Breed, sex and ambient temperature effects on the nocturnal and diurnal duration of feed and water intakes, standing and lying down behaviour of rabbits were investigated. Twelve male and female weaner rabbits (New Zealand White, Dutch Black and American Chinchilla, 8 weeks old) were housed individually in cells measuring 51 cm x 51 cm each. They were fed an 18% Crude Protein pelleted diet, forages (Centrosema pubescens, Ipomea batatas and Tridax procumbens) and water ad libitum for 8 weeks.

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... a were collected at three hourly intervals from 18:00 hrs to 06:00 hrs (nocturnal) and from 06:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs (diurnal). Durations of feed intake, water intake, lying down and standing were measured. Ambient temperature differed significantly (P ≤ 0.05) between test periods. Breed and sex did not influence the parameters studied. While ambient temperature significantly (P ≤ 0.05) influenced all traits, test period significantly (P ≤ 0.05) influenced duration of water intake, duration of standing and duration of lying down but not duration of feed intake. Interaction effects of test period x ambient temperature affected (P ≤ 0.05) duration of water intake and duration of lying down within the nocturnal period and duration of feed intake, duration of water intake and duration of lying down within the diurnal period. Highly significant (P ˂ 0.01) phenotypic correlation was observed between duration of feed intake and duration of standing (rp = 0.10), duration of feed intake and duration of lying down (rp =-0.46), duration of water intake and duration of standing (rp = 0.09), duration of water intake and duration of lying down (rp =-0.29), ambient temperature and duration of water intake (rp = 0.64), duration of standing and duration of lying down (rp =-0.51) and between ambient temperature and duration of lying down (rp =-0.42).