Rabbit Housing - Heat & Cold

Hi Everyone I am new to this forum.

I adopted a lovely little black rabbit called spike a few weeks ago, hes had his injections and neutering and is doing exceptionally well living with me and partner.
He lives in a hutch in the garage (yes an unused one, only storage no vehicles) the hutch is perfect for him and he has made it his home, every evening he comes into the house with us once we are back from work, runs around jumps and flips everywhere so is obviously happy, he stays out for a few hours then he goes back in his hutch.
My question is this ok for him? heat and cold wise. sometimes he sits near the radiator behind the sofa?
Basically Im just curious what everyone thinks to his housing as he is a very happy bunny all the time, eats, poops and jumps ha any ideas are welcome please! if photos are required i can upload some later today once Im home, including of him.
thanks in advance

Hi there and welcome to the Forum! Your rabbit sounds lovely, happy and healthy and pleased to hear that you want to do the best for him.

Bringing rabbits in from the cold into a warm-very warm house is not very good. You may get away with it but if you don't your rabbit could have his respiratory system upset, causing him to suffer with Snuffles, which is not at all nice. They are not like dogs and cats which can go in and out without it causing a problem, rabbits have far more complicated nasal passages etc, so is it possible to have him indoors permanently during the winter so that he gets to have some company, or maybe look into getting him a friend so he won't be on his own all the time.

Rabbits can live for many years, I have one which is almost 11 and her friend is 10, so you need to think about how you would like his life to be.

If you do decide to get a friend for your bunny, he would need to be neutered first and then the best choice would be a female friend.

Hi thanks for the quick reply, the house isn't always warm but the garage is fairly warm anyway there are no drafts and I made sure it was well insulated before putting him and his hutch in there,
Is there any way of noticing the sniffles? or anything that could appear from this. He seems happy enough with us doing this I was just unsure whether it was a serious problem.

I suppose the first signs would be a sneeze, maybe a runny nose which he will keep wiping up with his front paws. I am not a health expert as some are on here, but I think differences in temperature upsets the Pasteurella which lives in the bunny's nose and once this is aggravated it is not always easy to get under control because we are very limited on the antibiotics we can use for rabbits. I would suggest you make a new thread rregarding your question so others will reply. Sometimes once a rabbit has got this problem we call Snuffles it is really not easy to get it under control. Our health experts would answer your query better than I can. :thumb:

Roughly how big is the hutch that he is in as I'm not sure if you're aware but there is a certain size that the hutch/run should be?

Just bumping this up in the hopes someone else can reply.

The temperature change might well be an issue through the coldest weather so it may be better to have Spike indoors with you through the winter.
Finding him a female friend once he's neutered would be good. Many rescue centres will bond Spike with a partner for you and their rabbits will be health checked, vaccinated and neutered too.
The Rabbit Welfare Association is a very good source of information for rabbit owners and you can become a member and receive all the latest info on rabbits in their magazine.
RWA guidelines do recommend 60 square feet of permanent predator proof space for rabbits, do you know the size of your current hutch?
Spike sounds like a lovely bunny, hope you post pictures soon

I've taken spikey to the vets for his last check up after neutering and i asked them and they said he would be fine so I will just keep my eye on him but its more than warm enough in my garage as I have thermometers in there telling me the temp
thanks for all the replies