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Cage sizes AND
WIRE
All our Holland Lops are housed in stacking cages just because we don't have a
lot of room. Our breeding does are in 24 x 30 cages, most of our bucks are in
24 x 24 cages and our juniors are in 18 x 24 cages, although I may be selling
these smaller cages and buying larger ones this year. If we have a Holland Lop
doe with a larger litter, we usually will move her and her kits to one of
Kelly's French Lop junior cages which are 24 x 36.
Our French Lops, being large
rabbits, are in 24" x 36" cages, and our breeding does are housed in large 36" x
36" cages. In the largest cages we also provide floor supports-metal bars
under the floor that keep the center of the floor from sagging.
If you can afford it, choose to have your
cages made out of "galvanized-after" wire because your cages will hold up much
longer. This type of wire is galvanized after the crosswires are
soldered together - covering all the joints, and is more resistant to the
corrosive effects of weather, urine and cleaning chemicals.
Galvanized-before wire cages are made of wire
strands that are galvanized then soldered together - so the soldered
joints are exposed and more vulnerable to corrosion. This wire is cheaper
to produce and is a commonly-used material for making lower-priced cages and is
often used for the sides and tops of cages..
Flooring
All our cages have standard floor wire (1/2" x 1" either 14 or 16 gauge) and I've never had a problem with sore
hocks with any of our rabbits. Try to order your cages with
galvanized-after flooring so the wire holds up better against the caustic
effects of urine and cleaning! You can usually order cages with
galvanized-after flooring and galvanized-before sides and top, to save money.
We do like to give each rabbit an occasional
'square' of cardboard (approx 8" x 8"and larger for the bigger
rabbits) to use as a 'sitting board' and they love this! Some just sit on it,
others spend a fair amount of time throwing it around, ripping it up and some
even carry it around like it is a prize!
Cleaning pans
When we bought our cages, we spent a little more and purchased the plastic drop
pans and I am glad we did - they are so much easier to handle and clean than the
old style metal pans! We clean pans often; about 3 times a week just because we
have a lot a rabbits in a smaller space. For scraping out the pans we use
a simple sturdy dustpan to scrape the waste to one corner then dump it over the
edge of the pan.
We also use a thin layer of pine
shavings in the pans to absorb the urine. I have recently switched over to
sprinkling 'Sweet PDZ' under the shavings. This mineral-based powder helps
absorb and neutralize ammonia odors, and it really works.
Once a week, we spray diluted
Nolvasan
on each cleaned pan and wipe it out with paper towels - I don't think I am
really accomplishing anything by doing this other than keeping the edges of the
pan from accumulating a layer of gunk - it is gross to grab the edges of a
nasty, dirty pan! 
Every few weeks, we take the drop pans outside and
hose them off with plain water.
Additional cage
cleaning
When we clean pans, we also run a wire brush (same type of brush a painter would
use for prep work) over the cage floor to remove any hanging poops, hair or
left-over hay. The Hollands seem to have more poop stuck to the cage floor
wire than the French Lops do.
Every other week, we brush any accumulated hair off
the cage tops and sides and wipe off urine guards (some of our cages have urine
guards) About once a month, we pull all the cages out and clean behind
them, and remove dirt and hair build-up from the backs and sides of the cage
racks. During this major cleaning, we also usually wash the entire cage
rack and cage floors using Nolvasan, then allow it to dry before the rabbits go
back in.
A few times a year we powerwash all the cages and
pans - this is a huge job as we have to remove all the rabbits and put them in
carriers while we are working. It is an all-day affair, but is well worth
the work - the washing and sun-drying removes a lot of built-up waste and hair
materials, plus the sunlight sanitizes nicely.
Feeders
We use a variety of
feeders for our Holland Lops. I started out using the newer plastic J-feeders (EZ
Crock)
in all the Holland cages because it makes for a quick feeding job, but these
have some drawbacks, at least for Holland use; many of our younger bucks take
great delight in spraying urine and the feeders seem to be a desirable target.
If this is not cleaned off the feeder within a few days, a lovely, yellow,
sticky layer builds up on the entire feeder - which transfers to the buck's
forehead when he sticks his head into the feeder to eat - we call this
'pee-face' and it is quite difficult to remove once it's there! We have
switched most our bucks' feeders to small, cast-aluminum free-standing bowls and
this works out better, although more time is needed to go into each cage to
feed. The bowls still get sprayed on and still need to be cleaned, - but at least it doesn't end up on
the rabbits'
foreheads. We don't have this problem with the does, in fact, they seem
quite insulted if they happen to get 'pee-face'!
One other comment about plastic J-feeders: Shortly
after we started using the plastic J-feeders, we noticed our Hollands' eyelids
were becoming red or inflamed. At first, I didn't connect this with the
feeders in any way, but thought we had some type of strange eye infection going
around. I called it strange because it didn't appear to be a typical eye
infection- with discharge, wetness or crustiness - there was simply slight
swelling of their upper eyelids and an appearance of irritation. After treating rabbits for eye infections and
not seeing any change or improvement, I began to look at what else could be
causing this inflammation and discovered something interesting: because
they have ravenous appetites and are fed such a small amount, some of the
Hollands jamb their heads deep into the feeders to get the last little bits of
oats/pellets, and while I watched them do this, it became apparent that their
eyes are actually mushed up against the feeder, and hitting the sharp cut wire!
(To install the J-feeders, you must cut a hole in the wire cage to slip the
feeder thru - and at the top of the hole, the horizontal edge of wire meets
right at the opening of the feeder bowl, which is also right where the Hollands'
eyes rest when they are reaching for the last pellets.) I took a feeder out and
felt that edge with my fingers and discovered it is very sharp where I cut the
wire joints! I tried to file or dull these
points but found it easier to just slip on a piece of the same plastic that is
clipped over the sharp wire at door openings.
Soon after I covered the sharp wire areas of
the plastic
J-feeders, the Hollands eyes returned to normal! Our doe and junior cages
still have the J-feeders and for the most part, they work fine. I still have an
occasional junior who will go to the extreme to get the last pellet or oat, and
jamb his head deep into the feeder- and although I have the plastic cover over
the sharp metal, the protruding plastic clip that holds the feeder onto the cage
will sometimes hit right at the Hollands' eye and cause a slight problem if the
Holland does this persistently. I usually watch for this and switch the junior
to a cage with a bowl - end of problem. I don't want to get rid of all the
J-feeders because they really do save time during feeding, especially when time
is short before work!
Kelly likes to use the ceramic or plastic crocks to
feed her French Lops with - these are much easier to remove for cleaning than
the J-feeders.
All feeders are removed from the cages,
scrubbed and soaked in Nolvasan, at least every other week, more often if
needed.
WATER
We use the clip-on (EZ
Crock)
plastic bowls for all our rabbits. Our rabbits are very playful and just
cannot leave a free-standing bowl of water alone! We want to make sure they
always have a supply of water so we chose the clip on water bowls to prevent them from
tossing their water. This doesn't stop them from throwing every toy they have
into their water though! Every morning,
we find an assortment of toys in water bowls - cardboard, the roller-cage toys
with bells inside, and even their balls! Is a water bowl a rabbit toybox??
During winter or cold weather, we scrub all
the water bowls in Nolvasan once a week, and we do this more often during summer
or hot weather. During winter, we give the rabbits warm water and do they love
it! We've heard that warm water can upset their delicate digestive system but
we've never had any ill effects from it.
Rabbits will chew on these plastic water
bowls and feeders, sometimes creating sharp edges - we occasionally check for
sharp points and edges and replace the bowl or feeder if needed.
We empty all the rabbit water bowls nightly
and refill with fresh water. In the morning we top off all bowls, only changing
ones that are dirty.
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