Influence of elevated platform (wire-mesh or wooden) in the cage on domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) activity

Abstract

Editors and Sections Genetics and Breeding IntroductionA standard barren cage provides only 1% of the home range of a 2 rabbit group which naturally covers 50 m (Surridge et al., 1999; Hawkins, 2008). The young rabbits which will be used for breeding (future breeders) need more movement and space than those to be 2 fattened. The space restrictions of standard cages (2600 cm ) frustrate normal hopping locomotion (Podberscek et al., 1991). The provision of enrichment in the cages led to a more efficient use of total floor space by dividing the cage into different functional areas (Buijs et al., 2011). Such an effect was described for platforms (Postollec et al., 2008). Welfare cages provide the rabbits at least 2 600 cm per animal. Rabbits need to stand on two legs to look around but conventional cages do not provide this opportunity (McBride, 1986; Dixon et al., 2010). Placing an elevated platform in the cage is an option to increase its area. However, this can also have a negative effect -worsening of the hygiene in the cage depending on the construction of the platform (EFSA, 2005). The aim of this study was to determine whether the presence of a raised platform affected the overall activity of breeding rabbits and to evaluate the influence of used material (wire-mesh or wood). Material and methodsThree types of cages were constructed with the same parameters (62/92/45 cm). The first type of cages lacked platforms; the second were equipped with wire-mesh platforms at a height of 23 cm from the bottom, 62/40 cm of size, and the third type of cageswooden platforms of the same size and at the same height. Two experimental groups of three male Californian rabbits at four months of age, equal body mass and condition were formed. The third, control group included three animals of the same breed, sex and body mass that were housed in individual cages without a platform. All cages were uniformly equipped with feeders for pelleted feed, bottle-type drinkers and wooden boxes. Nine camera traps Keep Guard -690ЕВ were mounted on the back side of each cage. The devices recorded every movement at 10-minute intervals. The observation lasted four days (96 hours). The animals were housed in the cages three days earlier for adaptation to the experimental conditions. With the same operating mode of the nine cameras, the number of pictures in each cage was registered. It was used as an indicator of the locomotor activity of each group of animals. The experiment was repeated three days later with nine other animals of the same breed and sex. Results and discussionDuring the first experiment, the rabbits placed in cages with wire-mesh platforms exhibited by 25.18% higher activity than these from the control group, while the rabbits in cages with wooden platforms -by 73.38% higher (Table1). A similar tendency was shown by the results of the repetition (27.32% higher activity in wiremesh platform cages and 81.16% in wooden platform cages).The probable reason for the higher activity was the separation of cage volume into different fu...