# Rabbit Accommodation.



## crofty

The golden rule is that your bunnies accommodation can never be too big! 

Rabbits love to run loose in the garden  many of you will have seen the sheer pleasure your bunny gets from running full pelt down the garden, twisting and jumping and kicking their back legs in the air. However this access should be supervised as rabbits are at risk from many predators, most obviously from foxes and other known predators but also from neighbourhood cats. 

Safe and secure accommodation must therefore also be provided. The minimum recommended hutch size for two average sized rabbits is 5 foot long x 2 foot deep x 2 foot 6 inches high. The height is particularly important to enable your bunny to sit up on its hind legs. 

One advantage of this type of accommodation is that you can sit in with your buns and enjoy their company (and carry out essential cleaning) without braving the elements! It also allows your buns to come to you and form a friendship with you on their own terms. 

Not only does providing larger accommodation keep your bun active and entertained and therefore happier and healthier, but I cannot emphasise enough how much more pleasure you can get from your buns by allowing them to express their natural behaviour and curiosity. 

Where it is not possible to provide daily exercise in the garden, a large exercise run should also be attached to the hutch. Again the exercise run should be a minimum of 2 foot 6 inches tall and be as large as possible to allow your bunny freedom to move around. Rabbits are most active at dusk and dawn when most of us are tucked up in bed! This run should be placed on concrete to prevent your bunny digging out or predators digging in. 

If access to the garden is not possible, you might also consider providing a larger separate exercise run which can be placed on the grass. This run should be large enough to allow your rabbit to run rather than just amble from one end to the other. Alternatively if your run is designed for the hutch to stand in side, that run can simply be lifted off and moved to a grassy area on days where your bunnies activities can be supervised! 

Sadly many standard hutches and runs sold by pet shops do not meet these requirements. This is particularly true of the two-tier hutch and run combinations. These may look fabulous but unless your bun is very small, it will not be able to stand up on its hind legs on either level. 

Often the best solution is to design and build your own accommodation. This way it can also blend in with, or become a feature of your own garden. Possibilities include summerhouses, play houses and my own personal favourite, converting a garden shed into a bunny home. With a bit of imagination, you can add shelves and ramps to provide your buns with space, exercise and stimulation. An aviary or run can then be built on the side of the shed (bearing in mind the 2 6 height recommendation). The run can then be accessed by either a sliding wooden door or a cat flap.

Anyone else have any other ideas to add or piccies, feel free


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## Nonnie

Great post Crofty.

Cant rep you, i have to spread it around a bit first. Plus ive run out.

So many behavioural issues can be prevented by supplying a rabbit with the appropriate housing. When we take an animal into our care, it should first and foremost be a pet, and its our responsibility to proved the correct housing to ensure the animal is physically and mentally stimulated. 

So many commercial hutches and runs dont allow buns to exhibit natural behaviours, and under the Animal Welfare act, that is illegal. The sooner companies stop making such cruel wooden boxes the better. Id like to see pet shops selling nothing smaller than 6ft for ALL breeds.

I have also found that many people get the tiered hutches, then think they dont have to supply a seperate run.


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## Lotsofsmoggies

My bunnies leave in here










That is Pep and Nesbit's home.

This was Charlie and Mocha's home, Mocha has since passed and only Char;ie is living in there.










The only difference in each set up is the last one is only a 4ft double tier hutch with 4 by 8ft run, Pep/ Nesbit's home is 5ft double hutch with 5 by 8ft run.

I also have in my front garden an 8ft by 4 ft run. They get free time in my back garden for at least 3 hours, at least 3 times a week.

Way back when I thought a double 4ft hutch was bunny paradise but a visit to RSPCA rehoming in Norfolk sorted that out. They won't rehome to any less than 50 square foot for medium sized pairs of buns. Which in their words is a 6ft by 4 greenhouse frame covered in mesh with a hutch in it. Spot on advice.

Hello Crofty. :wink5:


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## Nonnie

Lotsofsmoggies said:


> My bunnies leave in here
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> That is Pep and Nesbit's home.
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> This was Charlie and Mocha's home, Mocha has since passed and only Char;ie is living in there.
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> The only difference in each set up is the last one is only a 4ft double tier hutch with 4 by 8ft run, Pep/ Nesbit's home is 5ft double hutch with 5 by 8ft run.
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> I also have in my front garden an 8ft by 4 ft run. They get free time in my back garden for at least 3 hours, at least 3 times a week.
> 
> Way back when I thought a double 4ft hutch was bunny paradise but a visit to RSPCA rehoming in Norfolk sorted that out. They won't rehome to any less than 50 square foot for medium sized pairs of buns. Which in their words is a 6ft by 4 greenhouse frame covered in mesh with a hutch in it. Spot on advice.
> 
> Hello Crofty. :wink5:


Wow, those are fantastic!


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## crofty

Lotsofsmoggies said:


> My bunnies leave in here
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> That is Pep and Nesbit's home.
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> This was Charlie and Mocha's home, Mocha has since passed and only Char;ie is living in there.
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> The only difference in each set up is the last one is only a 4ft double tier hutch with 4 by 8ft run, Pep/ Nesbit's home is 5ft double hutch with 5 by 8ft run.
> 
> I also have in my front garden an 8ft by 4 ft run. They get free time in my back garden for at least 3 hours, at least 3 times a week.
> 
> Way back when I thought a double 4ft hutch was bunny paradise but a visit to RSPCA rehoming in Norfolk sorted that out. They won't rehome to any less than 50 square foot for medium sized pairs of buns. Which in their words is a 6ft by 4 greenhouse frame covered in mesh with a hutch in it. Spot on advice.
> 
> Hello Crofty. :wink5:


Hey my lovely!!

Thanks for the fab piccies  bunny paradise!!!!


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## cupcake

Aww I feel put to shame! My boy lives here, its a 6x8ft brick shed  and he gets free run of the garden every day (supervised)










the hutch on the right is this one :









its pretty big! xxx


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## crofty

Dont be silly cupcake i think your setup is fantastic!!!


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## Nonnie

crofty said:


> Dont be silly cupcake i think your setup is fantastic!!!


Couldnt agree more!

Looks really nice, and very neat and tidy.


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## cupcake

Thanks  I wish he had free access (safely!) to the outdoors aswell. If I could, I'd bust a hole in the bricks and build a run and put a ramp up to it. 
(the brickshed is sunken)


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## Nonnie

cupcake said:


> Thanks  I wish he had free access (safely!) to the outdoors aswell. If I could, I'd bust a hole in the bricks and build a run and put a ramp up to it.
> (the brickshed is sunken)


He has more room than a lot of buns do.

He looks very happy and healthy sitting in there.


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## cupcake

Yeah. He used to be in a tiny indoor cage that I had spare.. because I rescued(stole xD) him from someone who was going to cook and eat him (!) I hadn't got a cage or saved up. So while it was cold he had been living on the inside of my walk in wardrobe, with the doors taken off and mesh there. 
But moved him out cos he still didn't have enough space, even though the wardrobe was much bigger than most hutches.


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## Kammie

Added a link to this thread to the "new bunny owners" thread I'm playing with.


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## crofty

Kammie said:


> Added a link to this thread to the "new bunny owners" thread I'm playing with.


Good idea, thanks


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## Bunnieshaven

Lotsofsmoggies said:


> My bunnies leave in here
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> 
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> That is Pep and Nesbit's home.
> 
> This was Charlie and Mocha's home, Mocha has since passed and only Char;ie is living in there.
> 
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> 
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> The only difference in each set up is the last one is only a 4ft double tier hutch with 4 by 8ft run, Pep/ Nesbit's home is 5ft double hutch with 5 by 8ft run.
> 
> I also have in my front garden an 8ft by 4 ft run. They get free time in my back garden for at least 3 hours, at least 3 times a week.
> 
> Way back when I thought a double 4ft hutch was bunny paradise but a visit to RSPCA rehoming in Norfolk sorted that out. They won't rehome to any less than 50 square foot for medium sized pairs of buns. Which in their words is a 6ft by 4 greenhouse frame covered in mesh with a hutch in it. Spot on advice.
> 
> Hello Crofty. :wink5:


_Lovely to see your rabbits enjoying such spacious accomodation  I agree they can never have to much room _


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## crofty

Bunnieshaven said:


> _Lovely to see your rabbits enjoying such spacious accomodation  I agree they can never have to much room _


We need more piccies if you want to add any


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## Lotsofsmoggies

Thank you everyone, I'll have to take a more up to date piccie, the last one was from last year. There are now old cane chairs in each run. I love showing off my runs, there are so many people where I live think its ok to keep a medium/large rabbit in a hutch all day, and the hutch is not even 4ft. I'd tell them the error of their ways but they aren't the sort of people you annoy. I'm just waiting for them to get bored as my door is always open. :wink5:


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## BeckyLH

My bunnies live in my fairly large spare room and then are fully free range when we are home. I wouldn't have it any other way


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## crofty

BeckyLH said:


> My bunnies live in my fairly large spare room and then are fully free range when we are home. I wouldn't have it any other way


Oh pics would be great Becky we need indoor set-ups too


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## emzybabe

these are great set ups, i think however to the outside world of non bunny owners they would think u are mad along with the its only a rabbit thread, I think its really important that these decent rabbit set ups go all over the internet to help potential rabbit owners know what they are getting themselves into and hopefully put some lazy people off.


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## Guest

This is my set up 


















The doors to the hutch are never closed, they get the whole kitchen when I am out or in bed(you can only see half of the kitchen in the photo), and they get the whole house and free access to the garden when I am around 


> i think however to the outside world of non bunny owners they would think u are mad along with the its only a rabbit thread


 I am called the crazy bunny lady in my area lol


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## Nicky09

Leo doesn't really have a cage he has a pen which he is in at night and when we're out and thats about it. Theres a bed in there, his food, water and litter tray. The toys are generally scattered all over the place along with the dogs and cats. He also has an 8 X 3 foot run in the back yard for when its sunny. There's a chance people think we're crazy but who cares.


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## emzybabe

bernie just wondered if ur rabbits like the lino? mine seems to hate everything but carpet, so i'm tempting her with treats being left in where theres no carpet. 

I think once people really get to know and understand a rabbit theres no way u'd keep them locked up in a hutch all day. 

I contacted a woman who was giving up breeding and giving away her hutches recently, when I asked how big they were she said....2foot and 2foot6!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe it!!


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## Tink82

emzybabe said:


> bernie just wondered if ur rabbits like the lino? mine seems to hate everything but carpet, so i'm tempting her with treats being left in where theres no carpet.
> 
> I think once people really get to know and understand a rabbit theres no way u'd keep them locked up in a hutch all day.
> 
> I contacted a woman who was giving up breeding and giving away her hutches recently, when I asked how big they were she said....2foot and 2foot6!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe it!!


Pepsi wouldn't go off the carpet for quite some time. Then one day he went in the kitchen, must have realised the floor is nice and cool


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## Guest

emzybabe said:


> bernie just wondered if ur rabbits like the lino? mine seems to hate everything but carpet, so i'm tempting her with treats being left in where theres no carpet.
> 
> I think once people really get to know and understand a rabbit theres no way u'd keep them locked up in a hutch all day.
> 
> I contacted a woman who was giving up breeding and giving away her hutches recently, when I asked how big they were she said....2foot and 2foot6!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe it!!


They hated it to start off with, which is why there is red carpet underneath and in front of the hutch, but now they aren't really bothered by it. Although they don't really binky in the kitchen they save that for the rest of the house and garden


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## HighPr00

Great setups everyone. This thread should be a sticky to set an example to any newbie rabbit owners. :thumbsup:


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## crofty

HighPr00 said:


> Great setups everyone. This thread should be a sticky to set an example to any newbie rabbit owners. :thumbsup:


Theres a link to it on the sticky for new bunny owners


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## daisyboo

Boo has the nero 4 indoor cage in the living room which is always open. He has free range of about 500sq ft all day.

the only time he is shut in is at night, and i feel bad enough doing that!


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## crofty

I dont have any pics of my new setup yet... will get some but heres the joey and saffys setup when they were indoors, they lived in the utility and were never ever shut in the hutch it was just left open.










Their second setup that i had in a shed was the happyhutch 6ftx2ftx2ft with a 4ftx6ft run underneath.










3rd setup in garage, tinks and dreamer were in the happyhutch combo, saffy and joey the rest of the garage.
Yes they had sofas lol but have chucked them now, kept the cushions for them.


















They now live with dreamer and tinks as a four in a pen in the garage that measures 10ftx12ft. It has sofa cushions, toys and tunnels, 5 big letter trays/dog beds 

My 6ftx8ft run and the buns get freerange of our 40ft garden for min 3 hours every evening.










My garden


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## crofty

Finally got pics of the pen i have in the garage for my buns 10ft x12ft


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## Lumpy

Looks wonderful - can I move in please?

They look so happy being free range in the garden. I've had the front of mine fenced so that the bunnies could run free but whenever I've tried I've found it a nightmare to catch them to put them in their hutches for bed. They hide behind shrubs or underneath bushes and I can't reach them.

When they're in the back yard where they usually live, I just clap my hands and they jump into their hutches at bed time. It's dead sweet to watch. I wish they would come to me at bed time when they are in the front, but no chance! They turn into naughty children who don't want to go to bed

How do you get yours to come in when it's bed time?


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## crofty

Lumpy said:


> Looks wonderful - can I move in please?
> 
> They look so happy being free range in the garden. I've had the front of mine fenced so that the bunnies could run free but whenever I've tried I've found it a nightmare to catch them to put them in their hutches for bed. They hide behind shrubs or underneath bushes and I can't reach them.
> 
> When they're in the back yard where they usually live, I just clap my hands and they jump into their hutches at bed time. It's dead sweet to watch. I wish they would come to me at bed time when they are in the front, but no chance! They turn into naughty children who don't want to go to bed
> 
> How do you get yours to come in when it's bed time?


Well they have the garage door left open so when i get them in at about 9pm or when it starts to get dark i just call 'bunnies' and shake the pellet box and they all come running in for dinner!


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## Chrysler

Great setups everybody. 
I am going to post some pics of my little one, once the flat is back together again. As for the next couple of weeks the bunnies do not know where they are from one day to the next due to full rewire and new kitchen and bathroom. 
Even worse at some nights I have to put them together in the cage.


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## happysaz133

Wow so many fantastic setups! Great for ideas for my next buns


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## cherrie_b

I have a Nethie and he lives in a 2 tier hutch. It is 4 foot long. He has free run of the garden everyday whilst I am in (luckily I work evenings). He plays with our 3 cats and loves it. He chases them around and they run scared. He is a happy bunny!!


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## lover of lops

wow those are amazing


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## happysaz133

This is mine. It's not perfect, compared to some on here, but its still a decent size, warm and clean. It's a 10ft x 6ft shed. They don't have an attached run for safety reasons, but they do have a separate 14ft x 3ft run in the garden.

Islay, Jura and Arran's new shed by Niseag, on Flickr


Islay, Jura and Arran's new shed by Niseag, on Flickr


Islay, Jura and Arran's new shed by Niseag, on Flickr

My rabbits new shed - YouTube


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## MrRustyRead

All your set ups are amazing, mine is a bit poor at the moment due to needing to keep bobz and moo separate from the little ones. They both have two tier hutches and big runs that they go in during the day. But they can't be attached due to a high volume of foxes near my house.

Then when they are all together and my shed is put up the two tier hutches will be joined. Then during the summer they will hopefully have a huge brand new run thanks to simplysardonic's husband  and then when the weather is bad or im out all day they will have run of the 10 by 8 shed.

I'd love to give them free run of the garden but my cats use it as a toilet so I'm worried that I may miss some when I clean it up and they step in it. Their new current thing is to poo around the Rabbit run!


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## Hel_79

This is my bun's setup. The run still needs a bit of tidying up and refining around the edges though! We plan to get outside and build some new ramps, platforms and tunnels now the weather's warmer. My only regret is that I can't let Buddy go free range in our garden, because the area's quite big and it's not bunny-proof in that there are too many areas where he could escape! Plus our cat, or the many others which frequent our garden daily, could prove too much of a risk (more to the cats I think, as Buddy is very fast and strong!!).

I think we're going to try and get a large temporary run to put on our lawn and connect this via a tunnel to Buddy's current permanent run. That way he has another area he can run to and explore during the summer and can enjoy munching, digging and flopping on grass!


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## lover of lops

Lotsofsmoggies said:


> My bunnies leave in here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is Pep and Nesbit's home.
> 
> This was Charlie and Mocha's home, Mocha has since passed and only Char;ie is living in there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The only difference in each set up is the last one is only a 4ft double tier hutch with 4 by 8ft run, Pep/ Nesbit's home is 5ft double hutch with 5 by 8ft run.
> 
> I also have in my front garden an 8ft by 4 ft run. They get free time in my back garden for at least 3 hours, at least 3 times a week.
> 
> Way back when I thought a double 4ft hutch was bunny paradise but a visit to RSPCA rehoming in Norfolk sorted that out. They won't rehome to any less than 50 square foot for medium sized pairs of buns. Which in their words is a 6ft by 4 greenhouse frame covered in mesh with a hutch in it. Spot on advice.
> 
> Hello Crofty. :wink5:


i feel slack my buns are house bunnies so they have the master bedroom but still alittle shameful compared to yours:blushing:


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## Louiseandfriends

Gonna bump this. 

6x2 hutch and 7x6 run for my pair.


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## happysaz133

This is my set up...

Harris and Ailsa have 6ft x 4ft, and Islay, Jura and Arran have 6ft x 6ft.

Sarah 008 by Niseag, on Flickr


Sarah 007 by Niseag, on Flickr


Sarah 006 by Niseag, on Flickr


Sarah 005 by Niseag, on Flickr


Sarah 003 by Niseag, on Flickr


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## sskmick

These are absolutely fabulous rabbit homes. They have given me lots of ideas.

This is what we did for our two, not very imaginative like the ones on this thread but they have plenty of room.


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## Funky

Hodge has sticker today in one hutch compartment as litter tray blocked his way out!poor little bunny...litter tray is out of there!!!!my husband came home at Lin h time check on them and didn't think anything of hodge sitting upstairs!poor little bum was stuck there.
Litter tray wasn't massive but obviously stuck the way he couldn't move it-he chewed plastic bit of it!
I did really told off my husband as I walked home and knew straight away something is wrong as he always sit in run and wait!!!
He is coming at lunch break to make sure they are ok and than my little boy stuck there since 2pm!!!he seems ok -he had hay there! He did eat his food and running now in the bunny play room-garage!


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## goodallish

Some really cool ideas here which I am taking on board for Sooty. He's only living in a small hutch at the moment and I can't wait to get something bigger and more appropriate for him!


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## happysaz133

New shed...still needing to upload better pics and videos of the full size, but here's a few...

Islay, Jura and Arran...

DSC_0685 by Niseag, on Flickr


DSC_0688 by Niseag, on Flickr

Ringo the piggy, when you walk in the door

DSC_0715 by Niseag, on Flickr

Ailsa and Lewis

DSC_0714 by Niseag, on Flickr


DSC_0689 by Niseag, on Flickr

They have only been in this shed less than a week so its pretty sparse looking at the moment until I next get away to buy them some bits


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## Good Rabbit Keeping

Some great informative info "thanks" I personally feel that only Large Rabbit Hutches should be used to House Rabbits regardless of their size or breed, its unbelievable how many people say to me "we only have a dwarf breed so a small hutch will do"


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