[ladysown]

So was on kijiji the other day. Noted an ad...free large breed rabbits.

Checked it out. Found out it was the lady I regretted doing a trade on bunnies with last spring. Found out she's added angoras and large meat rabbits to her inventory. I warned my hubby...it was rather icky that last time I was there so dress down and sloppy. Dressed the boy the same.

It was WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How could it have gotten worse?

rabbits not up on levels. empty feeders.
Rabbits on the ground. Sitting in their own filth. Rabbits running loose. The "good" does were well cared for. had babies. under shelter well provided for. everyone else...eek...NOT a good scene.

I took away 26 rabbits. after I sorted through them...was left with 5. Very nice rabbits those 5 were...but the rest were a mixed assortment of sad to okay. I'm glad that they are NOT going back there.

they live an hour away. So I'm not going back to clean things up for them. Their whole place is just a mess with critters roaming free everywhere. The escapee bunnies looked really good. taking care of those bunnies would make a bare dent in the mess around that place.

Now that they have less bunnies the hope is that what is left will get put into the empty cages that are up on stilts and put into the barn that they have. Hopefully....

 

[Beaniemom]

I have a couple cages that just seem to be poop magnets. Ick. Plus, never fails, the rabbits in those cages will moult, then get poopy butt, leaving a nice pile of ick in there! I dumped some pans today, dang if half the cages don't need me to crawl in them and scrub that corner waaaaaay in the back! Man, I hate those cages in the winter, nothing like frozen ick that won't come out, having to wait for a warm day so the ick will unstick! Why is it that some of these rabbits are just little pigs?

I always worry someone will come over on a day I haven't gotten to the poop magnet cages!

I also have "*******" rabbit cages...Instead of a car on blocks, I have cages on blocks (Just two, honest!) I was going to buy legs, but they were 15 bucks per cage at the show, well, I can buy alot of feed for 30 bucks!

If you come here in the morning, my feeders and bottles are empty too! LOL If you came the other morning, you would have found three rabbits running loose too, LOL

I can see how it gets away from people though, I think mine are pretty clean, but I've seen worse. I don't like the solid bottomed cages because I think those just look gross so fast, I had one in a solid cage here, ick. I have put a bottom on that cage on my list of things to do here!

 

[Jcran]

Yep, I get the poo issue, too. However, I found a magic tool that, when taken out to the cages each day, magically cleans away the molting fur/poo mixture that seems to appear each morning in certain cages.....are you ready?.....ok, here goes....it's a........putty knife! You know, those scrapy doo-hickys that you use to either spread dry wall mud (quick note: NEVER EVER try to dry wall a room with your spouse-it can lead to murder/divorce/mean things said, etc.) or whack your husband in the back of the head with?-see parenthetic note earlier. Anyhoo, it scrapes up that icky spot lickety split and makes it easy to kind of "spatula" out of the cage. Keeps things much cleaner.

 

[ladysown]

we're talking 80 rabbits at least here. about half of those rabbits were in cages laying flat on the ground, outside, with a good inch of poop covering the bottoms of them. That's not a day getting away from you...that's at least three. And we've been having rainy weather lately.

I picked up one skin and bones rabbit that was just matted and covered, it had MAGGOTS! It was very clear which rabbits were receiving good care...the dwarfs and mini rexes (those are pet store sale bunnies). and every one else was on the ground receiving less than decent care.

Feeders of the "good rabbits" had pellets and full water dishes. Feeders of everyone else had no water, no feed or just scratch in the bottom. Some were covered for protection from the elements, others were not.

It wouldn't have taken much for the folks here to put those rabbits up on block. He had all kinds of scrap metal sitting around. Get the rabbits that aren't selling up off the ground, out of their own filth and then cover them with tin roofing or something.

These people know how to take care of bunnies...even in a minimalist situation...which is what they are... I Have NO PROBLEM with that. But the disparity that they showed in who got the good care....that was just ick. Meat rabbits, full grown, living in cages the size of a small dog kennel. Mini lops with barely any room to turn around. WHILE the dwarf and mini rexes had room to spare. It's like okay here folks...take care of those big rabbits as well. Angoras so knotted you wondered what was under all that fur. it was sad. I took what I could of them and left.

 

[Beaniemom]

Oooh, a putty knife? Bet my DH has one I can steal from him, like he's gonna patch something...

The question is, are they going to fill those icky cages with other bunnies, since you know how it is, the second a cage is empty you have to fill it, I could have six cages open up and find six rabbits to put in them in no time (Jrs I haven't decided on yet)

You could sic animal control on them, sounds like they have too many animals to properly care for. Could be that the "ground cages" are a good idea gone bad, as in, lets put this cage on the ground so the bunny can have access to grass, only they didn't plan on having to have to move the cages daily! :O

 

[MaggieJ]

I draw the line at those kinds of conditions. Maggots? I think I woud have to call the Humane Society on those folks.

I have no problems with ******* rabbitries, improvised rabbitries, housing made from recycled materials... as long as the rabbits are healthy, clean and well-cared for. But what you saw makes me sick. (((shudder)))

 

[Beaniemom]

Okay, so I'm out there cleaning off the poop ick ,I try to look at the cages as if I had wack-a-doos coming over, is it clean enough for them? LOL Course, they probably would not like the mud floor, or the hair all over the cages AGAIN, or the pile of "stuff to be cleaned" in my yard, that must be done before it snows and I'm hunting for nestboxes in the snow...

So, I'm cleaning the bucks cage in the top of the stack. I store stuff on top of the cages, nest boxes, odds and ends... I look up and think, oh, no, I didn't do what I think I did, did I? Yep, I had taken that box out of a does cage after she lost her litter. I must have set it up there "just for a second" and then forgot about it. Oh, gross! We won't mention when the doe in question lost her litter... Ewwwwww. Now I have to clean THAT?

I need to start taking some Ginko or something, we won't mention how very many times I open the cage for something, and then walk off with the door open!

 

[ladysown]

ah but beaniemom...as long as your bunnies LOOK good and also feel good to the touch. That's what matters to me. Not if the cages are spotless, not if the cages are put together well, but are you doing the best you can by all that you have? yes...the litter box would have grossed me out...but then ... I would have had to see it!

I'm not the most observant person in the world...but somethings just kinda slam you upside the head. And if they hit me...my guess based on my hubby's reaction...is that it was even worse than I thought it was (He's the sort who sees everything).

An inspector I am not!

 

[Willowynd]

The best tool I found for cleaning cages is a grill brush/scraper. One came with my grill set, but something broke off it...so it became my rabbit cage cleaner...the angle is perfect for reaching the back. But it is too stiff to get down between the wires so I follow up with a stiff nylon brush from the dollar store. I tried the putty knife, works well for the top...but the grill scraper works better because of the angle to it and the long handle.

 

[tailwagging]

I like a toilet bush.

 

[emerald_2033]

The best tool I found for cleaning cages is a grill brush/scraper. One came with my grill set, but something broke off it...so it became my rabbit cage cleaner...the angle is perfect for reaching the back. But it is too stiff to get down between the wires so I follow up with a stiff nylon brush from the dollar store. I tried the putty knife, works well for the top...but the grill scraper works better because of the angle to it and the long handle.

I use a grill scraper brush thingy too. Wire bristles on one side and scraper on back. I love it!!! I follow it with a stiff bristled (think its boar hair) horse body brush...we had to sell the horses but alot of the grooming stuff is being repurposed....
Duct tape will also bring hair off cages...make a lint roller out of it by pulling a hank of tape off and wrapping it backward (sticky side out) back around the roll or around your hand...it pulls all the loose angora fluff off the walls and corners of my cages without alot of work for me. We use it about once a week.

 

[Pony]

Ugh. Ladysown, I'm sorry to hear that there is such a place -- and then to think about it, and realize that there are many, many more places like that. We won't go into other animals or even people who are treated that way...


My cages are a bit messy right now, with all the packing and such, but no more than a couple days' worth of poo in the corner.

As long as we're comparing favorite cleaning tools, I use a snow brush with an ice scraper end. It really helps when the bursitis in my left shoulder flares bad.

 

[Beaniemom]

Yeah, the box was gross, see, I couldn't see IN the box where I had put it, I had to take it down to see it was dirty! I sure hope I had removed the dead before I put it up there, but I didn't look in it to see! :O

What I don't get, is if you know someone is coming over to look at bunnies, don't you tidy up? I always do, I tidy up even if its someone coming over NOT expecting to look at bunnies, because they will be the people that end up in the back yard....Oh look, bunnies! They'll be the ones who think that they should all have full bowls and no poop in the cage!