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hunnybunny63

hunnybunny63

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As some of you may be aware, in september i started at college studing an animal management course.


I thought i would make this thread to keep you up to date on what i learn about, partically about rabbits. also so i can hopefully get some feed back and help on my work.


Over the past few months we havn't done an awful lot about rabbits, its mainly cats and dogs as usual. we have done about -

  • the digestive system
  • slightly touched on what they eat (nutrition)
  • behaviour/ body language
  • handling techniques
  • we even wormed some rabbits today
I will try and keep this thread as up to date as possiable but as some people may of noticed im not a very active member any more.
 
Now ive posted my little introduction ill crack onto my first question, im meant to be doing an assignment about animal learning styles. ive chosen to base about half my essay on rabbits but am running out of examples of the different styles. the styles are -

Classical learning this is when an animal associates a specific action with another. for example when a dog owner picks up the lead, the dog assumes its going for a walk.

Operant learning this method involves the animal having to perform a specific action in order to receive a reward.

Habituation is when the animal responds to the stimulus.

The final one is called Insight, i dont actually have a deffintion but it is basically the animal using its brain to gain something without using trial and error.

any ideas of example involving rabbits for any of the four learning styles would be much appreciated, thanks (sorry about the crazy font sizes)


 
If I understand the definitions correctly these are some ideas:

Classical would be easy to show with rabbit jumping competition which is similar to agility in dogs. I know people also do clicker training with rabbits.

operant learning...the first thing I think of is how on this forum Katt trained Herman (rip) and Winnie to give kisses in exchange for a craisen. My Wash licks my finger in exchange for a banana chip and a few rabbits on here will stand up and beg for treats.

Habituation could be something as simple as how a rabbit's ears prick in a certain direction if you make noise, or how they hide if something scares them.

Insight could maybe be a rabbit drinking from the water bowl if it's thirsty... that one escapes me a little



Another good example for one of these would be how easily rabbits are litter trained.
 
thanks for the ideas, i have used some of those already, wrote heaps about rabbit hopping. not sure if anyone remembers but i started a thread ages and ages ago all about it. i love it :) i will use a couple of those ideas though.


animal managment is bascially learing how to run a bussiness which involves animals, so you learn how to care for them but also how you would run a small bussiness like a kennel or vet practice for example.
 
Sounds like a fun course!

Insight: I put an NIC fence around a side table that the bunnies liked to chew on. Fey kept getting in while my back was turned but I could never figure out how because the fence didn't look like it had been moved at all and I hadn't heard any noises. When I finally caught her in the act, I saw that she grabbed the fence with her teeth, slid it aside, hopped in, then turned around and slid the fenced closed again! After that, I put weights on the fence so it was too heavy to move.:biggrin2:

Did you type the definition of habitutation correctly? I did a Google search for examples for me to look at, and it looks like it's actually when an animal learns to stop responding to a stimulus. Their example was wild prairie dogs that give out warning cries when predators approach. If they live near hiking trails where there are lots of people, they stop doing the warning cries for people because they are so common. So it's like getting used to something.

So an example of habituation with a rabbit would be my foster bunny Luna, who was very scared of human voices. If we started talking while she was out playing, she would huddle down and make herself small. But now she's becoming used to voices and has noticed that no harm has come to her, so she ignores us.
 
For habituation, you can also use the example of how animals that have been sick before will hide or shy away when they see a syringe (for medications to be taken orally). Fiver does this. I have to hide the feeding syringe when I take him out to give him his daily meds. Poor little guy...
 
That sounds like a fun course, I wish they had that to major at at my school. What kind of job/career do you want to get with that?
 
gwhoosh wrote:
That sounds like a fun course, I wish they had that to major at at my school. What kind of job/career do you want to get with that?
Click to expand...

im not really sure where i want to go after college, the course could let me go to uni or i could go straight into a job.


 
It's been awhile since I went to college, but I believe Nature is correct about the definition of Habituation. It is when a organism becomes so used to something they stop reacting to it.

To use the syringe example: A bun who resists the syringe is reacting to a stimulus. But if after many feedings the bun becomes used to the syringe and doesn't resist anymore, that would be habituation. The lack of a response is habituation.
 
glad your enjoying your course i did btec first , nationl diploma and city and guilds in animal care years ago loved the course it was great fun :)

where you doing the course ?i did mine at bishop burton college in beverley it was brilliant :biggrin2:
 
yer sorry, i typed the deffintion wrong.

im studying my course as oaklands college which is about 20 - 30 mins away from me.

thanks for all the ideas and suggestions, i think ive got enough now :)
 
Hey, I'm back again. I really should post on here more often than I do.

I'm just doing some college work on guinea pig(I know this is a rabbit site, but thought I'd mention this anyway) accomondation design. It has to be suitable for 4 adult guinea pigs.

I have decided to design an indoor cage using NIC cubing. Just wondering if any of you who have experience with it, could give me some pointers of the benefits of using it.

I have to cover -

  • the size (which I've sorted)
  • construction
  • enrichment
  • health and safety
  • routine maintance ie cleaning, bedding
  • physical factors ie ventelation, temp ect
Thanks for any suggestions in advance
 
Ahh - all the operant/classical conditioning stuff reminds me of my psychology lessons!:DPavlov's dogs and all that.;)I love learning about how the mind works, it must be cool being able to apply it to animals.:)

HB63 - you could have a look at the cavvy cages website. I'm sure they have loads of ideas on there.:)
 
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