new to colonies and need some advice

[MaggieJ]

It's not mandatory to put the buck in first, but I do think it makes things easier... unless the rabbits are already well acquainted. A few hours should be enough for him to mark his territory.

Be sure to post pictures of your set up when you can. The hiding places/nesting sites sound like enough, but you may want to construct some proper nest tunnels before they kindle.

 

[DarayTala]

Well, the rabbits are all from the same breeder and the two satins and the two californians have been caged next to each other for the last two weeks. So each breed should be at least semi used to their neighbor, but not necessarily to the ones of the other breed.

What sort of dimensions should I look for, for nesting tunnels? I recycle and convert old furniture and other things for my critters usually, and one of the shelters I made could maybe work for nesting. I will post pictures, you wouldn't believe the sort of things you can re-use. But then, I'm the sort of person that makes pretty garden boxes with re-painted old dresser drawers <br /><br />__________ Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:32 am __________<br /><br />http://rabbittalk.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=148&image_id=1143
http://rabbittalk.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=148&image_id=1144
http://rabbittalk.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=148&image_id=1145&sk=t&sd=d&st=0
http://rabbittalk.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=148&image_id=1146

My partner and I building a room in the garage for the rabbit colony. Hoping these pictures will work as I'm a bit new to posting things on here. I got the materials earlier that day and we put up all the boards in about four hours or so. The next day we built and added hide-aways and food dishes made out of recycled furniture and odds and ends, pictures of that will be taken soon.

 

[Piper]

made out of recycled furniture and odds and ends

you have to watch out for chewing, furniture/wood that has been treated. The rabbit room, looks like it could be a winner!

 

[DarayTala]

Yes indeed. I am worried that they'll try an chew. I'm working to find out what woods and finishes would be dangerous, as well as what I can do to prevent chewing.

Does anyone know what particular finished or paints I should watch out for? I know the wood used in the furniture I converted is alright, but I'm worried about finishes and paints that were added afterwards.

I also have placed a lot of hay in the enclosure to distract them, and am working on getting branches from trees that are safe for them to chew to try and further distract them from chewing any of the structures I created.

Also, I know with dogs and cats you can deter chewing with certain scents and tastes. Does this work for rabbits as well? I don't want to put anything on the structures to deter them from using them, but if I can just deter them from chewing that would be great.

Thanks so much for all the help. I should have more pictured tomorrow of the rabbit setup and of the new bunnies.

 

[Piper]

Just looked at your gallery, your rabbit looks like, "Where am I?". Like your set up! Are you going to use hay?

 

[MaggieJ]

I don't think you'll have much problem with chewing on the walls. They look very smooth and rabbits like an edge they can get a grip on. Keep them supplied with nice branches from safe trees and they will likely leave the walls alone.

 

[DarayTala]

I was debating between just providing hay to munch on, or covering the whole floor with it. When I moved them in, I just gave them some piles of hay to snack on. They managed to scatter it everywhere in record time :lol: I Think i'm going to have to get a rack of some sort to hold the hay in if I intend to keep doing it this way.

 

[akane]

They are ingenious about getting in to hay racks and then peeing and pooping on the hay and kits will go through the wire eventually getting too big and getting their heads stuck unless you use something so small they can't get the hay out well. We went through many hay racks and finally just went back to throwing a slice on the floor and scooping up the leftovers each day so it doesn't build up and make a mess.

 

[MaggieJ]

I know what you mean about hay racks, Akane. I've yet to see one I'm happy with. I do have one or two more ideas to try. If I get something that works, I'll be sure to post about it.

 

[Piper]

The only one that has worked for me, allows dust. I put a full flake, on top of the cage and then put a pan over that. They have to reach through the top bars of the cage, to get the hay. The pan keeps stuff off of the hay and keeps it dry.

 

[DarayTala]

So, they are making a nice mess of things, lots of sweeping to do each day. They seem to enjoy throwing the food tins once they've eaten most of whats in them. I'm thinking I should get some toys for them to toss around and hope they favor those instead.

As of now, they are all getting along very well. I've seen the buck curled up with each of the does at one point or another, even the blue doe who was chasing him of fiercely every time he came near. From what I've seen, they does haven't had a single scuffle yet, unless one was chasing off the buck and ended up chasing another doe too for a couple seconds. I'm really surprised with how well they are getting along so far. Maybe they are taking time to get used to things and adjust for now, or maybe they already figured out the pecking order, who knows.

Here are some more pictures from the first day, this is when we first put them in and they were exploring.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

They look happy!

Are you going to put litter pans in there once they pick a potty corner?

Rabbits like to toss empty tuna cans around- just be sure to smash any sharp edges down. I buy whiffle balls at the dollar store for mine, and small practice golf balls from Walmart. (They are like a whiffle ball as well.)

 

[DarayTala]

Yeah, though I doubt they'll choose just one corner :lol: So far they seem to be using three of the four corners, only the one near the door is left alone. I'm gunna see if they decide on one or two, but if not, litter pans are going in all of them I suppose.

The wiffle ball idea sounds great, I will definitely have to get some of those.

I'm also happy that they seem to be using the shelters I set up, but not chewing on them!

I don't remember if I detailed how I made those or not. The first one was made from small cabinet that used to be over our fridge. We just remodeled the kitchen (actually, just bought the house at the beginning of the summer too) and we kept the old cabinets that were in there because some were in okay shape and could be used in the garage. The cabinet is probably inches high or so, probably about a foot deep and a couple feet long. I should really get exact measurements though, will try to later today. Anyways, we took the door off the one side for them to hop in, and kept the other door on to provide a dark hidey-hole. Being able to open the second door will be useful though, if they have kits in there that I want to check on.
The second one I made from a large speaker box. I covered one of the two holes with the door we took off the cabinet, it just happened to fit perfectly. That was the simplest bit of work that I've done in a long time.
The third was made from a bookshelf that had one long shelf on the bottom, a medium length shelf in the middle, and a small one on the top. When stood up, it looked like a flight of stairs. We layed it down and cut holes on the side that was staggered, so they wouldn't be right next to eachother. We added a hinged top so that we could get inside if we need to. I would guess the tunnels range from a bit over one foot for the smallest, and three or four feet long for the largest. I will have to take measurements of this as well.

So far, the cali doe seems to have claimed the cabinet. The others seem to like the tunnels, and sometimes a couple even share one of the larger tunnels. I haven't seen anyone spending a lot of time in the speaker box yet, I guess they don't like that one as much. Funny, that one was my favorite. Its really great to watch them though, they are fascinating.

Oh, for litter boxes, I have some cat boxes, and a few that are made for rabbits or ferrets. Do you think those would be suitable? I'm not sure if they are large enough for rabbits this big.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

That's great that you were able to reuse the cabinetry.

The cat boxes will probably work. I like to use the large black cement mixing tubs for our barn cats- they come in larger sizes, and they are deep and sturdy. You might want to put some 1" x 1/2" rabbit cage floor wire in the boxes- you can bend the edges by a few inches to make a raised platform above the litter in the pans so the the urine and droppings fall through and the rabbits don't come in contact with the soiled litter. Hopefully they will get to the point where they mainly use the boxes and you will just have a few scattered "bunny berries" to clean up.