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Keeping outdoor bunnies warm

R

Rhianna

Wise Old Thumper
After reading about KK's bun having hypothermia I am really worried about my two.

Flopsy and Pebbles live outdoors in a covered over area between my kitchen and my neighbour's kitchen (I am terraced). They have a hutch (kindly donated by Tulsi) as a base but the door is always open. In their run they have a tunnel and a selection of little stools and chairs. They have one litter tray in the hutch, along with a cat bed and another litter tray in their run. I have stuffed the hutch full of shredded paper and put a snuggle safe in there at night and in the morning.

Flopsy and Pebbles spend most of their time in the outside litter tray or at the outer edge of their pen sitting on cold concrete. I have never seen them use the snuggle safe but they know it is there as they have been in the hutch briefly when I go to clean them out - because I am a big, scary monster and they have to run away from me!

I am worried they will get hypothermia too but I don't want to bring them inside. I have tried indoor buns and my home was literally eaten - even the plaster on the walls. They also really like the space they have outside and I could not replicate that indoors as I have a small terraced house. I don't want to shut them in the hutch as it is too small really and with my shifts I would have to keep them caged at different times of day which is far from ideal.

I thought they would burrow amongst the shredded paper and snuggle up on the snuggle safe but they're not doing that.

I could put the snugglesafe in the outdoor litter tray I guess? I do have two but am going to need the second one for Mr Salted Caramel this evening after his operation.
 
Hay would be more insulating than shredded paper. I would leave them with the heat pad in the bed area. It's up to them if they want to use it, and they have each other to snuggle up with.
 
Thank you everyone. That's really helpful, especially the link, Jane. I can't get any straw now but will get some tomorrow. I don't ever buy straw normally just baled hay. I will add some hay to the shredded paper too. What happens if they eat the straw? Will it harm them? They are good hay eaters so I'm worried they may just start nomming the straw too. They do have very thick coats, especially Flopsy. She looks really overweight but it is mostly fluff and she doesn't feel any heavier when I pick her up. They do snuggle up together a lot which is lovely to see :love:
 
I have just ordered straw for my outdoor pair, Frosty and Daisy after reading the thread by J&B earlier. I find hay and straw deliver pretty quickly.

Good luck Karen, hope you manage to make them as cosy as possible.

Also does anyone know why my brand new snuggle safes get cold after 2 hours?

I put them in the microwave for 4 minutes as per instructions.
 
The snugglesafe heat pads work best if they are in the middle of a pile of eg hay - they will stay just warm for many hours. They don't stay 'hot' for very long, but they do give out a nice comfy heat for ages if well insulated. If they are in the open, they rapidly cool down.

4 mins doesn't sound very long - unless you have a really powerful microwave. Mine get 5 mins in the big microwave and 7 mins in the little one.
 
Ours are indoors but we have stone tiles and a leaking velux in the kitchen so downstairs gets sooo cold especially before we had stud walls put in.

My microwave is a low powered one but ours go in for 7 mins.

Then if especially cold I can stack them together and they stay warm longer. Also a layer of newspaper and fleece helps if your buns won't devour it.

If the buns are using it that also seems to help, I often find Rodney with his bum parked on a snugglesafe. And this morning Blossom decided to let me know they were cold by trying to remove them from their cage [emoji23]

Also again if not chewers lining the walls with cardboard helps.

We have kids foam play mats under our cage lino but dunno how practical that is outdoors. Although that was more for sore hocks.



Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk
 
Thank you Shimmer and CS. Will try them for longer. They already have fleecey covers. Will bury them in hay. Feel so bad for Frosty and Daisy outside esp with all the others indoors ...
 
My microwave is 900W I think and snugglesafes get 6mins. I've just put one under my poor venus flytraps which thankfully haven't quite frozen solid. I usually keep them in the bath at times like this but, uhm, there's some bunnies in that room now and I don't wanna risk them eating my 'other' pets :lol: Hopefully the bathroom windowsill will be OK. VFTs need a dormant period (cold, dark) but don't cope well with being covered in snow (too dark!) or frozen all the way through, so if it's below -3C or contstantly below 0C during the day I bring them in but need to put them somewhere below 15C. I'm tempted to use the bunnies house :lol: It's amssive pot though and difficult to handle, plus it's on a high stack of bricks which I can't really lift it of and it's impossible for me to lift them on to it unless there's no water in the soil (literally only happens when I've repotted them totally). They were a bit over-chilled when I brushed the snow off today so inside they came, along with the temperate pitchers (although I think they cope better). Wish bunnies were as easy to pop inside and out :roll: :lol:

Vet recommendation was lots of cardboard boxes, each one smaller than the previous, stuffed with hay (or straw, my addition ;P). Problem is finding them, not easy to get hold of when work arent; getting big deliveries! Plus they'd need a litter tray underneath and they wee all over the floor otherwise. I've got one I've modded for bunnies to sleep in which I could find others to fit over but the 'smallest' box is therefore 1'x18" :S And they don't always sleep together, Lopsy is plenty warm enough and won't want to get too hot, and if Chibbs is cold and seeks him out, will she get cold elsewhere?

Gawd, bunnies, who'd 'ave ;em?! :lol:
 
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