Scotto, J. 2012. Group housing male rabbits: Yes, it can be done. Tech Talk [The Newsletter for Laboratory Animal Science Technicians] 17(6), 3.

Since we receive rabbits at 10-12 weeks of age and we only house them for about 3 to 4 weeks, we decided to give group housing a try. Change is hard for most people and our staff proved no exception. We faced some opposition by several of the investigators and technicians, but we assured them that every precaution would be taken to make sure the rabbits would not get injured. We wanted the animals to have housing that would allow for them to be able to hide and feel like they had their own space. Making sure that fighting was stopped immediately was another concern, so we wanted to house animals that were familiar with each other. First we purchased new cages that were equipped with resting boards that the rabbits could go under to give them a place to hide if they felt the need for solitude. The cages also had a sliding door with circular cut outs, separating two adjacent full size rabbit cages. If we had to close the door to separate the rabbits, the cut outs allow for tactile contact without injury. The rabbits we receive are shipped two per box and only the two from the same box were group housed. If a rabbit is shipped alone, it is housed alone. On the day of arrival, the animal care takers check on the rabbits every hour to make sure that there is no fighting. On day two, the rabbits are checked four times a day. Day three and thereafter, they are checked twice a day. Each rabbit has its own feeder. Timothy hay, veggie bites, and bunny blocks are given on each side of the cage so they have a sense of their own space. We place two different types of enrichments in the cage and these are changed every two weeks. When we decided to commit to group housing, we knew we had to be proactive in stopping fighting before injury occurred. We wanted the rabbits to have companionship, but still feel they could have privacy. We have been group housing rabbits for about five months with great success. We have groupe housed 260 rabbits and have had only two groups that we had to separate, which we did before injury happened. We have found that if they are going to fight, it will usually happen within the first day. The rabbits are a lot friendlier and less foot thumping occurs when you enter the room.We also noticed that despite having two sides to the cage, the rabbits are usually occupying the same side. Overall, we are very happy with the success and even the staff members who had reservation now agree that group housing has been beneficial. Group formation protocol is not described and group size not mentioned.