# Basement Rabbitry - a Problem?



## NewGround (Dec 19, 2010)

Since I live in the city I am planning a basement rabbit operation, probably with Florida Whites...

Going through my Storey book but so far no info on basement operations... They need ventilation but has anyone raised rabbits in their basement successfully? I have a full, dry basement and seems like a great place to raise them, temperature control etc. but want to know if others have had any problems...


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

The problem I see is the smell. Rabbits pee at a 45 degree angle and usually hit the wall, or whatever kind of barrier you erect. The urine will stain or soak in. For concrete it will soak in and smell.

I went in this guys building once, a steel building, big! It was wniter, so all closed up, no poo on the floors. I could see the fairly fresh bedding in the trays. The place was clean, and inside of 5 minutes, I had tears running down my face because the smell of urine was so strong.

I wonder, why can't they be outside? Even one of those 8X10 mini barns would be a better choice for your health.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

Your going to have to be on it constantly to keep the smell down and provide an electric fan to circulate air.
Get a gallon of cheap white vinegar to clean with. It will help knock down the smell.
How big of area is this and how many rabbits?
Putting vinegar in their water at a tbs. per gallon will help too.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Can you run your cages down the middle of the floor and have worm bins under them?

The worms should make short work of the waste material and the pee wont be able to hit anything on the way out of the cages.

Just an idea but it might work.


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## dcpac (Mar 29, 2009)

I think you are going to trouble with smell, ventilation, light, carrying supplies and poop in and out. I would start small maybe 1 buck and 1 doe and see how it goes, raising only a couple it would probally work, but more than that would be problematic.


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## NewGround (Dec 19, 2010)

Still just planning as I gather information but yes I would build the infrastructure...

Youtube survival guy raises FW's in his single car garage in a city lot... Car is also in his garage...

So I started thinking about my basement_IF_ it will work... That other guy adds peat moss to his manure with worms working away at it right under the hutches in containment bins...

Probably ventilation seems biggest concern, I could build elaborate catchment system for manure but even temps year round in my basement make it attractive... Plus no nosy neighbors etc...

My basement has a single car garage door on the open side with three windows, built into the hillside. If I rigged up a ventilation and exhaust duct maybe I could control the smell. Only want to raise a small meat operation but that still could be 8 to 10 hutches with some for grow outs etc. Couple of bucks and three or four does at most. I like to tinker so auto watering etc. would be how I'd do it. Just wondering if anyone here has ever done a basement operation


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## Honorine (Feb 27, 2006)

Ammonia buildup is a problem in any building, below or above ground. Rabbits must have good ventilation, or the ammonia will make them sick, so plan well how your going to vent and move air in your basement. I kept my rabbits in the basement years ago, the garage door leaked air badly, it was not tight at all, and I didn't have any problems, just aired it out and ran fans. Tighter it is the more air quality problems your going to have. I also have a friend who keeps her rabbits in the basement, she has fans set up even in winter to constantly exchange air, she has it set up to pull air out of the space, not blow it in. I have a 10x14 bunny barn, I still have to run a fan and the front doors are open with a kennel gate panel bolted in place. I also have Florida Whites, their not terribly stinky, for how many your planning on you can most likely stay on top of it. Good Luck!!


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## krabbitry (Jan 29, 2011)

I have not done it in the basement, but if you clean up the urine and not just the poop and you have ventilation you should not have too much of a smell problem. I have about 30 brood does alone and people have mentioned multiple times that when they come in my barn they cant even smell it. I usually dont go more than 2 days between scooping it out. A basement might have less ventilation, so it might not work as well. I would do as someone else suggested. Just start small and then see if you have any problems.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Most rabbits can be trained to use litter boxes. Rectangular plastic dishpans from the dollar store work well - they are a tad higher than the usual cat litter box, which helps to contain the urine. Does are usually more amenable to using them than bucks. You will need to change them often, but it might be an idea worth looking at. 

Hang plastic or tarps on the walls to prevent urine from soaking into the surfaces. Put down vinyl flooring or something that can be mopped. Ventilation is vital, but that has already been covered.


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## Honorine (Feb 27, 2006)

Hey I found that guy on Youtube, pretty neat-

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1sEpGxeTsg[/ame]

I was thinking about this last night, and came to the conclusion that Maggie did, to cover the walls and floor with plastic, tarps or vinyl, it would make a huge difference in how clean you could keep it. Survival Guys setup is workable, but I myself would still have concerns about smell and cleanability. He says he only cleans out the manure once a year, he's got to have some smell going on, and then there's the condensation. Now that is a big problem, rabbits produce quite a bit of condensation, I've had problems with hay going moldy in the winter due to it, another good reason to have good ventilation, or perhaps even run a dehumidifier. I would use stackable cages with plastic trays, mine are three high, 2x4, 6 units. Much smaller foot print than hanging cages, 2x2 is fine for a doe and litter, then for grow out I put 2-3 per 2x2 cage. Stay away from the metal trays, they rust and aren't as easy to clean or last as long as the plastic dura trays. I was also thinking about breeds in case you couldn't find FW's, although I do feel they are the best choice, you could do Dutch, or Standard Chinchillas, or Rex. If you could find a FW buck and cross him on does of those breeds it would work well too. I crossed my FW buck on a smaller Harlequin doe and the babies looked just like black FW's and had excellant growth rates.


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## Treewhisper (Nov 24, 2010)

I have a basement setup and the smell is always a problem though i only clean once a week. Whether its summer heat or winter heat generated by the bunnies and the humidity in the basement will make air and hence the ammonia smell rise. It rises up my basement stairs so i can faintly smell it in my side room where the basement door is. Even going down the basement stairs i notice quite a bit of temperature difference from the top of the stairs compared to the bottom. I have stacked cages but save all my fallen leaves and pine needles from Fall and cured grass clippings and put them in my drop pans its a pretty good absorbant but doesnt really neutralize the smell. 

The other downside is having to haul those drop pans up to the backyard. I have grower cages 3'x5' in which i made slanted drop pans from 4x8 white plastic panels from home depot that i siliconed 1 foot walls onto the sides then added old guttering i had that slides everything into a 5 gal bucket. It handles the disposal pretty well but you still have to haul 5gal buckets of pee & poop out. I hooked up a garden hose to my water softner system that easily sprays down the white panels. Hope this helps! I have giant chins that are now consistantly hitting 6.5-7 lbs at 10 wks.


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## danarutan (Mar 13, 2011)

You need to read a book called "Possum living" by Dolly Freed she tells about how she raised her rabbits and chickens in her basement


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

As others have brought up, hygiene is going to be your biggest problem.

If possible, it will save you a lot of labor if you can set them up outside. Many places, even cities, allow rabbits because most people view them as pets. The last breeder I met, had 8 large cages on the side of his suburban house, in a "hallway" created by the house and his privacy fence.

I think with a basement set up, the task of cleaning and hauling waste up and out and the constant cleaning to control smell will soon become a daunting and weary chore. 

If rabbits aren't permitted period or there was no possible way of building a hutch outside, then you could try the basement rabbitry. Start small and work your way up. You can become adjusted to the smell yourself, but who wants to have the ammonia smelling house in the neighborhood? It's something I worry about in my barn(being ignorant to the smell of ammonia), but not something I would want to worry about in my house if at all possible.

If the other options aren't there, then go for it. A few years ago I entertained the idea of moving into an apartment or an RV park and planned on taking rabbits with me.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

The humidity is what is going to carry the smell into the house. I would carry any thing you need to clean with a hose out of the building.
A system that allows the liquid waste to seperate from the dry waste helps, so you can carry the liquid waste out daily and remove the solids less often.


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## a7736100 (Jun 4, 2009)

I've discovered that 6" of dried rabbit poop under the rabbits will absorb the urine and trap the smell. However it can get pretty stinky when you finally have to remove the manure. If you have the floor space a rabbit can live on manure bedding with no smell at all. Their feet remains dry if the area is large enough for them to do their business in one corner. The manure may be moist in that corner but the rest of it will be dry. A 2'X4' area of manure can support 2 small breed rabbits with no urine smell.


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## krabbitry (Jan 29, 2011)

Treewhisper said:


> I have a basement setup and the smell is always a problem though i only clean once a week. Whether its summer heat or winter heat generated by the bunnies and the humidity in the basement will make air and hence the ammonia smell rise. It rises up my basement stairs so i can faintly smell it in my side room where the basement door is. Even going down the basement stairs i notice quite a bit of temperature difference from the top of the stairs compared to the bottom. I have stacked cages but save all my fallen leaves and pine needles from Fall and cured grass clippings and put them in my drop pans its a pretty good absorbant but doesnt really neutralize the smell.
> 
> The other downside is having to haul those drop pans up to the backyard. I have grower cages 3'x5' in which i made slanted drop pans from 4x8 white plastic panels from home depot that i siliconed 1 foot walls onto the sides then added old guttering i had that slides everything into a 5 gal bucket. It handles the disposal pretty well but you still have to haul 5gal buckets of pee & poop out. I hooked up a garden hose to my water softner system that easily sprays down the white panels. Hope this helps! I have giant chins that are now consistantly hitting 6.5-7 lbs at 10 wks.


Could you post some pictures of that? I have been trying for several months now to come up with a system like that. What plastic panels did you get? 
Thank you!!


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## Treewhisper (Nov 24, 2010)

krabbitry
i'm really bad with computers i dont have a clue how to post pics. 

I made everything to be as lightweight as possible so i could move it around easier. I made a slanted rectangle frame out of 0.5"x4"x6' wood then used my sawzol to cut a piece out of the 4'x8'x3mm thick white plastic (from Lowes) to cover the top and added an extra 2" lip on the front as an overhang on the frame to put the gutter underneath it. I used my brad nailer with 3/4" staples to attach it to the frame. I had enough plastic left over to fashion 10" tall rectangular plastic pieces to three sides that i stapled on. The staples stuck out of the frames on the inside because its only a 1/2" thick but it held the plastic on fine. 

So now you have a three sided box. I duct taped the outside plastic corners to hold them together square then siliconed the inside corners and dabbed over the spots where i had stapled, The 3 sided plastic box is made bigger than the cage so the cage fits just snugly inside so you have about a 6" tall plastic splash guard all the way around. Then i took the duct tape off and siliconed the outside of the corners to make them sturdier. I used self tapping screws to attach it to the frame then added the gutters slanted at a 20-30 degree eyeball estimate underneath the front lip for the urine run off.

Its still not perfect. If there is a poop mound buildup it slows down the urine runoff.


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## krabbitry (Jan 29, 2011)

Treewhisper said:


> krabbitry
> i'm really bad with computers i dont have a clue how to post pics.
> 
> I made everything to be as lightweight as possible so i could move it around easier. I made a slanted rectangle frame out of 0.5"x4"x6' wood then used my sawzol to cut a piece out of the 4'x8'x3mm thick white plastic (from Lowes) to cover the top and added an extra 2" lip on the front as an overhang on the frame to put the gutter underneath it. I used my brad nailer with 3/4" staples to attach it to the frame. I had enough plastic left over to fashion 10" tall rectangular plastic pieces to three sides that i stapled on. The staples stuck out of the frames on the inside because its only a 1/2" thick but it held the plastic on fine.
> ...


That sounds kind of lie what I was going to do. I bought some plastic rolls from home depot and I was going to make a rectangular frame out of 1/2 inch pvc about 3ft wide and 10 ft long on each side of my double row of hanging cages. I just didnt know how to keep from getting pockets collecting waste. I would love to do it out of fiber glass but that is too expensive. Does any one else have pictures of a setup like this or a website that gives similar ideas?


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## PulpFaction (Jul 23, 2009)

I have two cages in the basement I keep there for isolation or if anybody needs a little extra help in the winter. It's ok, but not ideal. The ammonia smell is a problem, urine guards on the cages keeps the urine where it belongs as long as I don't keep bucks prone to spraying there. I don't think I could handle more than a pair at a time, or maybe a doe and litter, but maybe there's ways. Best case scenario would be litter pans with litter and empty daily if you were looking for something permanent. Just like you do with house rabbits.


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

I have a good friend that raises champion show rabbits. He keeps his rabbits in the basement and has, at one time, had a couple hundred animals. I've known him for many years and on entering his home, you would never suspect he had rabbits at all, let alone that many inhabiting his basement. Recently I asked him how he managed it and he pointed to the back of the basement room we were in, where there was a fan blowing strongly outward and then to the front of the basement, where he had narrow slits in the walls. It was a special ventilation system known as negative pressure (airflow outward). He uses ordinary newspaper in his pans and only cleans them once a week. His home isn't particularly large, but this system works well.


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