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argh help please! my parents are going to put my rabbits outside in this cold!

zayna1

Warren Scout
Ok so my rabbits have been living in the nice warm toasty living room since october. Now because my mum has suddenly had enough of them being in here, she goes all psycho and my dad agrees with her (and its his fault in the first place! he said he was going to sort out an insulated place for them to live) and now I have to put them outside in a damn hutch where they're going to freeze their little toes! I mean, all we have is a plastic sheet to cover them with! But no they're adamant and are shouting / yelling at me for bringing them in in the first place! It's not my fault that people dont stick to what they say!! :( Now I don't know what to do. They're not even fully bonded. It's going to be in a hutch with a run at the bottom which is the same size. One of them is going to have to be on the bottom on the cold ground :( HELP!! what do I do?!? :( :(
 
Can you talk your parents into waiting another month or two until its a bit warmer?

How warm is your house? Is it a hot house? Is there a spare bedroom they could have or maybe even go into your room for a couple of months until it warms up?

If they have to go out is a shed an option? It wont work out much different to a hutch and run cost wise and could be insulated possibly even heated until the weather warms up
 
no :'( we can't put them in a shed as it is currently quite unsafe for them and it has to be done up and have windows put in etc or they'll be in the dark constantly. 1 or 2 months, my mum will go mad! we don't have a spare room, and my room is literally a box room, my bed just about fits in it! :oops: They don't want to spend anything just yet, they want to use the hutch we already have. Oh im so worried that they're going to get cold! I mean, the little one has the thinnest coat which i can't see keeping her warm at all! The house is hot during the day, but at night it gets pretty cold for a while :?
 
Remind them that animal cruelty is a criminal offense and that they shouldn't be setting such a bad example.
 
If keeping them in is definitely not an option ask them if you can have another week to get them adjusted to outside temperatures.
You sleep in the living room for that week and they go in your room, work out a way to gradually make it colder in there, ie. Turn off the radiator then crack the window then open the window fully in the day, then fully open all the time. Hopefully that will do some good.
You can insulate the hutch by wrapping bubble wrap and blankets around it and cramming it full with hay to nest up in.

Explain to them this is dangerous for your rabbits, who won't have thick winter coats on.
 
yeah they were saying cram it full of straw...there is no way on earth they'd let me do the room thing! My dad is saying I should put them in the shed at night (it isn't insulated but its a brick one in the corner that backs off to the neighbors house so he said it doesn't really need insulation all around) because it doesn't matter if it's dark during the night and in the day let them out in the run :S but argh i dont know :S
 
The shed will be better than nothing. The may not like darkness but the cold could be fatal so it's the better of two evils.

I think the most sensible thing you could do here is collect some info from the net (official sources like the rabbit welfare association and the rspca) which explain why rabbits shouldn't be put out in the cold and how many reports they have each year of rabbits freezing to death and calmly and quietly ask them to sit down with you, read the information and talk it out, try to come to an agreement between you all.
It's possible they just don't understand and need to see it somewhere official rather than hearing it from their daughter.

Giving the rabbits your bedroom isn't going to affect your parents at all so it's worth at least suggesting it to them.
 
haha yeah i did suggest the bedroom to my parents, but i had kept them in my bedroom for a while once, and they kept everyone awake all night because they like to play at night like any bun would, i.e. rattling bars (lol) chewing newspaper, 'digging' like mad in cardboard boxes, and the jumping and binkying (yeah its quite an old house :lol:

But i kept on bugging and bugging them until my dad agreed, for tomorrow during the day time, they will be in the shed :( )lol at least theres a lightbulb in there) they really just want them out because 'special' people :evil: are comming round tomorrow, and apparently the house smells like a zoo with the buns! but they will be back inside when they leave (in the evening) and hopefully they can stay until it warms up! i'm feeling ok ish now, as its going to be 11 degrees Celsius tomorrow, and i've been in the shed, and it feels really warm somehow!! They're going to have blankies, loadsa hay and straw, hidey holes, and a cat carrier/cardboard boxes along with their other things :D and i'll be checking in on them every half hour or so, so i'm hoping itll be ok :D
 
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