comfortable quarters for laboratory rabbits - Animal Welfare Institute

Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Rabbits • 53rabbits (>6 kg) require more space and have to be kept accordingly in larger cages.Pair-housed rabbits need twice the floor space of the single-housed rabbit. The “double”cage should be at least 120 cm (48 in.) wide.The minimum height of the rabbit cage should be 60 cm (24 in.) to enable the occupants toat least sit up with their ears erect. A height of 75 cm (30 in.), however, would be moreappropriate and hence is recommended because it allows the animals to sit up on their hindlegs in the typical lookout posture (Figure 6).If more than two adult rabbits of the weight category 4-6 kg are housed together in a pen, theminimum floor area should be 2 m 2 (22 sq.ft.) for up to four animals, increasing by 0.45 m 2 (4.8sq.ft.) for each additional rabbit. Abreeding group of 2-5 does, one buckand one generation of their offspringshould be allocated a floor area of 9m 2 (97 sq.ft.).The height of group pens should be120 cm (47 in.) or more (dependingon the height of boxes/shelves) to preventthe occupants from leaping out.SummaryThe traditional standard-sized singlecages currently used for housing rabbitsare inadequate to satisfy the animals’behavioral and physiologicalneeds. Group housing arrangements,preferably in well-structured floorpens with straw bedding and individualnest boxes can overcome theseshortcomings. Group-housed rabbitsexpress a considerably enhanced behavioralrepertoire compared with singlycaged rabbits. They are truly rabbits,because they can hop, leap, situp on the hind legs in rabbit-fashion,hide in “burrows,” forage with otherconspecifics, groom each other (Figure7) and sham-burrow in the substratumbefore lying down.Figure 7: Species-typical social grooming patterns inlaboratory rabbits.