It's just not true.

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PulpFaction

PulpFaction

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I hear all the time from certain people that keeping rabbits on wire is cruel, it hurts their feet, yadda yadda yadda. And even MENTION having a Flemish Giant on wire and you're in for a world of hurt.

Well, I believe Sil, my 10 month old Flemish has something to say to those people.

"Not true!"

Silvia is my yard and barn rabbit. She has the run of my entire little (fenced) yard and her FAVORITE place to sit and hang out all day long is on top of triple stack of wire cages in the barn. 1x2 wire, all day long, by choice.

Booyah.

Don't even ask how she gets up there. I don't know. Probably climbs it like a spider monkey.
 
I have a couple of rabbits who prefer wire, they wouldn't sit on their boards for the life of them and forget trying to put them in a cage with shavings.the shavings will be dug out of the cage.
 
i have several like that as well. And then I have others who will ONLY sit on a piece of tile, others who will ONLY sit on a piece of cardboard, and then the odd one that likes a piece of wood. ...not just for sitting on, but to use for rearranging the cage. Move it, sit on it, move it... oh...that's not right...move it, sit on it. :) Silly beastie.
 
My bun is just the opposite. He hates to stand on the wire. He doesnt have a resting board in his cage, he instead has a towel and he absolutely loves to sit & lay on it. When he is out of cage and running free around the house I lay down a towel for him in the house, too, and he goes straight to it when he wants to nap. He plops down on it, rolls on his back and then just passes out for some zzz's. :)
 
Our English lops had problems on wire so we had to colonize them. one of my best cremes got sore feet from peeing on then setting on the tile. so now we have wood resting boards.
 
My english lop buck has a big board in his cage and whe he went out to my friends house so she can use him for breeding I put Annie in his cage and she likes the wire. She is never on the board. I try to use the smaller squared hardware cloth in hopes that it is better on the feet.
 
My Netherlands are cleaner on wire.It does not hurt there feet.i know if they are in pain.they have thick fur on there feet.<br /><br />__________ Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:49 am __________<br /><br />
 
Jasharia":1etjiaio said:
My english lop buck has a big board in his cage and whe he went out to my friends house so she can use him for breeding I put Annie in his cage and she likes the wire. She is never on the board. I try to use the smaller squared hardware cloth in hopes that it is better on the feet.
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Hardware cloth is not really suitable for rabbit flooring as it has too much "give" and can actually contribute to sore feet. It is acceptable for the tiny breeds because they are so light, but I would never use it myself for a heavy breed like an English Lop. In addition to the potential foot problems, the larger "bunny berries" that an Elop produces will not fall through easily.
 
Jasharia":3uavgjot said:
My english lop buck has a big board in his cage and whe he went out to my friends house so she can use him for breeding I put Annie in his cage and she likes the wire. She is never on the board. I try to use the smaller squared hardware cloth in hopes that it is better on the feet.
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Actually hardware cloth is worse for their feet. 1 x 1/2 or 1/2 x 1/2 14g wire would be better. The hardware cloth can sag and the wire is small and can hurt their feet. A firm floor is better and you can give them a resting board or something to get off the wire. Just what I have been told... :)
 
Jasharia":m76f2i6b said:
My english lop buck has a big board in his cage and whe he went out to my friends house so she can use him for breeding I put Annie in his cage and she likes the wire. She is never on the board. I try to use the smaller squared hardware cloth in hopes that it is better on the feet.
Click to expand...

I've also heard not to use hardware cloth because its not galvanized (I think) and its VERY abrasive to bunny feet, or anything feet for that matter.

I'm pretty sure if Pepper didn't want to be on wire, she wouldn't voluntarily go into her cage at any given time. She'll sit in there with the door wide open and not have a care about her feet.
 
I think a lot of sore hocks that get blamed on wire floors are actualy the result of letting fecal matter and urine get soaked into the hair mats on their feet. That will most definitely cause sore feet and infections with the lightest scratch. You have to keep those floors clean whatever you use. If you let the manure pile up there you'll have troubles.
 
most of my rabbits like to sit on a tile, but they don't seem to be in pain at all on the wire. i had one rabbit get a pretty serious case of sore hocks, but she was the doe that always pooped in one corner (never ever ever would even think about letting a bunny berry fall outside her 4 inch square poop corner.) and so the poop piled up pretty fast in my tray (about every 3 days is when it would start coming through the wire) and i think that was what led to most of the problem. i culled her anyway, i didn't want ot have to deal with it again. i do have one of her offspring and it hasnt' shown any problems. and thankfully, it has decided to scatter its poop instead of put it all in one corner like momma.
 
and so the poop piled up pretty fast in my tray (about every 3 days is when it would start coming through the wire)
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just asking the question.

Why then didn't you clean her out more often? if you KNEW that in three days the poop would be in her pen why not clean it out more often?

I can see culling her if she doesn't fit with your management style...but while under your care not letting poop pile up in her cage is part of good animal husbandry.
 
gosh-- I prefer the poop piles-- cponcerves bedding! and makes it easier to get the poopies out for composting without a lot of other stuff mixed in!
 
I have a couple rabbits that use a corner and pile it up too. even though I have all wire floors, it does sometimes pile up. you just have to clean more often.
 
We clean about twice a month, but the poop is still not up through the floor by then ...how shallow are your guys' trays that they come up through the floor that fast?
 
just asking the question.

Why then didn't you clean her out more often? if you KNEW that in three days the poop would be in her pen why not clean it out more often?

I can see culling her if she doesn't fit with your management style...but while under your care not letting poop pile up in her cage is part of good animal husbandry.
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oh i did clean her out every three days, i tried my best not to let it pile up and it rarely did. i even used a litter box for a while. she just loved to sit in the corner she pooped in all the time. so if i missed a day, it was easy for her to end up sitting in her own poop. but it wasn't like she had a poop pile in that corner all the time. i cleaned it very frequently and tried to keep the cage as clean as possible :)

We clean about twice a month, but the poop is still not up through the floor by then ...how shallow are your guys' trays that they come up through the floor that fast?
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twice a month is fine for my cages too, except for the rabbits that always go in one corner, in which case i usually clean more frequently. most of my rabbits poop wherever, so cleaning every 2 weeks is fine. i can even go a month with some of them but i never do because i get worried about ammonia build up, mold, and other stuff.
 
As I pointed out to a bunch of pet rabbit people sore hocks and feet problems would be at least a fault if not a DQ at a show and thousands if not 100,000s of rabbits show every year without faults. 90% of those are probably kept on wire floors. If it were common that wire caused sores the entire show world would have to be redone and we aren't talking a small group.
 

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