I see all the time people trying to raise meat rabbits in a 24"x 24" cage. When I ask why the cage is so small they say that is what the ARBA recommends. There are two big fallacies with this. First of all this is a MINIMUM size, not a suggested size. Secondly, and by far the most important, is that this is the size for a SINGLE rabbit, a buck for instance, or a show rabbit. It is Not, Not, Not the size for a breeding doe. The absolute MINIMUM size for a meat doe that will be or is raising kits is 6 square feet (that means if your cage is 24" deep, they need to be THREE FEET wide.
If your does are over 11.5 pounds, that increases to 7.5 square feet.
From the ARBA PDF:
More than that for big flemmies. I know that chart is an approximation, but the needs of an 11.5 pound rabbit are different than a 20 pound rabbit. With me being absolutely terrible at handiwork of any kind and multiple escapes from my lame attempts at bigger brood cages, I'm just going to bite the bullet this fall and pay $400 for a Flemmie sized double stack.
I find it fascinating that a dwarf rabbit and a NZ or flemsh ''needs'' the same height. My checkered giants would not be able to sit up in 35cm height even if they fold their ears back.. I'm not sure they could lie down with their ears up, even.. and the largest is just 5kg this far.
I know I'm more for large spaces than most, but I do think the rabbit should at least be able to stand up on its hindfeet and stretch the back. Well, actually I think they should be able to hop a few large hops lengthwise, at least, as well.
When people say they can't reach the rabbit in the 3x3ft cage because it's too large, I usually don't say anything because I have no interest in bringing it up every single time cages are mentioned. but I don't think it's a good reason. With decent doors, you can reach. Around here most hobby people have cages that's maybe.. 80cm by 120-140cm for a general pet sized rabbit (this is not unusual for show either although the legal size for a dwarf currently is 0.5m2) and I don't hear anything about not reaching. Because they also have some height, as well as doors all the length down.. I've seen their rabbits, it's not about the rabbits just being nice and friendly at all times.
