What To Pack For A Rabbit Show
The show date is getting closer.....and you are wondering what to bring. Getting ready ahead of time will help make your show day less stressful. Most of what you'll need can be packed up the day before the show.
For your convenience, we have a printable checklist to help you get ready for any one or two day rabbit show: Click on this link:
Rabbit Show Checklist: What To Pack For A Rabbit Show
A Few Items to Find Ahead of Time:
Carriers These are small individual wire cages with attached dropping pans that are commonly used to transport rabbits to rabbit shows. Most open on the top for ease of use. You will need one for each rabbit you show.
They come in all different sizes to suite all the different rabbit breeds
and range in price from $15 up to $40 each for single compartment carriers,
and slightly more for carriers with more than one compartment. The
multi-compartment carrier is one large carrier split into several
compartments (usually 2-6 compartments) so one can transport several rabbits
at once. While
the multi-compartment carriers cost per 'hole' (compartment for each rabbit)
may be cheaper than the individual carriers, keep in mind they are a lot
larger to carry into the showroom, transport and store!
You can get your carriers ready ahead of time - each should be clean, have shavings or other absorbent material in the drop pan, and you should have clean water/feed cups for each carrier ready to go.
Feed/water cups Most people purchase the cheap gray or black plastic cups that have molded hooks that will firmly 'clip' onto the side of the carrier wire. The gray ones are usually cheaper but they are made of a lighter plastic, the black ones are made of a harder plastic that the rabbits can't chew as much. They come in all sizes, from very small to very large - you will want them large enough for your rabbit's head to fit in, but small enough to not take up a lot of space in the carrier.
Both the carriers and carrier cups can be purchased from any rabbit supply vendor.
Showtables or Grooming Tables
A showtable or a grooming table, is a portable, usually wooden table with a carpeted top used for grooming rabbits. Many have removable or foldable legs, and a separate removable top for ease of transportation. Some also have storage drawers for your grooming supplies. These showtables or grooming tables are available from many rabbit supply companies and are getting quite pricey - upwards of $100 and even more for specially made tables.
There are some crowded shows where you'll be asked to not set up grooming tables because they take up valuable space and really aren't necessary - for these instances, you can bring a 'carpet sample' and set that on top of your carrier to use as a makeshift grooming table. Some breeders just use carpet samples instead of tables - they are so much easier to haul around! Carpet samples are available at most discount stores and even rabbit supply companies for only a few bucks each.
There are many more things to bring to a regular one or two day rabbit show, and again - we've got a printable list ready for you - just click on the link below to view this pdf document!
Rabbit Show Checklist: What To Pack For A Rabbit Show
You'll need Adobe Reader to open, view and print the checklist - click here to download this free small program - handy for reading any pdf documents!