I completely understand that we all have other things to do besides dealing our rabbitries, but there are times when other breeders will post pictures of a rabbit and all I see is the messy cage that should have been cleaned. I would be embarrassed to post such a picture! This week I had taken a good looked around my rabbitry and thought that is was getting a bit too furry for my taste. Plus, we had not cleaned the fans last week. I try to do them at least once a week, but sometimes other things take priority. While my husband worked on a project this weekend that was in preparation for the new rabbitry—very excited about this!—I worked on cleaning the rabbitry alone. Some people will advise to torch the fur on the cages, but heating up the cage wire weakens the wire and welds resulting in reducing its lifespan. A rabbit can bite and pull off wire that has been subjected to being torched much easier than wire that has not, which is why I practice the more labor intensive, but wir...

There may be those who disagree, but I have found that most responsible breeders do not breed their rabbits in the summer, particularly in the southern states. While it is true that some rabbit breeds are more heat hardy than others and those in the most northern areas of the United States have cooler summers, the Silver Fox is a breed that was developed to have unique, long, stand-up fur coat and it is best for the cooler climates or at least colder seasons. It is also a heavier, meaty rabbit therefore one that is not built for the heat that way either. In the wild, rabbits sleep in holes dug out in the ground where the temperatures are consistently in the 50's. Some rabbit breeders do the colony style method advocating it is a more natural way to raise rabbits and requires less work for the rabbit keeper. This method allows rabbits to create burrows like their wild cousins. However, the downside of the colony method outweighs the upside of it for those who have chosen cag...