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Rabbits in the Aviary?

R

rosie69

New Kit
Hi
I'm new to the forum, but need some help with a dilema.
I have an aviary outside which houses 4 cockatiels and 2 green cheeked conures,backed onto that, but seperated is a rabbit enclosure which houses 2 gorgeous rabbits. They have a 6ft double hutch and freedom to come and go within the enclosure which has a part mesh, part covered roof, so they are quite safe.
My delema is one of my conures has started to attack the cockatiels making their life quite miserable. My question is can I house my conures within the rabbit enclosure to protect the cockatiels, without harming the rabbits. In other words can they co-exist together?

Thank you for any help and advice you can give.
Best wishes
Rosie
 
rosie69 said:
Hi
I'm new to the forum, but need some help with a dilema.
I have an aviary outside which houses 4 cockatiels and 2 green cheeked conures,backed onto that, but seperated is a rabbit enclosure which houses 2 gorgeous rabbits. They have a 6ft double hutch and freedom to come and go within the enclosure which has a part mesh, part covered roof, so they are quite safe.
My delema is one of my conures has started to attack the cockatiels making their life quite miserable. My question is can I house my conures within the rabbit enclosure to protect the cockatiels, without harming the rabbits. In other words can they co-exist together?

Thank you for any help and advice you can give.
Best wishes
Rosie
Click to expand...

I think it would depend on the birds and the rabbits :)

If the conures were to attack the rabbits I imagine they could do some damage, and vice versa! I have a hamster, and when she is out in her ball all but one of my rabbits quite happily co-exist with her. The other will attack the ball!
 
Personally, I wouldnt house any different species of animal togeather without alot of very very close supervison. Rabbits are pray animals and are probably gunna be quite spooked by the birds, also all different animals carry different bacterias etc and you never know what can be passed on. I wouldnt risk it :)
 
My concern would be about the bird faeces. If they just do it on the floor then it's not going to be suitable for the rabbits to live in.
 
IMO, I wouldn't like to think rabbits and birds are living together. For one:

When the bird poo's, its gonna land on the floor/bun, and the bun has to live on that.

Jack x
 
I wouldn't risk it for the reasons mentioned above about the rabbits getting pooped on, spooked and possibly ending up sick because they have picked up a bacterial infection. Also if the conures are aggressive to the cockatiels, they aren't necessarily going to be any kinder to the rabbits and bully/attack them too and you may end up with expensive vet bills.
 
Hi
Thanks everyone for the advice, I will have to rethink my plans, as the problem I'm having is one of the conures has taken quite a dislike to one of my cockatiels, other then that they get on well. But it's not fair on the little cockatiel so I will probably build and extension just for the conures, thanks again.

Rosie
 
The other reason I thought of it was because I visited a large parrot sanctuary in Lincoln in the summer and most of the large aviaries had rabbits at the bottom, and they were with very large birds, like macaws and amazons etc. So maybe they should know better. Also each aviary housed a single bun which I thought was unfair.

That's why I wanted to double check with you guys as I knew you'd know best.
Rosie
 
If they keep the rabbits alone and in with the parrots, they should really stick to looking after the birds which they know a lot about. They obviously know nothing about rabbits, sadly for the bunnies. :(

If your rabbit run is tall, you could always put a solid floor in the top half for the conures. The bunnies would be protected that way - as long as bunny's run is 3 to 4 feet hight. Might make cleaning both parts a pain, though.
 
Yes you're right they should. It's the National Parrot Society, they have their own website and have zoo status.

The rabbits home is about 6ft high as it backs onto the aviary shed, they have a large 6ft double hutch and an outside area where they can run come and go as they please. There is also a mesh roof, partially covered so they have shelter from rain, so they have freedom to sleep where they want, in or out of the hutch. A good idea about the section at the top but cleaning would be difficult. My two little buns seem very happy so it would be a shame to upset their lifestyle.

So I will have to look at another extension or rehoming the conure!
thanks again
Rosie
 
I visited a wildlife rescue place today. They had a large area for the rabbits to run around, and there were chickens ( and a turkey) in there too. The rabbits were quite happily living alongside them. I asked the animal behaviourist there about the conures and she advised against it. She said you would most likely have the conures plucking at the rabbits....
 
I think Coccidiosis is why rabbits and chickens shouldn't be housed together. I'm not sure if parrots etc. can carry it too.
 
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