet away from you - under their upper legs & HOLD THE BACK OF THEIR NECK
3) if they start to kick - just drop your arm & hold them only by the back of their neck - and say 'NO'
4) I look them in the eye & tell them they're wonderful LOL I don't know if it helps, but I always kiss them & tell them they're the best rabbits ever. Mine are EXTREMELY calm, even though weeks or months will go by with no handling at all.
5) No way would I be clipping rabbit toenails LOL ... just sayin'
Don't have time for that! If I couldn't pick them up, well they just wouldn't get picked up!
6) if you want arm protection, Harbor Freight has nice thick LEATHER arm covers for cheap - they are used for welding. Also leather gloves. That's what I used when I first started, but now I go in bare armed & bare midriff LOL If one ever goes off on me, I'm screwed LOL I'd probably just drop it (although the neck thing works wonders)

I have only had one rabbit that was EVIL! I sold her off with a warning, she was INSANE! She would spin in a circle trying to bite you while you tried to pick her up. EVIL!!!

I think part of it might be that they are Tamuk rabbits which seem to be much calmer & more laid back than other breeds. I know they're much, much friendlier than the Californians I had before.

Don't be overwhelmed, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate already. The rabbits will be fine if they don't get to 'play' - they mostly just sleep anyway LOL

Feel free to ask any questions at all, or just vent. You can reach me through my website if you want It's all good!

Thank you so much. That is all very helpful. Your rabbit is beautiful by the way and that was a cute baby. I’ve tried to hold them by their scruff and that never works for me. They just keep kicking which makes me afraid one of us, me or the rabbit, is going to get hurt in some way whether that be me getting scratched or the rabbit having a bunch of its hair torn out. Oh and I was going to say, we had a small dwarf rabbit that was evil like the one you said you had. We called her Burt because she would jump at us and make that sound.

We ended up giving her away because I was the only one who could take care of her. Everyone else was too afraid to reach their hands in the cage to give her food and water.

Celeste5 · Oct 30, 2024

tambayo said:
Predators grab from above, bunny just thinks it’s going to be eaten alive. Front opening cages are a lot easier for this. Other than that, keep them close to your body so they are safe and have no room/reason to wriggle, panic and try to get away. And while you can handle them, also keep the nails trimmed. That along with long sleeves will stop most of the scratching and panic induced injuries to you.

I hadn’t considered the rabbits thinking I was a predator. That does make sense because the does I moved to another cage are much calmer with me now and their door is on the side instead of the top. Thank you for the advice.

Rabbits by Accident · Oct 30, 2024

Celeste5 said:
Thank you so much. That is all very helpful. Your rabbit is beautiful by the way and that was a cute baby. I’ve tried to hold them by their scruff and that never works for me. They just keep kicking which makes me afraid one of us, me or the rabbit, is going to get hurt in some way whether that be me getting scratched or the rabbit having a bunch of its hair torn out. Oh and I was going to say, we had a small dwarf rabbit that was evil like the one you said you had. We called her Burt because she would jump at us and make that sound. We ended up giving her away because I was the only one who could take care of her. Everyone else was too afraid to reach their hands in the cage to give her food and water.

I really think getting the sleeves & gloves will help you a lot. You will be much calmer when you know they can't hurt you. Your calmness will translate to the rabbit. The calmer you are the more calmness you can extend to the rabbit. After they get used to being handled more, they'll probably calm down.

When you hold the scruff, you should be holding a lot of skin, not just fur.

Celeste5 · Oct 30, 2024

Rabbits by Accident said:
I really think getting the sleeves & gloves will help you a lot. You will be much calmer when you know they can't hurt you. Your calmness will translate to the rabbit. The calmer you are the more calmness you can extend to the rabbit. After they get used to being handled more, they'll probably calm down.

When you hold the scruff, you should be holding a lot of skin, not just fur.

I might have to go to harbor freight and get some then. I’m just afraid of pulling out hair because of how much they squirm. The more they do that the more I loose my grip on them until I barely have their skin.

Rabbits by Accident · Oct 30, 2024

Celeste5 said:
I might have to go to harbor freight and get some then. I’m just afraid of pulling out hair because of how much they squirm. The more they do that the more I loose my grip on them until I barely have their skin.

I don't like holding them by the scruff of their neck either but sometimes it's the best way to get them to submit to being picked up. You have to grip quite a lot of skin so they're held very securely. They should calm down immediately, just like a kitten does when it's mom picks it up by the back of it's neck. If I think the rabbit is going to be nervous, or say if a dog comes running up, I will lay my hand on the back of their neck just in case. That way, if they do react, I'm ready. You can usually tell ahead of time because they'll tense up.

Should I leave nesting boxes in the rabbits cage all the time?

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