EFFECT OF FLOOR TYPE AND GNAWING STICKON THE CAGE-CHOICE OF THE GROWINGRABBITS

Five-week-old Pannon White rabbits (n=112) were weaned and housed into two blocks of cages applying stocking density of 12 or 16 rabbits/m2. Both blocks were divided into four cages of wire mesh (n=2) or plastic mesh floor (n=2). In every second cage a gnawing stick was fixed on the wall. The rabbits could freely move among the four cages of the same block through swing doors. A 24-hour infrared video recording was taken once a week and the rabbits in each cage were counted every half an hour. Significantly more rabbits chose the cages of plastic floor (16 rabbits/m2: 62.5%, 12 rabbits/ m2: 76.5%) than the cages of wire mesh floor. With the increasing age between 5 and 11 weeks, the ratio of rabbits on wire mesh floor increased. This results show that the rabbits accept a less preferable floor type instead of staying in higher stocking density (kg/rabbits). The preference of cages with gnawing sticks was also significant (53.1-54.1%) but this effect was less pronounced than that of the floor type.