Starting a colony

[Brody]

my gang lives in 2 groups - and the unspayed does are always delighted to see Niobe who resides with the spayed girls when they aren't out

 

[MaggieJ]

Yes, but Brody, we all know that Niobe is a charmer and a :twisted: devil with the ladies!

 

[Brody]

it's true maggie and the wooly gang has times when they have contact through a wire wall so they all know each other well and the territory stuff doesn't seem to be a huge deal (although poor Popple brings out the worst in both dustbunny and niobe and any other fellow he meets)

I agree with ann through - if the male can keep meeting the does even through a wall I suspect they'll get along ok in a variety of places

 

[MaggieJ]

I agree with that too. Does are less aggressive with rabbits that have been neighbours.

 

[chinbunny1]

I'm guessing you mean the buck quarantine cage? He was a horny little devil and needed separation and that was all we could come up with. At least it was only for 36hrs or so. And if you don't mean that... :t_oops:





Yep thats the one.

Id like to see
all the tunnels and stuff when you get done

 

[nothingman]

Id like to see all the tunnels and stuff when you get done

Will do!

Erm, I'm not sure whether to keep running with this thread or start a new one for each question? I'll keep going for now but just let me know if you'd prefer me to start new threads...

Potty training: I really don't care about a litter box or not, but almost everything I have read suggests that rabbits will naturally choose a corner for a toilet. Well, it aint happenin' here folks. There is pee and poop all over the colony. I'm guessing it's a mixture of a new home as well as the fact that they were caged at their last home and were able to just 'go' anywhere. Any suggestions on how to make a corner look more desirable? I can add reading material, or perhaps a nice picture on the wall?

 

[Brody]

add some of the soiled matter there - soe of my young guys are fairly casual about toilet habits but once they get the idea they improve a LOT

It's only taken popple 6 months to clue into the fact life is better if you use a toilet spot - i also feed hay close to where I want them to go - I find eating hay tends to encouraging pooping

 

[nothingman]

I thought I'd add a quick update on the colony here. Our does should be kindling in about 15 days so the buck is still in the colony for now, we'll give him a couple more days of fun before he goes back into isolation :lol:

This is the old gym exercise horse I turned into a dual nestingbox. There is a divider in the middle making it two distinct boxes and the lid is hinged for easy access.

For a while we built and places the buck in a special cage within the colony, however the does took to peeing on top of it and chewing the hell out of it... not pleasant! We put on doe at a time into the cage until we were sure they had done 'it' and then released all of them back in to the colony

Then we received our delivery of straw bales and turned them into a playcentre, complete with ramps and tunnels (and occasional sunflower stalks)!

 

[MaggieJ]

Your bunnies certainly look happy and busy, Nothingman. Is there a reason you remove the buck before the does kindle?

 

[Anntann]

Oh my gawd! What a fantastic looking area! Happy bunnies!!

 

[nothingman]

I just posted in rabbit care about our first litter!

MaggieJ... we removed the buck because we didn't want any immediate re-breeding and I wasn't sure of how much added stress he would bring to the colony with kits and all. With it being both does first breeding (mine too!) I wanted to just watch and learn this time and try to learn and decide what will work better for us as time goes on...