How well do your rabbits cope with the warmer weather?

Barney is pretty much always stretched out on the grass lately panting away and it's not even Summer!

Badly


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We've got 2 fans going now during the day and later in the year will probably bring out the AC unit - being indoor buns, the heat can build up quite a bit during the day if we're not there to open windows and the buns don't like it too hot at all.

Not very well tbh. Three quarters of the year we have wet, coldish weather which the rabbits like and so do I tbh. Compared to a heatwave which makes me dizzy and brings on a headache. The rabbits, lie down and pant, and hide from the sun. I have found the best things are cool surfaces to lie on, icy things to lie beside, fans and lots of cool fresh water to drink and shade. We had a sunny day yesterday which was too much for all of the us. The bunnies did not even run around outside, they just lay down and soaked up the rays for a bit and then went to get some shade and dig earth scrapes.

Mine cope pretty well with it. They're indoors (although I have had outdoor rabbits in the past) and we have air conditioning and fans so it's usually low to mid 70's probably where my rabbits are housed (which is cool to us).

although it did get hot last summer because our AC was messed up so they would lay against cool things then but didn't pant or anything. Oddly, my cats tend to suffer more with heat than my buns.

when I have the buns outside for playtime I take them out during any time of the day, just whenever I'm able to, and when I have them out during the hottest part of the day they don't react very much differently. They still do things normally, run around, explore, dig etc. They do rest more often and seek out shade after a bit but that's to be expected when it's boiling outside.

For the shed bunnies I have to use an air conditioning unit x

Milly barely copes with the heat, she gets really stroppy and miserable Charlie doesn't really notice, he's lazy anyway!

It didnt seem to be an issue for my lot last summer. Their shed/run area is pretty sheltered.

I have read on here that painting the roofing felt white helps reduce heat inside the shed. I may do this if it gets too hot this year.

I love the summer but I also dread it from a bunny care point of view I always worry about flystrike.

Luckily my shed is facing away from the sun so it's constantly in shade :thumb: He seems much happier & more active today now the weather is cooler!