Too Cold, Too Hot

What temperature is too cold for rabbits?
What temperature is too hot for rabbits?
and what can i do to help? (hot water bottle, blankets, ice in the water bottle, ice pod?)

Is your rabbit an indoor or outdoor rabbit?

My rabbits are outdoor and never confined to hutch, so generally I don't do anything in particular weatherwise. In the wild they just get on with it

Bunnie said:

What temperature is too cold for rabbits?
What temperature is too hot for rabbits?
and what can i do to help? (hot water bottle, blankets, ice in the water bottle, ice pod?)

Click to expand...

i'm not sure about exactly what temperatures bunnies can handle but they generally do better in the cold than they do in the heat. during winter i give mine snuggleafe heatpads at night and pack them a bed area full of straw and hay (straw is a better insulator than hay so keeps them warmer, but the hay is to snack on while snuggling!) when it's hot you can give them frozen water bottles to lie against and also tiles laid out in the hutch/run stay at a cooler temperature so they can stretch out on them. make sure they always have shade in their run and lots of water and they should be ok :thumb:

if it's very very cold you can use a snugglesafe heatpad. if it's very very warm, use an ipod. any temperatures inbetween they seem to cope ok with. :wave:

I think this depends on the size of your rabbit. Presumably an outdoor bunny. Small rabbits find it more difficult to withstand cold but can easily withstand subzero temps with care.
An outside bunny will form a thick coat during Autumn.
2 can keep warmer then 1.
Plenty of room to have a good hop & warm by excercise.
A layer of small balls of crumpled newspaper on the floor of the sleeping compartment, covered with cardboard, & plenty of short stranded hay on top (a hay box) to make a nest in is a great help.
A blanket over the hutch during very cold weather is also used. (in fact the main problem is ensuring that their water doesn't ice up)
Indoors the problem is of large fluctuations of temp as central heating is usually geared for human occupancy. Personally I run a cool house, & keep it at about 15C in his preferred room.

Too hot - outside buns need shading in summer. If still too hot, the ears & skin at the back of the neck feel warm. In fact a damp banket/old duvet is great for cooling air, but can dry out quickly in very hot weather.
Bathing the ears in tepid not cold water also helps.

Many people use ice packs indoors. The problem with my own bun was that his fur insulated him so well he didn't realise it was cold & wouldn't use it, also he had severe tummy issues & could't stretch out to lose heat.
In his case we had to shave his tummy & wrists to help him with heat (last resort).
This year I'm trying an air cooler indoors (same principal as the damp blanket) They're relatively cheap.
Indoors, paradoxically it's also a case of insulation - cutains drawn & windows closed if air temp is high.
Benjie is feeling the heat at an indoor temp of 24C in the day & 20C at night.

Is your rabbit an indoor or outdoor rabbit?

My rabbits are outdoor and never confined to hutch, so generally I don't do anything in particular weatherwise. In the wild they just get on with it

whoops posted twice, so ignore!

Ours are indoor buns and Bobo really feels it as he has such a thick coat - at the moment we have a fan blowing on them and then when it is forecasted to get over 26 degrees (C) we put the air-conditioning unit on (expensive on electricity but Bobo really suffers when it gets hot).

We do use ice packs as well and put ice in their drinking bowls.

Lots of brushing as well to try and thin the coats down.

Also they have slate tiles in their huthes which are quite cool and work well.