Contents
The theoretical life expectancy of rabbits is 10-12 years. But a wild rabbit in nature rarely lives to 3. Diseases, parasites, predators thin out the livestock. To preserve the species, such a rapid generational change is the best strategy. On rabbit farms, the situation is exactly the same. Of course, farmers do not allow rampant infections and parasites, and keep predators at a distance, but keeping a rabbit for more than 3 years is unprofitable, as her fertility decreases. Apparently, echoes of wild life. Therefore, older rabbits are sent to slaughter. Up to 4 – 5 years, only specimens that are especially valuable in the tribal sense survive.
Owners of decorative rabbits want their pet to live as long as possible. How many years decorative rabbits live depends largely on the conditions of keeping and caring for them, but usually 6 to 10 years. And before buying, you need to figure out how to care for a decorative rabbit and prepare a place for him to live.
Cage equipment and dimensions
It is desirable to keep any breeds of rabbits on a solid, non-slippery floor. The net used to raise industrial rabbits is not suitable for keeping ornamental rabbits if you want to keep them healthy for as long as possible. Pododermatitis resulting from damage to rabbit feet when kept on a net is not as harmless as it might seem. These are open wounds through which any infection can enter. At the same time, a smooth, slippery plastic floor is also not suitable for keeping a decorative rabbit. A relief pallet or slatted floor is much better suited. It should be borne in mind that not all decorative rabbits can be accustomed to the tray. Perhaps any bottom with a thick layer of hay laid on it is what your decorative rabbit needs. The cell size is calculated based on the size of the proposed breed. In a cage for a decorative rabbit in a resting position, that is, stretched out on its side to its full height, the decorative rabbit itself, its shelter, a manger for hay, a feeder, a drinking bowl and a tray should be placed. This is a necessary minimum for the life of a decorative rabbit.
If the exit from the cage is higher than the floor, you need to be puzzled by a safe ladder for the entry and exit of the animal. Rabbits have very fragile paw bones. If the paw gets between the bars, and the animal at this time is frightened and twitches, a fracture will be ensured.
Whether to equip an aviary for longer “walks” of a decorative rabbit or let it run around the room every day is up to the owner.
Otherwise, the decorative rabbit will live exactly until the moment it bites through the wire connected to the mains. Caring for decorative rabbits is actually no different from caring for industrial rabbits. Unless the cage needs to be cleaned more often to avoid smell in the house. If you want to keep more than one animal, but do not plan to breed decorative rabbits, it is better to take two rabbits, they are more peaceful. Males will constantly start fights if they are not castrated. In addition, during puberty, the rabbit can show aggression towards the owner.
Decorative rabbits – care and feeding
Usually, the concept of “care and maintenance” includes not only feeding and cleaning the cage, but also meeting the needs of the animal in movement and games. And sometimes breeding.
Feeding
But with feeding, everything is somewhat “worse”. If owners want their pet to live as long as ornamental rabbits that receive proper nutrition, he will have to acquire knowledge not only in formulating a diet, but also in determining the quality of hay and concentrates.
Features of the digestion of rabbits
In rabbits, the passage of food masses through the intestines is carried out due to the receipt of new chewed food. Own peristalsis of the intestines in rabbits is very weak. Therefore, with long breaks in eating, intestinal blockages can occur. To somewhat improve peristalsis, active running with toys and jumping helps. But even here one must take into account the instinctive desire of the animal to gnaw everything that has got into its mouth. If you eat a lot of paper (free toys are often made from cardboard boxes), plastic, rubber or fabric (soft toys) increase the chances of a blockage in the gastrointestinal tract.
Diet
The diet of a decorative rabbit should consist of high-quality hay and complete granules specially designed for these animals. Hay is the main component of the rabbit diet. On sale you can find many types of this product. Often the type of hay depends on the region of residence. In one region, the bulk of hay comes from meadows, in another from irrigated sown fields. For a decorative rabbit, timothy is considered the best type of hay. In second place is meadow forbs and in third place is alfalfa.
Since alfalfa is high in protein, it can cause obesity in older rabbits.
How to determine the quality of hay
High-quality hay should be green in color with a pleasant grassy smell. It is necessary to ensure that there are no coarse “sticks” in the hay, although some decorative rabbits are very fond of nibbling such sticks. But rough stalks in the hay mean the hay was cut over-aged, with minimal vitamins and nutrients. All useful grass has already given into seeds.
The ideal time to cut grass for hay is during the flowering period. This is the kind of hay you need to try to find for a decorative rabbit.
Hay should not be overdried, because in this case the leaves and petals – the most valuable part of the hay – will fall off and the rabbit will get only the stems. However, if small parts crumble already at home, they can be mixed with dry compound feed and fed to the animal.
Lower quality hay is yellow. Such hay, when dried, fell into the rain and lost some of its nutritional value. But if there is no smell of mycelium, then it is quite possible to feed hay to a rabbit.
It’s not really dust, it’s mold spores. Contaminated with mold toxins, hay can lead to poisoning of the animal with symptoms of the famous “bloating”, well known to rabbit breeders.
Hay that cannot be fed is brown and smells like mycelium. Such hay should immediately be sent to the trash can.
If possible, you need to ask what year the hay is being sold. The hay dated from the current year has the maximum value. Hay that has lain for a year loses 50% of its nutritional value. Three-year-old hay is only good for bedding.
Compound feed and pellets
Essentially, they are one and the same. Granules – pressed compound feed. The granules can be full-ration, that is, the animal, in addition to the granules, does not need anything else. But such granules will have to be constantly available in the feeder due to the peculiarities of the digestion of rabbits. This will most likely lead to obesity, since proteins and carbohydrates in such granules are also in excess. Typically, these pellets are used to fatten rabbits on farms in addition to hay. Or if the hay is “empty”, that is, of poor quality and almost no nutrients.
There are pellets produced specifically for ornamental rabbits. When choosing pellets, it is necessary to take into account the presence of hay in the diet. If for some reason it was not possible to get it and you have to make do with granules, you need to choose those in which the fiber content is 20%.
In the presence of hay, the fiber content in the granules should be 10 – 15%.
Determining the quality of granules
Any compound feed without preservatives is not stored for longer than a week, since the grains are destroyed during the manufacture of the compound feed, and the vitamins stored under the protective shell of the grain begin to decompose. Pellets sold in pet stores usually have a significant shelf life. This is achieved through the use of preservatives. However, the word “preservative” that frightens many is actually ascorbic acid, that is, vitamin C, which is necessary for the normal functioning of decorative rabbits.
When opening the package with granules, the contents should have a pleasant smell, without signs of rancidity. The composition of the granules includes oil-containing components: sunflower seed or cake. If the contents of the package smell of rancid vegetable oil, it means that the shelf life has long expired and ascorbic acid has not been able to stop the decomposition of vegetable oil.
Juicy forages
Theoretically, a decorative rabbit can eat many fruits and vegetables. From a practical point of view, it depends on how much the owner is inclined to put their animal at risk.
The opinion that rabbits love cabbage and carrots is a myth. More precisely, rabbits love it. But when eating fresh white cabbage, they are guaranteed to die from cabbage fermentation in the stomach. Leaves of white cabbage should be dried.
Carrots for decorative pets can only be half an average root crop per day. And you need to start with a very small piece, since any new food is introduced a little at a time. It is very difficult to calculate this “slightly” for a miniature decorative animal.
An apple also causes fermentation in the intestines and is given in a dose of no more than a quarter a day.
Fresh grass must be dry, not after dew or rain, but rather dried in the shade.
Red beet is also given carefully, it has a laxative effect.
You can give celery and parsley, a stalk of fodder cabbage, zucchini, cucumber, kohlrabi.
Everything is introduced slowly and issued every day, without a jagged schedule. But in order not to wonder why the decorative rabbit feels bad today, it is better to limit yourself to hay and pellets. Animals feel great on such a diet all their lives. In addition, decorative rabbits are often found to be allergic to any fruits or vegetables. The desire to treat a pet with something delicious is a purely human need and often ends badly for an animal.
Physical activity
The life expectancy of decorative rabbits largely depends on the conditions in which they are located. An animal that sits in a cage all its life does not live long. Decorative rabbits, like all herbivores who moved a lot in search of food, movement is vital. At the same time, it is almost impossible to make a decorative rabbit run for the sake of the idea of running. This is not the case for animals. They prefer to save energy in case of attack by predators. But decorative rabbits need active physical movement and fresh air. Therefore, in private homes, walking a decorative rabbit is compulsory. He is fenced off with a permanent aviary into which the decorative rabbit can leave his shelter whenever he wants, and they carefully monitor that this figure does not dig a passage to freedom. You can buy a portable version of the enclosure, which in fact is a cage with lattice walls. Such an aviary is placed on the grass, and the decorative rabbit has the opportunity to eat grass on its own. If he is accustomed to the grass.
Another option for walking for a decorative rabbit is a special lattice ball, which the animal, trying to move to another place, rolls around the lawn. No, for places overgrown with weeds, it will not work. Also, decorative rabbits are well accustomed to walking on a harness. In this case, you will have to follow your pet everywhere.
But not everyone has the opportunity to walk their decorative rabbits, many can only keep animals in an apartment. Keeping decorative rabbits at home should provide for daily physical activity for them, and the owner will have to be puzzled by this issue.
So that the pet does not get bored alone, it must be provided with toys. It can be specially made toys, and homemade products. You can keep the animal busy getting food from a toy or developing intelligence. However, all the same, the development of intelligence will be based on obtaining food.
Homemade toys can be floor brushes made from natural materials, mats and ropes woven from plant fibers, drainpipes, cardboard boxes and toilet paper tubes. Although the last two types are undesirable due to the danger of overeating paper. In principle, almost any thing can serve as a toy for a decorative rabbit.
But the owner will have to provide the motor activity of the decorative rabbit on his own. At the same time, training a decorative rabbit to jump and execute commands.
If decorative rabbits were bought with an eye to breeding, then you will have to take extra care of some factors.
Breeding decorative rabbits
Naturally, for breeding, a minimum of a pair of heterosexual animals is needed. Although in reality I would have 3-4-5 rabbits. The rabbit will not refuse. Accordingly, you will have to take care of acquiring at least two cages so that the rabbit and the rabbit live separately. The rabbit is a sexually preoccupied animal, and will not give a quiet life to the female rabbit if they have one cage for two.
The rabbit’s cage should be larger than the rabbit’s. She still has a brood to raise. A shelter must be placed in a cage. Before okrol, hay or straw is placed in the shelter.
The rabbit will make a nest on her own. Sukrolnost lasts about a month. The rabbit does not need special help with the rounding. Yes, this is impossible, given the size of the rabbit.
In most cases, eating rabbits occurs because the rabbit is thirsty. To a lesser extent from a lack of minerals during pregnancy.
Decorative rabbits are best left with their mother for up to 3 months. On farms, weaning of rabbits occurs at 30 to 45 days. At the same time, the maximum mortality of rabbits occurs, since their gastrointestinal tract is not yet sufficiently developed to consume only “adult” food. If possible, suck the rabbit for up to 2 months, the case in rabbits is minimal. After two months, the rabbit begins to drive them away from herself. Another month is needed to understand that “we are adults now and must live independently” and the rules of life in society.
A three-month-old decorative rabbit will already be able to adapt normally in another house.
Puberty in rabbits occurs at 3 months, so the breeder at this time already separates the males from the females (another plus 2 cages) and tries to quickly sell the rabbits.
The rabbit comes on the hunt a couple of days after the birth. But it should not happen at this time. Compacted rounds negatively affect the health of the rabbit. It is better to conduct a new mating after one and a half to two months.
Therefore, if you have taken decorative rabbits for breeding and do not want to sterilize them, you will have to constantly happen to animals. Otherwise, in decorative rabbits, the occurrence of diseases of the reproductive system is inevitable. And both the rabbit and the rabbit. Thus, in order for decorative rabbits to live for a long time, up to 10 years, and without significant health problems, the owner will have to not only comply with the norms for keeping and feeding decorative rabbits, but also entertain them with walks. A pet is a responsibility.