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Prepping for winter

Annie_90

Young Bun
Anxious still-new rabbit owner...

We're going to get a shed for the bunnies but we've some prep to do first that may not be finished until next year, so we're stuck with hutches for the winter.

We've put insulation sheets on either side of the hutches (the polystyrene stuff they use in houses) and wooden paneling over the back (an old piece of shed). We'll be getting some more insulation sheets for the roofs in the next couple of days.

The hutches are facing each other: each has a tarpaulin over it, then we've got another tarpaulin that goes over them both, with a fair gap at the bottom, as a sort of tent cover to stop the rain and wind getting in. Given the temperature dropped further yesterday, I'll be packing in more straw today. And we're going to make cardboard boxes to fit inside the enclosed part of the hutches. I'm unsure about using snuggle safes because we have an enthusiastic chewer/digger, and the other chews on occasion also :/

Will this be enough? I went outside at 8am - I'm assuming cool fur doesn't necessarily mean they're cold unless accompanied by a change in mood?
 
This sounds adequate to me. A healthy rabbit is quite hardy and yes they will feel cold but probably feel warmer underneath. :thumb:
 
So I've now done this for a good several days and have a problem with the bedding. Previously good litter tray habits have ended, for both rabbits. The thick layer of straw I put down is being weeded on and the hutch needs disinfecting every day. I have noticed it's all on the side of the hutch where the litter tray is and the straw does mean they can't move the tray around so much, which they like to do - it's possible it's a rebellion :lol: And it's only on the ground floor - they've always had lots of straw in the upper enclosed area with no pee or poo.

Edited to ask for general advice. Any tips?
 
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I had my rabbits in the garage for the winter when we first got them, then we moved them out into the garden in a run. I am sure they'll be OK. Try putting nibbling toys in with them so they will be distracted, it helps!;)
 
My three rabbits have an uninsulated large double tier hutch that they sleep in, and they were fine in it all of last winter. We only brought them in when 'The Beast from the East' hit, because the snow was blowing into the hutch. We are trying to get a shed set up before winter for extra protection like you, but if they are outdoor rabbits that should be used to the temperature.

I hope that helps! You are clearly very caring and doing your best for them :)
 
Cute bunnies - I will try some different toys and more forage :) My boy usually loves willow but the past few days hasn't been so interested in chewing. I'm wondering if hormones post-neuter are taking effect as he's now also enjoying being stroked without the need to run back and forth.

Beapig - Yes, that snow! It wouldn't be safe to put a hutch up high enough for it to not to get in. Mine don't really like being inside, but they've never experienced winter so I'm hoping all the molting they've been doing the last few weeks will pay off. Thank you :) The last few days have been almost overwhelming for the time and planning it took but they are very sweet. I wish you well for your shed plans :)

This morning I went out and there was no pee, so I'm happy for that but won't get my hopes up yet. My boy seems to have realised that the straw makes a nice bed, though his sister (digger/resident pickle) has still pulled up a lot of the paper. I just hope the straw is enough that that doesn't matter overnight.
 
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If it helps to reassure you: our rabbits live in the garden all year round, they can shelter from the rain and wind in a tarpaulin covered run and they really don't seem to mind the cold. I was really worried about them this winter when it was -12 °C one morning and there was a biting easterly wind but they didn't seem to be too bothered at all. I saw no sign of distress. (They did eat an extraordinary amount of hay though.) So with about 12 rabbit-years experience behind me, I have reached the conclusion that as long as they are used to being outdoors and they have a dry area where they are protected from the rain, snow and wind, they tolerate the cold pretty well.

In fact - and this is the weird bit - even though they have a well insulated hutch with warm straw bedding, they never use it. Whenever I go out in the middle of winter, I found them under the tarpaulin, never in their hutch.

In contrast, they don't like hot weather very much. During the heatwave, they only emerged from their run for free range time after the temperature dropped below about 20 °C. I would be worried to keep them in a shed that can get hot inside.
 
Thank you, Lagomorphine, it does help to reassure.

I suppose they prefer the freedom than the hutch? I know I sometimes have to usher mine under cover when it starts raining, but to give them their due rain is a new thing to them!
 
Thank you, Lagomorphine, it does help to reassure.

I suppose they prefer the freedom than the hutch? I know I sometimes have to usher mine under cover when it starts raining, but to give them their due rain is a new thing to them!

Yes, I think they prefer the freedom of the run. I have now had the experience of a total of four rabbits that I have adopted and they were all originally kept in a hutch. After I adopted them I gave them a hutch and run. Without exception this is what happened: the first week they stayed mostly in the hutch; in their new environment they were a bit scared to move about. After a few days they started exploring the run but still ran back to the hutch when they saw something scary. After about a week, they moved into the run on pretty much a permanent basis and effectively abandoned the hutch. It doesn't matter how cold it is, they don't go up any more. Maybe when something very scary happens but only then.
 
Mine spend most of winter sat in their run despite easy access to the playhouse. The only buns I ever move into the garage are the group with an elderly bun and an arthritic bun, but its not really necessary for healthy bunnies unless the weather is extream.
 
Mine spend most of winter sat in their run despite easy access to the playhouse.

Same here. Whenever I go out to check on them during the winter months - it could be late at night, with icy wind blowing, I'm dressed like I'm going on an arctic expedition - I invariably find them sitting on the ground and they just look at me like "what's the problem, mate?". I do hope they would have the sense to hide in the hutch if they found it unbearable but so far it hasn't happened.
 
How I keep my rabbit warm during the winter

I have a double dog kennel for my one rabbit Clover. I have laid down chicken wire so she could not dig out. Also I put a roll of 2 foot high chicken wire around the whole dog kennel itself so a cat or raccoon could not reach through and perhaps grab her if she was resting along the side area of the kennel. In the kennel area over the chicken wire I put several inches of dirt and sowed grass. Inside this dog kennel I built her a rabbit hutch which is 6 foot by 4 foot. The hutch itself is divided into several areas which includes a bathroom area where a cat litter box sits lined with a puppy pad then covered with newspaper and then timothy hay on top of that. (This gets changed 3 times a week even though she does not potty in it). She also has a sitting area with a rubberific brown paver I got from Lowes lawn and garden section. She LOVES sitting on them. (I have several of them scattered throughout her kennel outside her hutch). She has two high sitting boards if she would like to jump up and sit. One of these sitting boards led into a back room where I have set up a heater for her during the winter months. The backroom hole was cut out like a “mouse hole” big enough for her to go through and I place an old t-shirt cut to size and stapled above the hole as a flap to keep heat in that area. She had no trouble pushing through the flap to access the back room area. The heater consists of a half concrete block that sits on a tile base and inside the block I have a ceramic light socket fixture which sits on the tile base inside the block. I use a 90 watt bulb in this socket. I then took a 9x9 square cake pan and drilled a row of holes on all sides of the pan and then placed this upside down over the top of the concrete block and then placed a couple bricks on top of that to secure it. I drilled a hole through the outside wall of this hutch area and put the wire through and pushed this heater back close enough to the wall so she could not get to the wire to chew on it. I placed steel wool around the hole area to keep mice from entering. The wire came out and up over the top of her hutch and plugged into an outlet I had fixed above her hutch. It works perfectly. Her heated water bowl (bought one especially for rabbits) is also done this same way coming out of the hutch and plugging in on top of her hutch. I only use this IF it gets below 20 outside. The other things I have for heat is a heater I bought from https://www.sweeterheater.com . I bought the 11X11 overhead one. I placed this one on the sitting board upright towards the outside end and secured it and ran the wire out through the side of her cage and up to the top of the roof where it plugged in up there into a thermo-cube. This thermo-cube automatically comes on when the temps gets below 35 and auto shuts off when the temp reaches 45. So the heater automatically comes on and goes off on its own. This is perfect. Her cage is up from the ground about 2 ½ feet and around the bottom of her hutch I nailed up boards to the hutches legs and made her a sandbox under there. She loves to play and dig and push the sand around. When I made the hutch I made one area into a foyer and this has a cat door installed. So she can go and come as she pleases. She loves her cat door. So she can go out and play and when she gets cold she will go in and warm up. She also has an outside potty area where I took a tote and turned it on its side and placed a cat litter box in there. She uses that all the time and never uses the one in her hutch. She just eats her timothy hay in that one. Her kennel area is set up with all kinds of fun things to do and explore. I even have an old tree truck turned upside down that she loves to play in. She has her own sidewalk which makes it nice for me and solar lights. I have even set up a security camera to her kennel so I am able to watch her from the house. I know, she has me wrapped around her little tail!!! LOL
 
My 4 outdoor rabbits have an insulated shed and 24/7 access to a run. They spend the majority of their time in the shed!

They have a hutch out in the run and a shelf unit in the shed.

I put their oil filled radiator on tonight (well out of reach) as it is soooo cold.

They do use their run each day and at night but always seem to prefer being in the shed.
 
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