Behavioural effects of environmental enrichment for individually caged rabbits (1997)

Lidfors, L.

Abstract

Hay was more effective than grass-cubes, sticks, and a box [rat cage] in reducing behavioral disorders and giving individually housed male rabbits something to do. The hay was placed in empty water bottles to make it a more lengthy task for the rabbits to pull the straws out. .... The wood [of gnawing sticks] came from peeled aspen [not from fir; cf. Brooks et al., 1993], and maybe the type of wood influences the amount of interest the rabbits show. It is a general idea at some animal facilities that rabbits need gnawing sticks to prevent getting their teeth too long.