Rabbits and cold weather

[Lagomorphine]

OK, maybe I'm getting overly anxious as I'm getting older but this is bugging me so I thought I'd ask your opinion on the subject.

Willow and Charlie, our two outdoor rabbits have a large run and two hutches (two because they used to live separately until they bonded) that are available for them all the time. They are never shut in their hutches, they can go up if they like or stay down, they are free to choose.

I've always made sure that they have nice dry and warm hutches, newspaper at the bottom and a thick layer of straw on top. It feels nice and cozy to the touch and I check it regularly. Now I wasn't too surprised that they didn't use the hutch in the summer, they have a thick coat to keep them warm. But now it's winter and we often have sub-zero temperatures at night, so I would have expected them to snuggle up on the warm stray, at least for the night.

But no. There is no sign of that. OK, fair enough, I don't watch them all night so maybe at 2 am they actually snuggle up in the hutch - although I doubt it because the straw bedding does not even look flattened, like it would be after they lie on it. Every time I go out at night to check on them or for some other mundane job - get some firewood in - they are sitting on the grass (or what's left of it). It can be minus whatever with icy northerly winds blowing - and our garden is very exposed - and yet invariably I find them on the grass, resting in the loaf position.

They don't seem to have come to any visible harm, they seem happy enough during the day but I'm just baffled. I read people's accounts of preparing warm pads and things like that for their rabbits but these two just don't seem to want anything. As far as I can tell they never use their hutches.

This is not even the first time I experience this, our previous rabbit, Toffy was the same. In the middle of the coldest winter night I would find her on the grass; again, she lived a healthy and long life so I can only presume she didn't come to any harm but now with these two I am more worried, despite the experience with Toffy. It's not like they don't have the common sense to find shelter, when it's raining they do avoid exposure to the elements, by moving under the hutch but they never actually go up.

So I thought I'd ask - any similar experience?

 

[daphnephoebe]

Is it possible they struggle to access the hutch above the run?
Could you move it so it's all single level access?

Being outdoor all year round their coats will be nice and thick to keep them warm and they can snuggle up. You can get boxes to go in the run which you could stuff with hay for them to use in the run... I leave on in the garden filled with hay, straw and old leaves. Girls never use it but I have found a hedgehog in one before.

The item I mean is in the link... you can find it cheaper on Amazon but this was the first link I found.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/3810638941...3D710-134428-41853-0%26rvr_id%3D1385414251887

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[keletkezes]

Absolutely: my first bun Charlie was a little Nethie and he was out in all weathers. Admittedly he did use his hutch which was rammed with hay but certainly during the day, even the coldest days, he'd be loafing outside. I think he only went in overnight so the neighbourhood cats didn't bother him :S Aboleth and Lopsy also spend a lot of time NOT being warm, but they also spend a lot of time where I'd expect them to be: when it's cold enough for their water bowls to freeze in their indoor areas, they can be found snuggled into their carrier (I use that as a snuggly space when it's cold), although partly I think because it's warm and comfy to toilet in :roll: Sometimes if we go out later (10am ish) on a very cold morning, they're asleep in the carrier together but they're usually readily roused at the promise of something more exciting than hay to eat

Case in point: I've not seen or had evidence that anybun has used the snugglesafe this year yet :roll:

 

[Limit]

Honestly Monte is the same, I’ve added fleece to cover the floors, straw and hay, he has a snuggle safe and heat pad too but he will move it all out of the way to lay on what feels like (to me) a freezing cold shed floor! On the coldest nights he’s so warm and toasty to it surprises me how much such fragile creatures can withstand.

When I had my bridge bun Binky and bridge bun smudge they had a hutch and run set up and did the exact same as yours, I knew they could use the hutch as they’d go up there to eat breakfast but they would sit out in the coldest weather quite happily. Wouldn’t worry too much, I think it’s common for rabbits to do this, as long as they have the option to go into a cosy place if they want to then that’s all you can really do x

 

[Lagomorphine]

Thanks for your reassurance. Daphnephoebe - they definitely don't have a problem accessing the hutch. Occasionally they go up but just to have a look around and when they do, they do it without the slightest effort. One jump and they are up. Then one jump and they are down. Effortless.

I was wondering myself if they actually don't like being up in a raised hutch, maybe it's unnatural for an animal that would naturally live in underground burrows. I think sometimes they hide in their tunnels (one of them is more than 4 meters long), which would keep them fairly warm as the plastic is good heat insulator. I have found some poo in the tunnel, but this could be just accidental.

They do have a thick coat, in fact since they molted round about October they have been looking quite fluffy and their appetite has also increased, I have to fill up their hay balls more often.

I will try some kind of ground level box and see if they like it. And I'm wondering if they would like a shed (with outdoor access)....

 

[Ponymad21]

Thanks for your reassurance. Daphnephoebe - they definitely don't have a problem accessing the hutch. Occasionally they go up but just to have a look around and when they do, they do it without the slightest effort. One jump and they are up. Then one jump and they are down. Effortless.

I was wondering myself if they actually don't like being up in a raised hutch, maybe it's unnatural for an animal that would naturally live in underground burrows. I think sometimes they hide in their tunnels (one of them is more than 4 meters long), which would keep them fairly warm as the plastic is good heat insulator. I have found some poo in the tunnel, but this could be just accidental.

They do have a thick coat, in fact since they molted round about October they have been looking quite fluffy and their appetite has also increased, I have to fill up their hay balls more often.

I will try some kind of ground level box and see if they like it. And I'm wondering if they would like a shed (with outdoor access)....

My bunny loves his shed!

They are probably eating more as eating keeps them warm because they're hind gut fermenters, the fermenting process in the caecum will keep them warm, it's a natural thing for them to do

 

[Beapig]

My rabbits are exactly the same Lagomorphine. We have a similar setup - an 8x10 run attached to a hutch which is open 24/7 so they can choose if they want to put themselves to bed.

Even if I go out at around 11.00pm on a cold night, they're still running around and playing with each other. They have a two tier hutch with a bedroom area stuffed with hay. Before they were bonded both of them would spend a lot of time lazing around in their hutches, but since having each other's company I've noticed that they're more active and not as bothered with snuggling down.

My doe, Beatrice, was adopted from someone moving from a flat who couldn't take her with her. She had been an indoor rabbit for four years but seems to love the outdoor life. In the day, she always sleeps in the middle of the run rather than in the hutch.

I worried about them not being warm enough at first too, but I think you have to trust that if they start feeling cold, they'll take the initiative to go to the warmest spot and snuggle up

 

[CometLucy195]

Ditto, I see mine out on the cold slabs of the run running around in the middle of a cold night rather than the shed or hutch which is inside the shed. But they don't like the rain so have some sense. Today was freezing but they still scuttled down the runaround tunnel onto the frosty grass when I opened it this morning. Brrr, glad I'm not a bunny!

 

[tonibun]

My bunny loves his shed!

They are probably eating more as eating keeps them warm because they're hind gut fermenters, the fermenting process in the caecum will keep them warm, it's a natural thing for them to do

Is that so? that the fermenting process keeps them warm - I've never read this before! How interesting!

 

[Lagomorphine]

Thanks again, all of you, this is all very reassuring. In any case they should know what the hutch is for; Charlie was actually kept in a hutch until I adopted / rescued him. For the first a week he wouldn't even leave the hutch - until one day he did and has effectively never gone back again...