Decorative rabbits: life expectancy and living conditions
Remember: "Rabbits are not only valuable fur ..."? Here you can immediately add that this is also a lot of positive emotions at the sight of a wonderful eared ball, chewing herb in its cage or jumping around the room. It's hard to resist his charm!
But, naturally, when a pet is planted, the owner tries to find out how many years the rabbit lives. How to make his life long and happy?
Rabbits: life expectancy in the natural environment and in captivity
It should be noted at once that the animals living inwildlife, live much less than their decorative brethren. Probably everyone understands why: the struggle for survival, disease and the high risk of becoming a predator dinner greatly shortens their time in this world.
Even taken home, the wild rabbit exists in captivity a little - on average about two years. However, there are cases when such pets cheered their owners and much longer: up to 7-8 years.
Holders of wonderful fluffy lumps rush to reassure: the average life expectancy of a rabbit, born and raised at home, not less than in cats and dogs, with which a man is accustomed to live side by side, namely: from 7 to 13 years.
It is clear that these figures can not qualify forthe title of absolute indicators. They vary in both large and small side. It all depends on the breed, diet and health status of your pet.
Different breeds have their own indicators. Let's look at them.
Dwarf rabbits
With careful care, the life expectancy of dwarf rabbits ranges from 8 to 12 years. Fixed among them and long-livers, died at 18 years.
True, according to the observation of domestic rabbit breeders,Many workers with a dwarfish genome die at the age of five. Obviously, this is due to a stronger wear of the offspring's organism.
Fold rabbits
Due to the nature of the character that lop-eared rabbits have, life expectancy they are noticeably larger than in individuals with ears,standing straight. They have a more stress-resistant nervous system, and therefore the heart and blood vessels function better, which, of course, prolongs life. These fluffy koloboks are not aggressive, they never start their teeth, quickly get used to the owner and willingly play with him.
The life span of the lop-eared rabbits ranges from 7 to 8 years.
On what depends, how many rabbits will live
The life expectancy of a baby born on the light depends on several important components:
- Heredity (healthy mom and dad).
- Absence of congenital anomalies. For example, with an incorrect bite, the rabbit is removed from the breeding, because this anomaly severely undermines the health status and, accordingly, the life span of such an individual.
- Feeding and maintenance. Since rabbits are moving animals, they need to create conditions for movement, the ability to walk outside the cage. To maintain normal health, you must release your pet at least an hour or two a day for warm-up.
Canadian rabbit breeders, for example, are advised toprolonging the life of the animals to castrate them. This, in their opinion, is necessary to avoid inflammation and malignant neoplasms in the genitourinary system of animals. These pathologies quite often affect the five- or six-year-olds, greatly reducing the time of their life.
How to keep a rabbit at home
In order to maximizelife expectancy of rabbits, ears require certain conditions. Firstly, it's the vaccinations made in time. Secondly, a convenient cell. It should allow the toddler to stretch to the full length and stand on the hind legs. In addition, it should have a place for a house in which a shy animal can hide from everyone, for a toilet, as well as for nurseries with hay. Well, if a box with sand for digging is placed in the cage, since this is one of the natural needs of your pet.
The pallet in such a cage must necessarily be plastic. Do not forget to equip your pet with an auto-gun.
The rules of care for decorative rabbits
Rabbits, whose life spans we are discussing today, can please for a long time if the owners adhere to the basic rules of keeping their miracle:
- Avoid placing the cage with a rabbit drafts, as well as places near heaters.
- Keep your pet away from the TV. Your baby is a very shy creature, and stress shortens life.
- Take the animal on your hands very carefully: in no case - for the ears.
- Do not wash it without extreme need!
- Include in the rabbit's menu both raw vegetables and special dry food, while not forgetting about the hay.
And most importantly, of course, love and attention from the owner. The life of our pets depends on taking care of them!
