Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been reading that rabbits will eat thier feces and digest thier food a second time, helping break down the nutrients. Will it cause any problems in a captive rabbit if they do not have access to thier feces because of a Grated cage floor? Would they be smart enough to defecate on a resting pad if they were planning to eat it?

Hellos!

You should definatly make a section of the cage covered with something other then wire, not really because of the reason you stated, but because standing on wire all the time can really hurt rabbits feet. My rabbit will sometimes eat his feces right as he passes them, so in that case he would get to them before they would have a change to fall through the wire. But still put an area for him to rest his feet from the wire!

I'm guessing you already have the cage, but if not, it's not really necessary to buy a wire bottom cage. Rabbits are pretty easy to litter train, and not having the wire bottom is so much better for their feet.

Of course I would give somthing to rest on. Its just That when I had my hamster, changing all the shavings was a real pain. It would be nice just to have a pull out tray like with my bird.

Thanks for your help, I'm just doing my research at the moment.

Good luck with your research.

As long as it has a place to rest where it's cecotropes don't fall through the bottom he/she should be fine. Also like I said, they will often not even wait till it has a chance to fall through the grates. Cecotropes are most of the time ingested directly from the anus in the early morning hours.

Ditto!

Most often the rabbit will bend over and consume the cecotrope as it is passing from the intestinal track. It generally looks like the rabbit is grooming his/her nether regions, so although it sounds nasty, rabbits make it appear pretty 'refined' (Bon Appetit!).

I am a bit different than your average rabbit owner because I have free-range rabbits in my backyard (also a guinea pig). Since I have a fenced backyard and cats who enjoy the company of my rabbits and guinea pig, my rabbits and GP pretty much have the run of almost .25 acres.

The one thing that I do want to stress if you are planning on keeping your rabbit indoors and generally caged is to also consider getting him/her trained for using a harness and a leash for occasional voyages outdoors. Animals needs exposure to sunlight for the purpose of Vitamin D absorption and bone formation. I have an African Spurred Tortoise, a NA Opossum, 8 rabbits, 1 guinea pig, and 5 cats now...but I had to learn the hard way before that windows won't give any pet the healthy type of lighting that they are needing (birds included).

And definintely rethink your caging situation! When I first got a rabbit, I read that I could kill my rabbit by picking him/her up the wrong way. What I have subsequently learned is that healthy rabbits aren't that much different from handling than dogs or cats. If you put a rabbit in a cage with no space for exercising and no natural sunlight for adequate bone formation, then yes, you are going to see major fractures occuring from generally handling. I am a bit radical in my thinking perhaps, but if you can't handle changing some litter every couple of days, then why did you exactly decide on getting an animal to begin with, much less a rabbit? Rabbits are social animals and they require a lot of social attention. I am thinking that you should have done your research BEFORE getting a rabbit. Please research pregnancy and childcare before you decide on having a baby.

Best of luck!
__Contessa__