Keeping your rabbit cool

Not sure if this should be in health but it's not a concern more a chat? Please move mods if you need to! !

As it's getting hotter I thought we could share how we keep our indoor and outdoor rabbits cool.

I'm busy thawing veg frozen in water but I haven't got any other ideas!

Anyone?


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i use coke bottles filled with water and frozen, ceramic tiles to stretch out on and a damp towel hung over an ikea table to offer 'air conditioning' :lol: also i've found by leaving the door to the shed open overnight as well as during the day it stays cooler (safe obviously!)

elmoandfern said:

i use coke bottles filled with water and frozen, ceramic tiles to stretch out on and a damp towel hung over an ikea table to offer 'air conditioning' :lol: also i've found by leaving the door to the shed open overnight as well as during the day it stays cooler (safe obviously!)

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I leave my windows open through the day, and have netting across the gaps to stop flies etc. In the night's I have a fan in each room on the lowest power and rotating.

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tashp90 said:

I leave my windows open through the day, and have netting across the gaps to stop flies etc. In the night's I have a fan in each room on the lowest power and rotating.

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Last summer we used fans too. I'm thinking while I'm at work it'll be hottest so I'd like to try things for when I'm not there ideally

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tashp90 said:

I leave my windows open through the day, and have netting across the gaps to stop flies etc. In the night's I have a fan in each room on the lowest power and rotating.

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I've never considered netting. Where did you get yours from? I can't think of anywhere by me I could get something like that.

Springfield24 said:

Last summer we used fans too. I'm thinking while I'm at work it'll be hottest so I'd like to try things for when I'm not there ideally

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You could close blinds/curtains, I find that usually cools a room down as well.

Kirotea said:

I've never considered netting. Where did you get yours from? I can't think of anywhere by me I could get something like that.

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I ordered mosquito nets off the internet :wave: then just cut them to size
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/281288898497?nav=SEARCH
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Outdoor bunnies..

I have ice pods frozen, old plastic bottles filled with ice and an icepod under the water bowl...

I also have a run permanently covered with wood.which stops the beating sun making the slabs too hot. It worked last year when the bunnies spent all day in the covered run and only ventured out into the uncovered one once it got cooler.

Fee said:

Outdoor bunnies..

I have ice pods frozen, old plastic bottles filled with ice and an icepod under the water bowl...

I also have a run permanently covered with wood.which stops the beating sun making the slabs too hot. It worked last year when the bunnies spent all day in the covered run and only ventured out into the uncovered one once it got cooler.

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Do you just put the frozen bottle in with them? How much do they use it? I seem to remember trying this once last year putting it in a pillow case but Springfield just ignored it

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I put one in covered with a towel but Willow usually pulls it off and digs the towel, i also have one uncovered which they took to more and licked the cool moisture from it:thumb:

They might not lie against the frozen bottle that much but it does cool the air around it, much like the damp towels

I get the sun all day in my front room. So I've been keeping the blinds shut on the front two windows (where the sun comes in) and keeping a side window blind up for some light and window open. I've kept the temperature down to 22 so far (according to the thermostat).

Most of last Summer though my thermostat said it was over 30 degrees, getting up to 34 at one point. So I'm quite worried about the bunnies getting too hot. They don't seem bothered at all at the moment though.

I've ordered an ice pod which should arrive next week. They have a pen in the kitchen when I'm at work so I think the lino is fairly cool. Will probably do ice bottles too but they are chewers so I'm worried they might try to eat them!

I'm considering a fan on the kitchen top pointing downwards. They have a cover on their pen but half is mesh so I think it would work.

Besides the things already mentioned, ceramic water bowls - my buns love laying against them when it's hot.

And if they're outside, a little hutch or cage with mesh flooring so that they can lay in that when they're hot. When I had outdoor buns I had hutches with mesh flooring that I covered with newspaper but I left a section without any newspaper so they could lay on the mesh and air would flow up through it and make them cooler. Might not be a good idea for some buns though. Like rexes because of risk of sore hocks.

I've never considered netting. Where did you get yours from? I can't think of anywhere by me I could get something like that.

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Is it possible over there to buy screens for the windows? I don't know if the windows are fitted for that or something....I always find it bizarre that houses outside of the southern US don't come with screens on all the windows and doors and ceiling fans in the bedrooms and living room! It was only after I joined this forum that I realized that's not the norm in most parts of the world:lol:

elmoandfern said:

They might not lie against the frozen bottle that much but it does cool the air around it, much like the damp towels

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Millie and Maddie have a indoor Ferplast cage as a base, could I hang a damp towel over the top of that?

Kirotea said:

Millie and Maddie have a indoor Ferplast cage as a base, could I hang a damp towel over the top of that?

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yea that would work well :thumb: i have a picture of what i did last summer somewhere...


Here it is!



They spent almost the whole day lying under there so it must have been more comfortable for them, it was noticeably cooler under there when I checked with my hand

elmoandfern said:

yea that would work well :thumb: i have a picture of what i did last summer somewhere...


Here it is!

They spent almost the whole day lying under there so it must have been more comfortable for them, it was noticeably cooler under there when I checked with my hand

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Will have to go and buy them a towel then! :lol: