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Is it OK to put the rabbits in their run when it's - 3?

Willow218

New Kit
My rabbits are still separated in their well insulated hutch, one on top and one on bottom, both have a bedroom as one rabbit turned out to be a boy. We have 1 week left until they can be together again![emoji4]

It's - 3 here and windy, so feels bitterly cold. Their run has a wooden box with lid filled with straw, they've got boxes and plastic hides to. It's also got a waterproof cover on the run to. So is it OK to be them out for an hour each?

Also is there a way to stop their water freezing. They've got a bowl and bottle each but by morning it's frozen. I've put it on straw, they've got a fancy hutch cover and under that a silver insulation cover to.

Is it still too cold to leave them out, I never stop worrying about them!

Photo of hutch set up below, so you can see they are draught and rain free.
154785613e1f0e5ff82975a8a5c6861c.jpg


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If they are used to being outside and in the run normally, they should be Ok - as long as they have access to somewhere warm, dry and draught free at all times. At the moment, it's difficult to keep water bowls frost-free for a full day. You can try putting a snugglesafe under the bowl, but I suspect it's too cold for that right now. I wouldn't bother with bottles as the spout will freeze up very quickly, making the whole thing of no use to the rabbits. Bowls are easier to manage and you can see if they need attention, whereas you can't see a frozen bottle spout.

While it is significantly below zero, I am putting bunnies back to bed by about 4pm (when the sun starts to go down) with extra snugglesafes and lots of hay, then covering them over for the night. Hopefully it will be much warmer next week.
 
Thanks, we check the bowls a lot as one uses and one likes the bottle.

We're putting them to bed around 4.30, they have made lovely snuggling beds for themselves out of the straw, but not in the bedroom area for some reason!

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You can buy insulation for water bottles https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pets-at-home-small-animal-thermal-bottle-cover They do chew it though, so you need to make sure they can't reach it.

Aside from that I use snuggle safes when it was very cold at night but not but them in with the rabbits (I thought the extremes of temperature might make them lose fur). I put them underneath the mini hutches they have in their shed. When they were in a hutch I would leave them in the hay storage loft.
 
That looks like a 6' hutch so they have a reasonable amount of space to run from one end to the other, as much as some "runs". Do they have litter trays with their hay in as you say they don't use the bedroom.
 
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