30 Day Quarantine for New Rabbits
When ever you add a new rabbit to your herd and bring them into your rabbitry, you always should do a 30 day quarantine. It does not matter if you know the breeder from where they rabbit is coming from really well or that person has healthy rabbits etc. No if, and's or but's about it.
Any rabbit can carry illness that can be passed on to other rabbits very easily. One thing about rabbits you have to keep in mind they can hide their illness very well and stressful events can also cause rabbits to get sick.
I had heard and spoken to many breeders that tell me they don't quarantine. They just say "I don't do that". You may sit there and say: "I have got many rabbits before and I have never had a problem with any of my rabbits getting sick". Well good for you so far you have been lucky. However all it takes if one time and your luck will run out.
Wouldn't you rather put 1 or 2 buns that you get in a 30 day quarantine vs. taking the change of your entire herd getting sick and possibly dying? I don't want to sound rude, but I cannot stress how important this is!!!
You could get a rabbit and it may not be showing signs of any illness and than on day 15 it pops up. You also have people out there which is sad that don't give a whoot, that will sell a sick rabbit that won't tell you and some just don't know well enough about illness in rabbits.
This also goes for rabbits that you have not brought in that have been at your rabbitry for a while. Any rabbit that gets sick or shows signs needs to be placed in 30 Quarantine. If a rabbit does get sick in your rabbitry, you should put your whole rabbitry on the 30 Day Quarantine. Meaning: No rabbits come in or leave. No sales, Nothing! If you have buyers lined up for kits or adult rabbits you should contact them and let them know what is going on. It is better to be honest than not tell them at all. You might sit there and think great if say something my buyers are going to back out. Well if they do they do, I guess those people don't want a healthy rabbit. Your rabbits need you to protect them!
I treat all new rabbits with Sulmet Soulution for a Coccida preventive as well as my other rabbits yearly. I also treat new rabbits with worming medication, again as well as my other rabbits every 6 months and my litters at 7 weeks old. Worming not only treat for worms, but also help against fur mites, ear mites and fleas. I also do full wash down of my cages every 3 days and do a bleach clean down every month so keep things sanitary.
I hope when breeders read this they will get in the habit of doing the 30 Day Quarantine. Yes there are many that do it and many that don't. I also included a link below that talks about it more and other things I might not covered. Please visit and read.
http://florida4h.org/projects/rabbits/MarketRabbits/Activity7_Prevention.html
Many Thanks for reading my post :)
- Beau's Maple Leaf Rabbitry