RABBIT COLONIES

In desperation to home some of our more, shall I say, interesting bunnies and in order to give them the space they crave I considered homing one of my pairs in a rabbit colony. Apparently there is some sort of animal sanctuary near Bristol which is open to the public and their rabbits are kept together in a colony.

A friend visited to case the joint, she reported that the bunnies looked healthy and she could not see any injuries. Obviously this was not enough for me and as I am quite likely to end up in Edinburgh if I head for Bristol (navigation not my strongest point) I decided to take a look at another small colony I had heard of on the outskirts of Gloucester. There were 6 rabbits there and they had a huge area to exercise in but I never had time to consider any further than this because a couple came hopping up to see me, they were cashmere types and their fur was terribly matted. Anyway I went into the farm shop on the site and asked if I could take the cashmeres with me to rehome (there were 4 of them).

So, my intrepid adventure into colonies came to a grinding halt. I have since visited one at Longleat where the bunnies had lots of tunnels and a big 'warren' area as well as access to a grassed area if they wished, I think there were about 8 rabbits there and they were cuddled up together quite happily. Does anyone out there have a colony and how did you get it to work? I would be so scared to let new bunnies in to join an established group incase they were badly injured but they must have worked it out at Longleat. Any thoughts?

Alice

hi ya i only know of 1 person who keeps there animals in large groups well not so much large but these would be kept diffrent i should think to the one you talk of?
never been there so cannot comment!
but i think for a rabbit to live like that cannot be the best way! :?
i like to check my rabbits lots of times in a day with them living like this how would you check them or how do they?
after all the buns homes must be warrens which cannot be easy to check on buns maybe ok for a wild bun or one raised to this life but not sure i would be happy at one of my buns going there?
i suppose you will need to think will this rabbit of your benefit from living like that? it will lose most human contact? would you be happy knowing its there?
good luck whatever

Is the area completely fenced in over the top as well as sides so they're protected from predators? I've never heard of bunnies being kept like this, except for maybe the larger enclosures in zoos and wildlife centres. Keeping cashmeres in one sounds a bit dumb. I can see that them having lots of room to run around and dig will be great fun for them, but like Shazlew says domestic bunnies need their daily check ups.

I think a well run colony could be a good idea for an anti-human bunny though. All depends on how well they're cared for and how they go about their introductions though.