Posted by John Savage on October 11, 2008, 4:14 am
On tonight's ABC gardening program they showed a rabbit cage atop
a worm farm. The rabbit hutch had a netting floor so that the
droppings would fall straight through onto the worm farm below.
All fine and good, so it would seem.
But I understood that rabbits give their droppings a second chew,
and this tidy arrangement clearly defeats that behaviour.
So, is immediate removal of rabbit droppings a wise thing? (The
rabbit looked healthy enough, so I guess recycling the pellets
is not *essential* to a domestic rabbit's extracting adequate
nutrition, even if it may be essential for a wild bunny on a
much poorer diet.)
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
Posted by SG1 on October 11, 2008, 6:51 am
> On tonight's ABC gardening program they showed a rabbit cage atop
> a worm farm. The rabbit hutch had a netting floor so that the
> droppings would fall straight through onto the worm farm below.
> All fine and good, so it would seem.
> But I understood that rabbits give their droppings a second chew,
> and this tidy arrangement clearly defeats that behaviour.
> So, is immediate removal of rabbit droppings a wise thing? (The
> rabbit looked healthy enough, so I guess recycling the pellets
> is not *essential* to a domestic rabbit's extracting adequate
> nutrition, even if it may be essential for a wild bunny on a
> much poorer diet.)
> --
> John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
Just moved to near Toowoomba from 400+km west. Had rabbits make their
dunghills on the acre we had. Now don't take this the wrong way, I did not
examine the droppings closely but they all appeared smooth. Have never heard
this one before and have lived in country locations most of my life, from
Vic to Darwin and quite a few places in between.
Posted by terryc on October 11, 2008, 7:59 am
On Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:14:28 +0000, John Savage wrote:
> On tonight's ABC gardening program they showed a rabbit cage atop a worm
> farm. The rabbit hutch had a netting floor so that the droppings would
> fall straight through onto the worm farm below. All fine and good, so it
> would seem.
>
> But I understood that rabbits give their droppings a second chew, and this
> tidy arrangement clearly defeats that behaviour.
They would need to do this in the wild to extract the maximun nutrients
when food is scare. Pet or farmed rabbits would be on a "good thng" with
very rich tucker and have no need of it.
In any case, AFAI've observed, they do not eat it from the ground, so it
would not matter.
Did they say how many decades the person had had this sytem gong?
Posted by 0tterbot on October 12, 2008, 9:21 pm
>> On tonight's ABC gardening program they showed a rabbit cage atop
>> a worm farm. The rabbit hutch had a netting floor so that the
>> droppings would fall straight through onto the worm farm below.
>> All fine and good, so it would seem.
>>
>> But I understood that rabbits give their droppings a second chew,
>> and this tidy arrangement clearly defeats that behaviour.
> If they are coprophages, like guinea pigs, then the droppings they eat are
> not
> the regular ones but a special kind, which they eat straight from the
> vending
> machine.
> While I'm on the subject of piggies, I'll just mention that they should
> never
> live on a wire floor (though you can allow a wire floor with rabbits).
> It's
> bad for their feet and may also cause broken bones.
normally a rabbit's wire floor is right on the ground though - john's post
caused me a bit of anxiety concerning the rabbits having to walk on wire all
the time (although i may have misunderstood something there). animals which
can get bumblefoot from wire floors also include chickens and rats - i
should think the list is most likely very long & could include rabbits in
this sort of circumstance. (?)
kylie
Posted by John Savage on October 16, 2008, 10:33 am
>>
>> But I understood that rabbits give their droppings a second chew,
>> and this tidy arrangement clearly defeats that behaviour.
>If they are coprophages, like guinea pigs, then the droppings they eat are not
>the regular ones but a special kind, which they eat straight from the vending
>machine.
Ah. That answers that question, but raises more. I guess rabbits are
sufficiently flexible for this feat, but Guinea Pigs aren't, so must
Guinea Pigs then eat their supper in pairs??
What's more, how many times can the one meal be recycled? Maybe like
chewing gum on the bedstead, grass gradually loses its flavour with
each chewing?
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
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> a worm farm. The rabbit hutch had a netting floor so that the
> droppings would fall straight through onto the worm farm below.
> All fine and good, so it would seem.
> But I understood that rabbits give their droppings a second chew,
> and this tidy arrangement clearly defeats that behaviour.
> So, is immediate removal of rabbit droppings a wise thing? (The
> rabbit looked healthy enough, so I guess recycling the pellets
> is not *essential* to a domestic rabbit's extracting adequate
> nutrition, even if it may be essential for a wild bunny on a
> much poorer diet.)
> --
> John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)