The past 4 months have been busy ones for Laughing Lapins. Between the discovery of mice in the barn, re-arranging the Rabbitry, and new rabbits, it’s been a full few months.
After discovering evidence of mice happily eating both my rabbit and chicken feed, I knew I had to do something. I tried several types of DIY mouse traps as the wooden snap traps didn’t work well enough. But to no a vale, the mice problem was getting worse. I was actually seeing the mice in the mornings when I went out to feed. Thankfully the mice were all house mice and not the Deer Mice that are in my area. Deer Mice carry Hantavirus which is an infectious disease that can be transferred to humans, just by us cleaning up their droppings or things they have urinated on. I was about to resort to poison or glue traps, when I decided to try a different type of snap trap. It was called “A Better Mouse Trap” and had sides on it so the mouse can only access the bait from the front. This means the mice are more likely to be killed instantly by coming in from the front; instead of maimed when they come to the bait from the side. These traps worked! I baited them with all natural peanut butter, meaning it only has peanuts and salt for ingredients, and Grandma’s Dark Molasses. For the next week, I caught 1-2 mice a day was finally able to eradicate all the mice from my barn.
While evicting the mice, I also took the time to re-arrange the Rabbitry. I wanted to do this for two reasons. First, I had noticed that the rabbits on the bottom seemed to get nervous and second, I feel it is unhealthy for them; as the rabbit is so close to any dust or germs that come in on your shoes. Therefore, I changed the rabbits from one three hole stack, to a two and one stack on top of a custom made table. This keeps the rabbits off the floor which I like, and as I have found, keeps them calmer. I can also store the metal bins that hold the rabbit’s hay and feed under the hutches. This is a great space saver and one I would definitely recommend for those short on space.
While I haven’t had any litters yet, I have been able to add 4 more rabbits to my herd. The first was my first broken black doe, Gifts of Grace’s Munchkin. However, she suddenly died from what I later found out was bloat. The vet said that I did everything right and that bloat was something that can just happen to rabbits. Second is Shelia, a Broken Black Silver Martin. Shelia is the replacement for Munchkin and almost 6 months old. Once she is out of quarantine, I will breed her to Snickers and hopefully show her when shows are started back up. Rabbits three and four, are an adult pair of Mid Champagne rabbits. These are a new color variety so cannot be crossed with other colors. These two came from the founder of their color variety and have ancestors from both Germany and Holland. I am excited about this pair and hope to offer Champagne bunnies soon. To see when each of these new rabbits will be out of quarantine, please look at the Our Boys and Our Girls pages. Also, I will be updating the In the Nestbox page once I know my does are pregnant or they start making nests.
For those of you who just did the math, and are wondering if my rabbits are bunking up with each other, not to worry. I bought another hutch and already had an extra one. So I now have 5 rabbits and 5 hutches, or holes. Until next time, Happy Hopping!
Laughing Lapins 