lots of advise please..

hi, i need advice please on a few things,
i have not been very lucky with my rabbits.
first there was bob and cookie , the were lovely bunnys . i had some shavings from our local joiners and to cut a long story short the shavings were toxic and killed both of them,
we then had 2 more bunnys for our children as they were devastated over the loss of bob and cookie, which helped them to move on, so we had rex-a dutch and silky - a rex, poor silky has died from a worm infestation this week, the poor thing had them when i bought her only 2 weeks ago. by the time we new what was making her so poorly it was too late to save her, so my poor daughter was devastated once more with the loss of her much loved bunny, so now we have a netherland dwarf called coco, to give my little girl something to love...
i am keeping rex- 13 wks and coco- 8 wks in the passage way of my house (in seperate hutches) so they are completly sheilded from any drafts or weather , i do not want to take any chances with these 2 at all. is it going to be bad for them if i put them into there 5 ft hutches during the day then bring them back indoors at night?? will the temperature fluctuation cause them any harm??
i am so worried now over everything i do because of all the things which have happened................ also rex who is a little man is scent marking everything in his path and is so smelly at the moment, is this just a smelly phase or is he going to be smelly all the time..
any advise greatfully recieved.
thanks
claire

I'm so sorry for your losses.

Coco and Rex would probably be ok out in their run at daytime for a few weeks but, once winter settles in, it would be too much of a temperature fluctuation for them to go into a freezing cold garden after being in a warm house all night.

Rex sounds like he's becoming hormonal with the scent marking - it will probbly be a permanent thing but if you get him neutered as soon as his plums drop (which should be in the next few weeks) it should stop very soon after.

i'm so sorry for your losses. firstly i would stop using shavings. all shavings are toxic to buns. replace it with hay, you can get a big bail for £9 and they love munching on it all day it also gives them better insultation from the cold. have you taken your buns for a check up at the vets, this will help diagnose if theres anything wrong immediately. yes your rex sounds like he's being a normal boy and neuturing will help. do you intend to bond the two when they are both speyed/ neutured.this will be great company for each other. you can by things called snuggle safes which you place in the microwave then place in your bunnies hutch to give them some warmth. please feel free to ask loads of questions and have a good read at all the threads. it really helped me learn how to diagnose something was wrong with my rabbit quickly.

Are shavings really toxic to rabbits? :shock: I get a bale of shavings from Scats and Taco is currently on them. I've never had any problems with my past bunnies and shavings.

yeah when they wee on it, it can give off toxic fumes, think it affects the liver but not sure on that one.

We've always used P@H woodshavings for the buns with no problems - but then I skip them out several times a day. If they're outdoors though I reccomend using straw instead, as this will keep them a lot warmer. Make sure you supply plenty of hay too, but this is better in hayracks so they aren't eating it when it's soiled.

Ted an Petal said:

yeah when they wee on it, it can give off toxic fumes, think it affects the liver but not sure on that one.

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I heard that about pine shavings, but then I'm not sure what kind of tree the shavings I have are from