Comments on a set up which is displayed to public

Hello everybody,

I work for an animal park which contains rabbits and have recently proposed an idea on how to set the housing part of the enclosure.

The hutch is similar to the picture below. A ladder is currently placed leading from the outside run into the bedding area with the mesh living quarters part kept shut. I have a problem with this for a few reasons.

The main one involves the visitors, that is, the rabbits have no where to hide if they feel the need to. What I proposed was simple, to place the ladder directly into the living quarters and keep the bedding area closed as their hide. This was responded by the main caretaker negatively as the mesh is used as their hiding area :|.

What I am here to do is receive as many thoughts and responses on this matter as possible so I may write a report as to why the bedding area should be kept closed.

Many thanks,

Rabbits are pray animals at the bottom of the food chain. Instinct tells them that fear means hide! A rabbit with feel a lot more confident around people if it knows there is somewhere to go when scared. If they cant see you, you cant see them The hutch in question though looks far to small whatever way its set up it needs to be at least 6ft x 2ft x 2ft with attached run. Are you able to explain the set up in more detail ie is it outdoors and does bunny have full access to the run at all times?

ETA: Also how many bunnys live in the hutch.

Sorry i didn't give too much detail there, just posting through work breaks

The hutch isn't that small, just a similar design to demonstrate the living quarters/bed area.

We have a total of 20 rabbits (all of which are in pairs), 14 are for educational purposes to college and university students (animal welfare + behaviour). The other six are located in a commercial visitor centre where the conflict of interest comes in, essentially that the rabbits 'need to be seen' by the public. As you can probably see this is frustrating that a mesh has been described as a hiding area, it may work for other animals, but I don't feel so for rabbits.

The hutch is inside a paddock approximately 14ft by 8ft, they have access to the hutch at all times but as mentioned no where to hide.

Cheers,

Could you put some kind of low "tables" so the buns can go under and feel safe but can still be seen as they have open sides if you see what I mean?

When my bun Gus is nervous he runs straight under a stool, I think he feels safe if he is under something, rather than in?

Not sure that makes any sense :?:?

Hi Louise,

I've personally spent an entire day placing branches around their enclosure into a dome shape for the rabbits to lay under and hide since the rabbits used for behaviour + welfare students use theirs alot. The next weekend I was working all the branches were to one side for unknown reasons (although I'm assuming its to make it easier to walk through the paddock to clean the hutch).

Cheers,

Plastic step-stools are great for rabbits - good for shelter and good for jumping on lol. But they are still quite open.

I personally think if the hutch is anything like the one pictured it is horribly small, if I'm honest. It looks more like one of my hamster cages size-wise.

A rabbit's concept of secure is different to a humans. Rabbits can panic in a 'secure' mesh run because to them it looks open but feel totally safe in a cardboard box which wouldn't protect them for anything.

You can create secure feeling areas in lots of different ways. It's good to keep the best closed for security and shelter but they'll also appreciate shelter in the lower area. That could be a tunnel, shelf, box etc.

Providing shelter will make them more confident so they will venture out more which is better for displaying them to the public. The public will also like seeing things like rabbits jumping on/off shelves or going through tunnels. It makes it much more interesting then a empty enclosure.

Lee50 said:

Hi Louise,

I've personally spent an entire day placing branches around their enclosure into a dome shape for the rabbits to lay under and hide since the rabbits used for behaviour + welfare students use theirs alot. The next weekend I was working all the branches were to one side for unknown reasons (although I'm assuming its to make it easier to walk through the paddock to clean the hutch).

Cheers,

Click to expand...

Oh if you have any Hazel trees in the back cut some and put them in, leaves and all, buns will love shredding them! Mine do anyway :lol: Also apple branches and Brambles

louise and Gus said:

Oh if you have any Hazel trees in the back cut some and put them in, leaves and all, buns will love shredding them! Mine do anyway :lol: Also apple branches and Brambles

Click to expand...

We have a hugeeee collection of apple branches we collect through the year (it's about a 3ft pile leant against an 8ft wall) which are used, but again sadly only down the education end.

Tamsin said:

A rabbit's concept of secure is different to a humans. Rabbits can panic in a 'secure' mesh run because to them it looks open but feel totally safe in a cardboard box which wouldn't protect them for anything.

You can create secure feeling areas in lots of different ways. It's good to keep the best closed for security and shelter but they'll also appreciate shelter in the lower area. That could be a tunnel, shelf, box etc.

Providing shelter will make them more confident so they will venture out more which is better for displaying them to the public. The public will also like seeing things like rabbits jumping on/off shelves or going through tunnels. It makes it much more interesting then a empty enclosure.

Click to expand...

I'll definately keep pushing those ideas on! Cheers.

Hanlou said:

Plastic step-stools are great for rabbits - good for shelter and good for jumping on lol. But they are still quite open.

I personally think if the hutch is anything like the one pictured it is horribly small, if I'm honest. It looks more like one of my hamster cages size-wise.

Click to expand...

Sorry, that picture was to demonstrate the design not the size (it was a very quick google image search) I would completely agree that the size in the picture is far too small haha.