Keeping rabbits in other countries

[Em]

i have been looking at this forumfor the last few hours reading lost of posts about how youkeep your rabbits and it seems to me that it is very different to howwe keep them here in England i am very interested in finding out allabout these differences and maybe trying some of them out. for a startwe dont keep rabbits inside i let mine now and then he spends most ofhis time in his hutch in the yard so we dont have house rabbits withlitter trays and such this is all very interesting if you could explaina few things to me that would be great.

 

[Spiced77]

i think it differs for each person really i'm in canada, and keep my two as house bunnies. they havealmost full run of our house 24/7 and are never put in a cage, and theyuse their litter boxes very well. andMyBunnyBoys is also in canada, but hers are outside and she lets themout in a run maybe some others in England can comment onthis, but just from reading here, north american bunny owners have lotsof different ways they keep their buns

 

[SLRabbits]

Spiced is right, almost every individual person has different styles of taking care of their buns.

My buns are all outside, and they have a 10x6ft pen that they get to run in until I get a larger area fenced in.

~Nichole

 

[m.e.]

I don't think it depends so much on your country(though societal norms do play a part), but it's more your situation,living environment, area of the country, etc. My rabbits areindoors, in a large cage, and they have free running time for severalhours a day in my bedroom.

 

[Buck Jones]

We have one house rabbit and five outside rabbitsthat are given the opportunity to free range on consecutive daysbecause they will fight in all free together.

Four of our outside rabbits are bonded heterosexual pairs.All our buns have been neutered so there is no chance of any youngcoming along.

I find most of our UK friends who post here have house rabbits.

Major European/North American differences seem to occur in feed,housing, hay, vaccination and veterinary care. I am given theimpression from reading that your vets may be more rabbit savy thanmany of ours due to the necessity of providing vaccinations for buns ona regular basis, but that may not be the case.

Breeds are similar with either side of the Atlantic keeping some breeds the other does not.

Buck

 

[Dwarf_Angel04]

I've got my rabbits (about 20) in a 12ftx8ftshed. All rabbits are individual cages and have full electricityabilities. In the summer they can have air conditioning and in thewinter they get heat. They have a fan running all year round in the"barn" to keep the air curculating. They have the 'heavy shed doors'and screen doors in that can be opened for full air through the barnwhen the window is open.

This isn't what my barn looks like anymore, because the 'rabbits' havemoved in LOL! I plan on doing some heavy cleaning and redoing the floorin my barn this spring. The rabbits now have an cage on top of the sidewith 2 cages. I've got another stack unit that will be making its wayto the barn sometime as well.

Then theres a little 'grooming' area. However, with my new stack unit this will be taken away and I'll have a temp one.

See.. there are MANY ways rabbits live here in the USA... check out the "Cages Only" post. I'll bump it up for ya!

 

[Rowan]

Hi Em

I'm one of the UK posters and I've got five indoor house rabbits alllitter trained, who live in my daughter's bedroom. Well she says allbut one are hers, butthat's just what she thinks .

Until I got rabbits I thought they all lived in hutches at the bottomof the garden as that was the only kind I'd come across, but as Bucksays most of us who post here from the UK have house rabbits though afew have outside bunnies.

I think the main cultural difference I've found is in thecages/hutches, in the UK we tend to have solid, usuallywood,floors and in the US it tends to be wire floors.

I think it's just personal preference and circumstance that decides howrabbits are kept but as long as they're happy it doesn't matter .

Your rabbit looks really cute by the way, how old is he?

Kate

 

[ariel]

HI I live in Australia and we have one rabbit,she lives inside with us all the time. When we are sleeping or at worketc she is in her hutch, but we let her out every night for a few hoursto run and play

She is doing very well, her potty training has come a long way as well.

She seems to be very happy inside with us.

Her name is Bindy , she is a Himalayan and she is about 3 1/2 mths old.

 

[Delphinum]

At the moment, we have 2 senior rabbits and 5kits and they're all indoor rabbits. I've had outdoor rabbitsbefore, but just felt I'd like to have them inside and see how itworked. I think everyone is right, it just varies from personto person. I love having them indoors, I can run round in mypjs at 11pm playing 'the foot game' and not have to trudge outside intothe cold. Pure laziness!

Ang xx

 

[DaisyNBuster]

Hi Em, Welcome to the board. I have 3 bunnies,Snowy is kept indoors in his hutch and we let him out to roam thehouse. I dont give him full run, he just goes in our front room and ourkitchen. Daisy and Buster are outdoor rabbits, they prefare it thatway. They are in a hard wearing wooden hutch and get covered with aweatherproof cover at night or when it is raining. I have brought themin during the winter but they much prefare it outside, so now it isquite mild they have gone back out. They were indoor buns when theywhere babies, but when the summer of 2003 came we took them outside andthey have been like that ever since.

Vickie

 

[Em]

i got austin in november and he was only 9 weeksold and had never been outside so i kept him in over winter do youthink its ok to put him outside now or should i keepp him in a bitlonger?

 

[Rowan]

Personally I'd keep him in until the temperaturesoutside are closer to the temperatures inside because he's still prettyyoung and rabbits don't adjust well to big temperaturechanges.If he'd been used to being outside in the past itmight be different, but since he's never been out winter probably isn'tthe best time to start. Is there a reason you're thinking of puttinghim outside now rather than waiting til spring?

He's an absolutely gorgeous rabbit by the way .

Kate

 

[Em]

thanks kate i love him to bits my mum is alergicso she really wants him out of the house shes done really well overwinter weve got him in our utility room at the mo so she doesnt have togo near him she says she can wait a little longer but just not forever