New Zealand rabbit cage?

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philthegreat

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Can you keep a New Zealand rabbit in an all wire cage (that is 5ft long, 15 inches deep and 2ft tall) during the day, but at night lives inside your home in a playpen or on your lap while you’re on the computer? By the way, the wire flooring is PVC coated to prevent bumblefoot or injury.
 
Personally I would say no. He or she would need a large run permanently attached to that for it to be suitable, especially considering New Zealands are quite a large rabbit 👍
 
Because those people want to sell you something. We are not. We are trying to give you advice based on long time experience keeping rabbits correctly.
Not to mention it is stated those are cages for "show, meat and fur" rabbits, which for some reason people think are OK crammed into tiny cages for their short loves before being sold on our slaughtered 😡
A Rabbit has a natural lifespan of 10-12 years. How would you like to be crammed into a tiny cupboard for your whole life?

RSPCA states that the MINIMUM for a rabbit is 3m x 2m x 1m (around 10ft x 6ft x 3m), and that's for a standard size rabbit, not a large rabbit like a New Zealand.

There's no law against these horrible companies selling tiny cages with no thought to the welfare of its inhabitant, sadly.
Rabbits in the wild would have a natural territory of around 200m.

It's just like with people. Yes we can buy cigarettes. Are they good for us? Absolutely not.
Yes these cages are available for sale. Are they good for rabbits? Absolutely not.

As pet owners we should be aiming to provide the absolute best for our pets - not something massively below the minimum welfare wise.

Shame on that company for selling these tiny cages 😡
 
philthegreat said:
Can you keep a New Zealand rabbit in an all wire cage (that is 5ft long, 15 inches deep and 2ft tall) during the day, but at night lives inside your home in a playpen or on your lap while you’re on the computer? By the way, the wire flooring is PVC coated to prevent bumblefoot or injury.
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What is the climate like where you live? Something to consider is that rabbits cannot easily regulate their body temperature. So, for example, if the outdoors is... say 15 degrees Fahrenheit... cooler or hotter than the indoor temperature, then it would not be advised to bring the rabbit indoors each evening and out again in the morning. This would by highly stressful for the rabbit to try to compensate for the fluctuations. The greater the temp difference, the more difficult it would be.

Aside from the temperature issue, rabbits are peculiar little creatures in other ways as well. Simply being picked up and moved from one place to another is something they intensely dislike. (As babies, they are tolerant which can lead one to believe they are docile, but that all changes when hormones kick in. Then they will suddenly rebel against being grabbed out of their cage or forced back in.) They don't like being "manhandled" and 'early handling' isn't going to change that.

If you were hoping to have a pet rabbit (I'm guessing this because of your desire to bring it indoors) then perhaps you could consider permanent indoor housing. They honestly do not smell if their setup/housing is done correctly. Indoors allows for better bonding opportunity and also helps to mitigate the risk of RHVD2. You can see a number of indoor housing examples at the following threads here on RO.

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/2023-indoor-cages-spaces-add-your-photo.105421/https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/2022-indoor-cages-add-your-photo.103444/
And here is further info on determining cage size for indoor housing (since free roaming time is a factor)
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/housing-options.html
Bear in mind total square footage. So the 5' x 15" you mentioned works out to 6.25 square feet (which is actually the same sq footage as those small 30" square KW cages).
 
So are you trying to raise meat rabbits? The videos you show are for meat rabbits. They do not show ideal conditions for a rabbit... especially not a pet rabbit. Once one discovers just how active a rabbit can be when given the opportunity, then one understands the reason for providing plenty of space. From the multiple links, it appears you've been doing a bit of research. Hopefully you will be open to other options as well.

I'll link just 2 videos that I hope you will take into consideration. One is from Anne McBride, an animal behaviorist who specializes in rabbits. She explains in this video the reasoning behind larger housing. The 2nd video is my own video that is there not only for your enjoyment/entertainment, but also to demonstrate how active a rabbit likes to be when given a large enough and safe enough space.



 
Blue eyes said:
So are you trying to raise meat rabbits? The videos you show are for meat rabbits. They do not show ideal conditions for a rabbit... especially not a pet rabbit. Once one discovers just how active a rabbit can be when given the opportunity, then one understands the reason for providing plenty of space. From the multiple links, it appears you've been doing a bit of research. Hopefully you will be open to other options as well.

I'll link just 2 videos that I hope you will take into consideration. One is from Anne McBride, an animal behaviorist who specializes in rabbits. She explains in this video the reasoning behind larger housing. The 2nd video is my own video that is there not only for your enjoyment/entertainment, but also to demonstrate how active a rabbit likes to be when given a large enough and safe enough space.



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Yeah sure. I'm going to believe those videos when they only have less than 500,000 views.
 
Abusive or intentionally contentious behavior is not allowed on this forum. All members unaware of RO policy should review the 'Policy and Decorum' thread. https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/rabbitsonline-forum-policy-and-decorum.10320/
Mileybun said:
Just because people post videos about these horrific cages on YouTube doesn't make them OK 😕
I wonder how many videos you bypassed telling you these cages are NOT suitable?
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I'm going to order chicken from KFC. I love grilling, roasting, and deep frying chicken.
 
philthegreat said:
Yeah sure. I'm going to believe those videos when they only have less than 500,000 views.
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Now you're just trying to be contentious. I have not been contentious in my replies to you. I have tried to offer some facts for your consideration. Unfortunately you seem more bent on defending the method of keeping meat rabbits. I will give you the benefit of the doubt once more-- this time regarding this latest comment about viewership.

Anne McBride is well known in the world of pet rabbits. View numbers don't legitimize content. You should use your own discernment and actually listen to her statements and decide if what she says rings true.

As for the 2nd video I posted, I said it was my personal video. It is to show you how rabbits will dash about and do "binkies" when they have the space to do so. Number of views has nothing to do with it. It lets you see what rabbits can do.
 
philthegreat said:
I'm going to order chicken from KFC. I love grilling, roasting, and deep frying chicken.
Click to expand...
I... have no idea what this has to do with anything?

I think this is a lost cause, unfortunately. This person just isn't interested in what we have to say, unless it validates their desire to keep rabbits cruelly. Which isn't going to happen when they have come to a rabbit lovers forum where people actually have experience of keeping rabbits properly.

This isn't about what YOU want. This is about what is best for the RABBITS. Would you buy a rottweiler and keep it in a dog crate all day? Actually, don't answer that. I'd be afraid of the answer.

Let's just hope they don't ever actually get a rabbit 😩
 
Rabbits can serve different purposes. I agree with the others regarding pet rabbits. If the OP wants to raise rabbits for meat or show, then it can be a different story. I agree that being contentious here won’t get you very far. I suggest another board, like Rabbit Talk, if you want rabbits for something other than pet.
 
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