Cage size

[KittyKatMe]

I have been wondering about the right cage size for Britannia Petite. Of course, I will give mine the biggest cage possible, and not go by "minimum" cage sizes. Anyway, I wanted to use it as a guideline. On the ARBA website, it said 1.5 square feet, but on many rabbitry websites it said 24"x24". You can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I've read. I know that Brits are active little bunnies, so 1.5 square feet seems a little small for one. But I may be mistaken, as I have never actually had them. So give me opinions; I'm open to ideas. Also, what color do you guys prefer; Sable Marten, Black Otter, Chestnut Agouti, or Black? I'm leaning towards Sable Marten, but I can't find anyone who raises them in my area. I started bluepints for the cages, and I think 36"x24" seems pretty spacious and comfortable. Should I use an automatic watering system, or bottles? Once I get the pair/trio, I will have 5+ bunnies living with me.

 

[LakeCondo]

It probably depends how long at a time the rabbit is to be in the cage.

 

[ldoerr]

I think that the reason why they are kept in small cages (1.5 ft) is that if they have the chance to move around much they could injure themselves VERY easily. They are a small frail evil rabbit. (they are my least favorite breed out there). At a rodeo that I was showing rabbits at there were some brits there. All of the people who were supposed to get the rabbits out and put them on the table to be judged were terified of them . I ended up having to get them out of their cages. They are CRAZY!!!!!!! If I were you I would make a cage that is 12"x24". I would make it longer than it is wide. This will make catching them very easy. They will still have 2 square feet of space and can move around a bit, but not enough to injure themselves. If you want you can let them out to run around every day. Make sure that the place that they run around it is something that they can not get out of.

 

[KittyKatMe]

My bunnies will be out for 30 min. to an hour every day. If I go to the rabbitry I plan on going to and the rabbits are not friendly, I will walk right out of there and find a better one. I am not expecting them to be the most docile bunnies ever, but I want them to be pretty socialized and be used to people. If I just find out they are not the rabbit for me, I will probably get Netherland Dwarfs instead. I am pretty used to dwarfitude anyway. But the main reason why I want big cages is because when I go on vacation, I don't think the sitter i use will be able to take them all out for that amount of time. Plus, I want to have space in case I decide to breed, or get a new large toy or something of the sort. I will spend as much time with them as possible, and the whole reason I chose the Britannia Petite was because of the fact that a lot of them are wild. I want to raise some nice tame ones to turn peoples' minds around about the breed.

 

[majorv]

It's true that Brits are very active and can be easily spooked, and really can be injured if you give them a large cage. I'd be leery of putting your Brit in that large of a cage...at least at first. We have a Brit and as he's gotten older we've put him in a 3 level cage, mainly because he isn't nearlyas active anymore.

If you want a good experience with a Brit, be selective where you get one. I know Brit breeders who rarely handle theirs, except for shows, and they are CRAZY! We got ours from a breeder who did handle her rabbitsand we could tell the difference between some of hers and the others. We got ours at the ARBA national convention...a good place to look. Be advised that when you let them out, just plan on spending an hour trying to catch it! That's about how long it took my daughter to catch hers when she let it run around the apartment. He is a sweety, but he was still a bear to catch when he was young, lol! Our Brit is chestnut agouti. We also had a REW female at one time. I'm partial to thelooks of the Black Otter.

 

[woahlookitsme]

I love the brits and I hope you arent scared by their nature and attitude. I feel so sad when people say their least favorite breed is the brit but their opinion changes once i show them Rocky lol He is such a love bug and so were all his sons. I even sold one of them as a pet bunny! The brit that my friend got from Mrs. Kathryn was super sweet and would just climb on her shoulder and sit there looking at everything. I loved her and her color even though it wasnt recognized(sable agouti). Oh and dont forget BEWs will be accepted by ARBA if they pass this next showing and brokens will soon. I love sable martens and black otter but I chose rocky a chestnut agouti because of how nice he was and how much sweeter he was than the other bun I was looking at.

Dont necessarily look at color but also disposition and type. I was told bucks and youngsters can be in 18x24 and mom with babies can stay in 24x24. This seemed to be a good size for ours and gave them enough room to romp around the cage also. From Kathryns facebook pictures it looks like she also lets hers out in an xpen and im sure she can give you some pointers on getting them to come willingly lol. Rocky never wanted to go back but he is so spoiled

I also wanted to say look for a super nice buck with a small size. Like in Dwarfs Brits have BUDs or Big Ugly Does too. But when paired with a small compact buck make some nice babies.

 

[KittyKatMe]

Thank you! I love Brits and the ones I've met are as sweet as can be, and that's what had me worried. I am mostly looking at disposition and type before color. And if they end up not being showable for whatever reason, they will still stay as my pets. Thank you for the info on BUDs.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

I've never had Brits, but I would probably keep them in 18x18's or 18x24's. Does with litters could go in 24x24's.

Kudos for getting such a neat little breed! They aren't on the rare breed's list are they?

I'd be afraid to own one because they are so tiny and fragile! LOL

 

[woahlookitsme]

they arent actually. Even though most people only see maybe 1 or 2 at a show but the people who do show them have a lot of them lol

 

[majorv]

I wouldn't say they're fragile, not any more than other breeds. It's just thatit's known that they can be easily spooked and because they are so fast they can get hurt in a large cage when that happens. Again, it can alsodepend on how socialized the rabbit is.

When we were breeding Brits we kept them in 18x24 and the doe w/litter was in a 24x24...may seem small but the rabbits actually felt more secure in a smaller cage. We had a couple of cage agressive does and they did much better in the smaller cage. I love our Rocky, but I know that many Brits aren't like him. Breeding and raising Brits is hard (inmy experience) and you must spend time handling and posingthe kits as theygrow so that they won't be crazy and perpetuate the bad image Brits have.