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davey5678

New Kit
Hello there Rabbits United,

Just to say Im really impressed with the very committed attitude you all have about welfare of rabbits in petshops and with less than brilliant Rabbit Hutches.

We are working v hard at trying to establish a new range of hutches for the forthcoming spring season in our shops and we want to try to sell and educate at the same time. Obviously those buying new hutches will also be buying new rabbits.

I guess what Im looking for is a single paragraph in our hutches section on our website which advocates the general warnings you guys and girls want to give prospective new rabbit owners - especially about purchasing. I can credit this forum for the paragraph if necessary.

I would also be interested in providing any causes with single links back to your various sites from our site. We get over 1000 visitors a day many of them Rabbit owners so Im sure we can help. Also if you find we are selling items for rabbits you consider to be bad or dangerous I would love to know about it. We want to try to work more with rabbit owners rather than just try to sell them stuff so any help you can give me would be very much appreciated. Im particularly interested in whether you can ever see a need for a two foot or three foot hutch - and if so only under what circumstances as Im thinking of just removing these from sale....

Send me feedback either on this thread, email or on our facebook or Twitter sites.



Thanks

Dave
The Pet Express Project Manager
 
On the subject of hutches, no there is never any excuse for a 2 or 3 foot hutch. 4ft hutches are generally only big enough for guinea pigs. Most places recommend 6ft for a rabbit hutch and I agree. They should also have access to a run every day.

On the subject of advice for new rabbit owners there are some good leaflets that you can get from the Rabbit Welfare Association that you can order:
http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/index.php?section=leaflets.html
The basics are that all rabbits really need to be neutered (males so they don't fight, females so they don't get cancer) and kept in pairs and not on their own. Also if they are young they need to be re-sexed before they become fertiel, many people end up with unwanted litters because of mis-sexed baby rabbits. They should never be kept with Guinnea Pigs. They need vaccinating every 6 months against Myxomatosis and every year against VHD. There is also a worming paste called Panacur that should be administered 2-4 times per year to prevent head tilt and other related problems.
 
Hi :wave:
Thanks for taking the time to research this area properly - it seems manufacturers and sellers are slooooowly coming round to the idea of offering proper sized and constructed housing for rabbits and guinea pigs.

The RSPCA website has good guidelines and would be a more 'credible' source of information on accomodation sizes and standards than the forum.

I took a look at your website - as others said above, you need to stop selling hutches less than 4ft in length. The 4ft ones should be classified under either "guinea pig housing" or "run shelters". Hutches for rabbits should be 5ftx2ftx2ft, preferably over 2 floors (2ft high on each floor) or 6x2x2ft.

If you could make it clear on the website that this is a minimum recommendation from the RSPCA, and that they need a run attached permanently, or at least several hours per day in a run or free-range in a safe, enclosed garden with supervision, that would be great.

If you need links to suppliers of good hutches and runs we can provide those too!
 
Gosh thanks for all that advice.

Im now trying to figure why manufacturers provide so many say 4ft wide hutches. So I looked at the RSPCA site and the Pet Care Trust website and that was very general but a more RSPCA local site said this:


For a pair of SMALL rabbits (Netherland Dwarfs ONLY). Hutch - 10 sq ft & 2ft high /0.9 sq m & 60cm high (i.e. 5ft x 2ft x 2ft Single Storey) .


For a pair of MEDIUM rabbits. Hutch - 16 sq ft & 2 ft high / 1.44 sq m & 60cm high (i.e. 6ft x3 ft x 2ft Single Storey or 4ft x 2ft x 2ft Double Storey).


For a pair of LARGE rabbits. Hutch - 18 sq ft & 2 ft high / 1.65 sq m & 60cm high (i.e. 6ft x 3ft x 2ft Single Storey or 5ft x 2ft x 2ft Double Storey (20 sq ft)).

These do not have to be the exact measurements for each hutch, as the size can be made up with more than one storey.

So can I use that as a guide do you think?

If you can supply some supplier links that would be great.
 
If you have a look on the rabbit welfare association and fund website you will see that they recommend a 6ft x2ftx2ft hutch and a 6ftx4ftx4ft run (http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/leaflet_pdfs/animal_welfare_bill_lft.pdf) you are always going to come across discrepenses, as the animal welfare act does not specify sizes.

Obviously with everything the bigger the better, Two of mine have 14ftx6ft dog kennel, the other pair have a 12ftx5ft run attached to a 5ftx2ft double hutch. You have to remember that guidelines are only guindlines, but it is fantastic that companies are starting to get the message that all a rabbit needs is a small hutch at the bottom of the garden.

Maybe you could buy some of the RWAF leaflets to include when sending hutches out, that was more new rabbit owners are education in what is acceptable.

ETA I certainly don't think that those sizes quoted are adequate for the breeds they state. the nethis I know are hyperactive and need more space than states, and as for a giant, it would barely be able to stretch out in that size, and people on here recommend a shed or wooden play house for a pair of giants.

The size of hutches doesn't state that ideally there should be a permenant run attached, or atleast 8 hours of exercise out of their hutch per day, winter and summer. If this is a seperate run then food, water and shelter, as well as environmental stimulous .
 
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i wouldnt go smaller than the largest measurements you stated, and for giants/continentals etc a shed or dog kennel - could you sell or advertise them as well?

I dont think people realise how much space they need, for genuine reasons, but once the idea of a big space is planted in their heads they often see the benefits and how much more fun it is and easier to clean.

The main manufacturers people quote on here are "Happy Hutch" and "Ryedale" and the forum member Run Rabbits Run makes excellent hutches and runs including bespoke features etc. There is also "Kernow Pet Housing" and i think a few more but i cant remember them.

If you're looking for suppliers, the main things to look for are size as above, and that they are made of hardwords - lots of ebay sellers sell good sized hutches now but they are made of cheap softwood which rots in the first winter.

If you look in the housing section of the forum, there are lots of photos of people's set-ups for inspiration.
 
I think that double hutches need to be about 5ft for a pair of medium bunnies.

ETA: And runs need to be a minimum of 5x4x2 feet
 
Well I tried to include some advice on the hutches page ref size and removed all the hutches up to 4ft - including the 3ft doubles. As I said Im worried there might be a valid use (emergency? breeding? rearing?) for 3ft and 2ft hutches so might have to put them back but will try to include a warning.

I guess the other side of the coin is that if the min cost of a hutch is say £100 it will put people off - but then i guess thats a good thing.

We pretty much get the hutches from a major Pets wholesaler - so I'm surprised for example that they only do one 5ft hutch, a lot of their 4ft hutches are err 55cm high (1.84 feet) and they are selling something like 14 different types of 3ft hutch and four types of 2ft hutch.

Ill see what we can do about those leaflets.
 
Well I tried to include some advice on the hutches page ref size and removed all the hutches up to 4ft - including the 3ft doubles. As I said Im worried there might be a valid use (emergency? breeding? rearing?) for 3ft and 2ft hutches so might have to put them back but will try to include a warning.

I guess the other side of the coin is that if the min cost of a hutch is say £100 it will put people off - but then i guess thats a good thing.

We pretty much get the hutches from a major Pets wholesaler - so I'm surprised for example that they only do one 5ft hutch, a lot of their 4ft hutches are err 55cm high (1.84 feet) and they are selling something like 14 different types of 3ft hutch and four types of 2ft hutch.

Ill see what we can do about those leaflets.

The only valid use for a smaller hutch is somewhere to shelter while out in a separate run, or as a hideway in larger housing set-ups e.g. in a shed. breeders like to have a nesting area that is smaller and more snug for the doe to make a nest, but thats easy enough to acheieve in a larger hutch, and the doe needs space away from the kits most of the day, and the kits need space when they emerge from the nest without being exposed to the elements.

I think if you put that the RSPCA recommends a minimum size, people will feel duty-bound to buy bigger, especially if thats all that is available

It would be good to stock a range of indoor housing options too, as lots of people keep house rabbits but there isnt much standard good sized housing available. 4ft dog crates work well, puppy pens, NIC cubes and connectors and the 120 and 140 sized standard cages.
 
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