Straw in nesting box or???

[Garden Flowers Rabbitry]

HI,, My doe had 7 babies a few days ago. she has straw in the nest box and it is saturated...I have some hay but not much, would wood shavings and hay be ok??

what do most people use for their nesting boxes?

thanks

connie

 

[TinysMom]

I would NOT use wood shavings as I've heard of babies that were allergic to them developing eye infections, etc.

I use hay.



Peg

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

I use pine shavings as I have never had a problem with them. Hay smells horrible when it gets urinated on. My rabbits are in the basement of my house so I have to use pine. However, just because I have not had a problem with it does not mean someone else hasn't.

Sharon

 

[pamnock]

I put down a layer of pine shavings to absorb wetnessand add plenty of straw. We generally take the box out at 2 weeks and have never had eye infection problems. In many cases of eye infections, there is either a sanitation issue (nest boxes should be disinfected after each use), or a genetic predisposition to eye disease.



Pam

 

[TinysMom]

Thanks Pam - I wasn't the one who had problems but I'd heard of them from another breeder.

I don't use pine shavings at all - then again - I hate it when anything gets in the fur of my mamas....I use hay and then I change it out every couple of days...my mamas haven't had a problem with this fortunately.



Peg

 

[Garden Flowers Rabbitry]

Thanks for the input to my questions

I ended up putting wood shavings on the floor of the nestbox,,and then a layer of straw over it and around it. so far, so good.

It seems silly that I can't find straw, being as I live on the prairies, but when I phoned around to stables etc to see if I could buy a bail,,,,they all said that they used shavings instead of straw for their horses..