angora rabbits and caging

[bettybohemian]

I read that angoras will do better on partially solid floors or bamboo slatting because of the delicate nature of their feet, though the cages require cleaning more often. Has anyone used an alternative type of caging for their Angora rabbits?

Also- I'm looking for a breeder within 3 or 4 hour drive of Riverside county, CA to start my small fiber rabbitry. I would really like giants And English and want to stay away from Jerseys just because They're small and thus produce less. Thanks all!

 

[tortoise]

I have never heard of "the delicate nature of their feet." If their feet are free of mats and you have a non-wire surface to rest on, they'll be fine.

I use all metal cages so that I can burn off the wool a few times a year. Inbetween when it isn't practical to burn the cages, I use a wire brush which takes off the "dingleberries" and a lot of the wool. Anything with wood collects wool and general disgusting-ness like you wouln't believe.

I have snap-in plastic resting mats. They are nice. They have holes for urine to drip through (yes, they pee on their resting mats!). They snap out to scrub them, or to remove them for when I burn wool off cages. Before I bought those I used a piece of wood about 1/4" thick. They were cheap, but always disgusting no matter how often I cleaned them.

My cage set-up:

Penelope's Rabbitry by Penelope's Rabbitry, on Flickr

 

[bettybohemian]

Thanks. I was thinning I could jut put a square ceramic tile in there. That's what a friend of mine did for her rabbit that had chronic bumblefoot. LOL I was just at your rabbitry page yesterday. These little fuzzballs are impossible to find in my area! Hoping I might meet some breeders at the 4H show this weekend. I know ARBA (is that right?) will be there.

 

[dbunni]

If you are in California and looking for English ... Miss Betty Chu (Chu angoras) is the best you can do. She has one of the top EA lines in the country. Check out her website ... There are a lot of EAs in California. It is a hotbed of competition. She may not have kits right now, but more than likely knows somebody who can help you out.

 

[cattlecait]

If you are in California and looking for English ... Miss Betty Chu (Chu angoras) is the best you can do. She has one of the top EA lines in the country. Check out her website ... There are a lot of EAs in California. It is a hotbed of competition. She may not have kits right now, but more than likely knows somebody who can help you out.

Agreed. Since you're in Cali and close to her, go for it. I'd die for a few of her English! ^.^

That being said, we kept ours in normal cages too, but then again I only had a few English.

 

[tortoise]

Thanks. I was thinning I could jut put a square ceramic tile in there. That's what a friend of mine did for her rabbit that had chronic bumblefoot. LOL I was just at your rabbitry page yesterday. These little fuzzballs are impossible to find in my area! Hoping I might meet some breeders at the 4H show this weekend. I know ARBA (is that right?) will be there.

The ceramic tiles go into the freezer for a cool place for them to rest in summer. You can't do ice bottles with angoras because the condensation/thaw/water will mat the coats.

 

[horsechick]

You can put the frozen water bottles (20 oz) in extra socks you may have around, it will soak up the condensation on the bottles and still be cool.

 

[Tracey]

Hi,

I keep my Fr. Angoras on wire, with a small wooden restsing platform. They haven't had any problems with their feet - they are pretty hardy bunnies

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Did you find your Angoras? Betty is up here by me (south San Fran bay area/east of Monterrey bay), there are LOADS of Anogra people to choose from in Nor Cal. Transport can often be found on the Californiarabbitshows yahoo group. Denise Squires is down by you in Perris, near Hemet. I forget which Angoras she has.

I use wire trid floor cages (anything else would be disastrous/filthy for a wooled rabbit), the slotted EZ rest mats from KW cages, a long handlede wire BBQ brush for dingle berries, a flat spackle tool for any scraping needed (cuts stuck fibers), a weed torch that hooks up to a propane tank for torching the cages 3 or 4x a year, and a power washer that I use after that. Yeah, wool gets everywhere but, man, the rewards.....