Rabbit questions

[pparrulli]

Hi. I am Paula and I live in Arizona. I have 3 cats, 2 hamsters and 1 tortoise. I am considering getting a few rabbits and have a few question that I was hoping someone from this group could help answer.

I have an outdoor area 9ft x 20ft that I want to make into a rabbit enclosure. I would provide plenty of shade, misters, and a fan. The enclosure is against my house and has a dog door in that area. I could provide a hutch inside the house that the rabbits could access if they needed to escape the heat or cold. A few questions about that idea. Will rabbits use a dog door? Is it ok for rabbits to go from an outside enclosure where it may be hot and then come inside where it is cool? Does the temperature change harm them?

To stop them from burrowing out from under the fence I was considering laying fence wire on the ground and connecting it to the side fence wire. Then place enough dirt on top which will allow them to do some burrowing but without being able to burrow beyond the fence underneath. Does that seem feasible? Would that stop them from burrowing out?

Lastly, the smell. When I talk to people about rabbits, they mention the smell. I have also read on the internet/message groups that people say they smell (or at least the cages do). I want to know, if you do a weekly cleaning, is the smell really that bad? Before I got hamsters for my daughter everyone told me they smelled. However, a few people said if I cleaned the case regularly that it would not be bad. I clean the hamster cage every week and I never walk by my daughters room and smell anything. On cleaning day if I put my head in the cage it can smell a bit, but not bad. Will rabbits be the same? If I clean the enclosure once a week, will it smell? I can see how cleaning a rabbit cage once a week would keep it smelling ok but what about it being an outdoor enclosure? I can clean up the droppings weekly, but what about the urine? I imagine the urine is what smells. What do you do for a enclosure that has a dirt or grass floor and they urinate on it? How do you clean that?

Thanks so much for your help. I want to make an informed decision about any pet that our family gets

 

[Farmin' Girl]

Sorry to say I can't help you much, I am fairly new to rabbits myself. But I will say that you do want to make sure they have plenty of shade. Rabbit's fur can change color under direct sunlight for too long. I found that out when I purchased an American Blue rabbit who had brown fur patches due to too much sunlight. Also their bodies could overheat and they can get sun stroke. In summer it is nice to have frozen 2 liter bottles of water to put in their cages, and they will stretch out beside them to cool off. Rabbits can survive in temperatures well below 0 degrees, but they can only take so much heat.

Yes, they do start to stink if their feces and pee just sit around in one area. It is great to clean it out often, but, I must say, depending on how many rabbits you have, for that amount of space you probably could get away with only cleaning it every 2 weeks.

My questions to you are,

1. How many rabbits are you getting?
You don't want to have too many in one space, and too many for you to keep up with.
2. What breed?
Knowing what breed you are getting can help you figure out how big they will grow to answer my first question.
3. What sex?
If you are getting both male and female, WATCH OUT! They could very well breed when you least expect it, especially when you DON'T want it to happen. If you don't plan on becoming a breeder, and are just buying for pets, then it might be best to get just males or just females. Now, sometimes males won't get along, same thing for females. So you will have to keep an eye on them, checking on them ever so often. I have heard of males killing each other, as well as females, just to protect their space. So keep your eyes peeled for aggresiveness. If you start them out together young, then this shouldn't be a problem for you.

Not sure about your other questions, Hope this helps!

 

[pparrulli]

Thanks for the response.

I did know that rabbits can overheat easily. That is why I was considering doing the dog door access to an indoor hutch so they can come in for cool air. I just didn't know if it is better to do the misters and fans (and frozen bottles, etc.) than allowing them to go in and out with fluctuating temperatures. I know birds don't handle temperature fluctuations very well. I was wondering if rabbits are the same. It sounds nice to allow them to come inside to access cool air, but I don't know if that is what is best for them.

Do you have any idea how an outside enclosure will begin to smell over time? I can clean poops up as often as needed but I don't know what to do about the urine. It will just soak into the grass and dirt. Do you just hose it down to dilute it? This is the issue I am the most concerned about. I know I can come up with solutions for the heat but I don't know what to do about the urine smell.

I will probably get 2 or3 rabbits. Same sex or spay and neuter- I don't want a bunch of babies. I haven't done a ton of research of what type but I want smaller rabbits. I seem to like the Mini Rex.

Thanks again!

 

[Bunnylady]

The biggest problem with smell probably would be the urine, yes. The difficulty is that rabbits spray to mark their territory. Mostly it is unaltered males, of course, but I have seen a few does spray, too. Obviously, urine on the walls or other surfaces above the ground would be a bit more difficult to deal with.

Some rabbits are very accommodating about their waste. Most tend to pee in one place (other than the odd spray), a lot will poop in the same place, too. Cleaning up the 'dirty corner' is often very easy, which eliminates most of the smell. A lot of people who have house rabbits have the rabbit trained to use a litter box, so all or almost all of the waste is easily removed daily.

 

[pparrulli]

Thanks for the input. In a large outdoor enclosure you think they will do most of their business in a litter box including urine? I am just concerned about the smell and not being able to control it. Is there anyone out there that keeps rabbits in an outdoor enclosure on dirt or grass ? If so, what do you do to control the urine smell?

 

[SA Farm]

Since you're only planning to have 2 or 3 smaller neutered or female rabbits in a decent sized area, I don't think you'll find that they smell very bad at all. Outdoors, their urine will be absorbed into the ground and the air will dispense any smell quite quickly and neutered males and females don't have the same stink to their urine as unaltered males anyway.
I really think a weekly or biweekly tidy would be good and don't think you'll find them too stinky at all.

 

[VickieB]

I agree with SA. I have my rabbits in cages with trays. Now, if I don't change the trays often, that will get to smelling. BUT, once I dump the trays, whether it's on the ground on in my compost bins, the smell goes away... I would think that with a few rabbits you wouldn't have a problem at all.

 

[SweetBun]

We are also in AZ, but honestly we keep ours inside. We took our mini rex outside to run around when the weather was nice. We are getting a new bun next weekend that is a lionhead mix and I am planning to keep her inside too. We dump and clean the trays daily since they are inside. We loved our mini rex and would love another. If you find a good breeder send me a PM please! The last breeder we bought from didnt work out for our mini rex. Good luck!