--in their cages/carriers
--in the direct sun, after it came out,
--WITH NO WATER :angry:
In cages/carriers is safest. Mine stay in them unless I'm grooming or they're about to go on a table. I had a buck panic and nearly break his back at the first show I had rabbits entered in...no way am I repeating THAT nasty experience.
The carriers are "cramped" for a reason: if the rabbit panics, they can't bash themselves into a wall at speed and break their darn fool necks.
As for sun...all the shows I've been at have been indoors, no sunlight. I keep a few towels in the car so I can keep the sun off of them when driving, but that could overheat them at a show. I'm not sure how I'd handle that.
Some of my rabbits drink at shows...most of mine do not.
Also consider this: they may have been given water after the show, so that DURING the show they don't pee all over the judge.
I had a random bunny pee on me at the last show...I was helping a friend and picked up her little buck to put him back in his carrier, and he pee'd down my shirt. :roll:
PERSONALLY, I'd rather a judge get peed on and my buns stay hydrated, but...most of 'em won't drink til I get home.
Some owners had ex-pens with tarps for their rabbits to stretch their legs and get a break;
No!
NO! Unsafe!!!! Someone stomps by and the rabbit spook, and go careening into the sides of the pen, they could kill themselves. Last show I was at, a bunch of kids came in from the skate park, and one jerk of a kit rolled on his skateboard, scared the crap out of my rabbits. If they had room to get up a bit of a run they could get HURT!!! No ex-pens EVER at a show for my rabbits...safety FIRST, always!
Those folk who had pens up, I am a little shocked.
NO WATER OR SHADE! PANTING RABBITS!
I'm very confused, I haven't seen anything like that (except the no water thing) at shows.
Maybe it was just an off day?
Of course rabbits are kept in their carriers. People should have open wire carriers that get plenty of airflow. Many people have several carriers of rabbits with labels or different genders and couldn't set up pens for them. Most shows are also so jam packed you can barely fit a carrier much less a pen unless you want to go out in the middle of nowhere and miss your breeds call. Usually I see carriers stacked upon carriers sometimes up to 4' high.
I stack my carriers...all two of them. :lol: It saves space.
Agreed: rabbits need to be safely confined, but these particular three large-ish rabbits almost couldn't even turn around in their cages and were face-into the sun. They could've used an ex-pen to walk around, for sure. Water bottles would've been helpful for them, as would shade or an attentive owner. (still ticked off...)
No ex-pens at shows unless you are okay with potentially killing a rabbit.
I'm super-paranoid about space and carrier sizes.
And btw, my Champagnes have almost no room when at a show. They're kind of squished into carriers; Boss could never comfortably turn around without squishing his face into the wire first. He could stretch out on the grooming table, though he never did; he kind of hated shows and would stay crunched into a ball no matter what. He wouldn't have walked a step if his life depended on it...except when he panicked and nearly broke himself in two.
re. your note about no way to move without spilling a dish: I saw many rabbits (Angoras as well as some short-haired breeds) with clamped-on looking water/food containers in the shape of a half-circle. All of these half-circle dishes were bone-dry. Do they come off? Is that why they weren't being used?
When they call your breed, a lot of people have multiple rabbits of that breed entered, so they lug the whole carrier over. And the water SLOSHES ALL OVER THE PLACE, dousing the rabbits............right before going on the table.
Hence why most of the water bowls I see are filled AFTER they've been judged, not before...plus a clever rabbit can often get the bowls off and make a mess anyways.
I don't know what could have been done for those panting rabbits...maybe alert someone at the show entry table there's some rabbits in distress?
