Can you stuff 4 bunnies in one cage?

[Cheyrul]

Our little guys are about 7 weeks now and the daddy was neutered last Tuesday. I keep them in dog crates at night/when I am not home. A large crate for the adult daddy who is less than 4 pounds. A huge dog crate for the 3 little guys. Afternoons and evenings they are out and the crate doors are open so they have free access to their pellets, hay and water. Often all 4 will gather in either crate and catch a lengthy nap. Sooo, can I just keep them all in the huge dog crate to cut down on the work for me?
There has been no signs of aggression, the daddy still humps the cats and sniffs the little fuzzy butts but that is it.

What say ye?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I would not put the babies in with the dad. You don't know how long they will still all be friendly with each other and don't know what they would be like all together when you are not around. Along with that, even a giant dog crate is still on the small side for 4 rabbits.

You are going to have to separate the babies in a few weeks anyway as they can get aggressive as they get older. You also need to make sure you know all the sexes to avoid breeding as you could have more kits in a few months.

 

[Cheyrul]

They are going in to be sexed on Tuesday. As soon as they are old enough they will be fixed.

Are you saying I have to have 4 cages? Seriously?

 

[TinysMom]

Korr_and_Sophie wrote:

Along with that, even a giant dog crate is still on the small side for 4 rabbits.

The giant dog crates are AWESOME! When Nyx was caged - she had a giant cage and when the girls had playtime you'd see Nyx, Athena and Sophia all napping in the one cage with room to spare. She loved it - well - they all did.

Considering they were all flemish giants - I'd say a giant dog crate could work for four rabbits - depending upon their size. (We also have a giant dog crate that we put a shelf in for smaller rabbits to play in).

 

[CiaraPatricia]

I think that a huge dog crate would probably be ok if it's only some of the time, like at night, like you said. But the smaller the space, the more likely that there might be arguments among the rabbits.

But Koor_and_Sophie is right, the babies can start getting aggressive around 12 weeks old or so, and they can breed them too if there are both sexes, and I'm guessing they won't be neutered that young, so it's something to think about.

 

[Cheyrul]

this is far more complicated than I wanted :hanging:
I could put a shelf in the huge crate but I was hoping to get one cage large enough for all 4 to help contain their mess and make my life slightly easier. h34r2

 

[Cheyrul]

Oh, I am assuming that one is definitely a male because he was trying to hump the other two. They are almost 8 weeks, is this normal? Does it mean they must be separated now?

 

[majorv]

No, it's not necessarily a male. We have 4 Tan babies together in one big cage without too much problem. I saw one of the females humping another one...it's just emerging hormones. At 2 1/2 months ours are too young to breed. We'll have to separate the males and females sometime between 3and4 months of agethough. Females who are siblings can usually stay together for a while, but males usuallyneed to be in separate cages because they can start fighting.

 

[Cheyrul]

Having 2 cages is way too much for me. So I caved and stuffed them all in the big crate. They are out most of the time anyway and when they do go into either cage to eat, drink and nap, they all seemed to cuddle together. Either with the dad or just the 3 babies in their litter box with the dad outside it.
Since I have done this, 3 days, the peeing all over has decreased, they seem to poop more in the cage. They binky all over now, which it so funny (never experienced this as a first time bunny slave) and the babies bop all over me and my dh.
Another perk is, the daddy, Cookie Monster is getting more social and seems to want more human attention. He likes my dh better than which totally perplexes me, really. However, he was also neutered last week so maybe it is a combination thing.
Tonight, Nutmeg the smallest was hopping all over me, hopped up on the back of the sofa where our 12.5 yr cat Sugar was laying. Poked her little head in Sugar's business so Sugar started licking and grooming her. It was so sweet. Nutmeg seemed to love it, so much when Sugar stopped she went up to Oscar the cat who was disgusted and moved away :laugh: