The American Beagler Forum

Out of necessity, I had to revert to raising domesticated rabbits to place in the starting pen. When the young ones get 12 to 14 weeks of age they get dysentery and about half of them die. Pedialyte and gatorade helps them somewhat. They are on the ground, eating mostly rabbit food and good grass hay free choice. They are free of ticks.

Any thoughts on what the problem may be? What about prevention and cure?

put tetracyclen powder in there water. you can get it at the feed stores.

Thanks Chris. It sure is disappointing to see them get sick and die about the time they are old enough to play with the Beable pups.

i also use sulmet. i think it workes faster. you add it to there water.

Chris - What is the amount of Sulmet to be added to a quart of water? This morning the remaining 4 bunnys of that litter were dead.

the dose on the bottle says two tablespoons to a gal. so it would be one teaspoon to a qt.

Thanks Chris. I have lost a dozen young bunnys already but will be prepared and hopefully prevent the same problem with two litters that will be weaned soon now. Thanks again for your help.

Bill The problem is the green grass. I have had a starting pen with tame rabbits for over 10 years now and have seen this many times. I would bet that if you keep a couple of these rabbits caged and fed nothing but rabbit feed they will live a long life. Some rabbits will tolerate the grass longer than others but eventually they will die. Their system just cant handle the green stuff. My rabbits would have severe diareah and then loose the use of their back legs before they died. I never had problems as long as I gave them feed or some type of grain along with the grass so it could just be that your rabbits are very suseptible. Just my 2 cents.

I think that's true. Domestic rabbits are not designed like their wild brothers. The wet spring weather, the grass is full of moisture. When we turn the cattle out on pasture, the lush green grass always gives them the squirts after going off the hay and silage (if you wait to worm and vaccinate after turning out, your in for quite a show when you catch them up for the deed. Just hang your cloths out on the clothsline and hit them good with the garden hose afterward )
I think the later you put the rabbits out, the better the chance of avoiding the squirts and the cover will be dryer, grown up and filled in for them to better survive predators.
A wet domestic rabbit put out in the spring with a case of the squirts is a target for disease and blow flies.

kgsc68 and S R Patch - I think that you Guys are right about the green grass thing. I have seen the symptoms described by kgsc in past litters when placed in the pen.
Any suggestions for making the transition from cage to ground?
In an effort to make the transition from cage to starting pen, this what I have been doing; When the bunnies start eating they are given pellets free choice as well as good grass hay and weaned at 7 or 8 weeks of age. They are then placed in a pen 8 foot x 20 ft, again fed free choice pellets and grass hay with access to salt, water and turnip greens twice a week. This obviously is not a good thing as I have lost so many.

A buddy of mine raises his own rabbits as well and he's built feeders to sit around and keeps feed in just for the rabbits that he raises.

grass does cause this untill they get older. i don't turn mine loose in my pen untill the're 3 mo old.