Winter

Christine662

Christine662

Warren Scout
Hi:wave:

Now that autumn is coming, I'm now thinking of ways to make it nice & cosy for my 2 babies before cold sets in.

Can they chew vet bed? Is it any good? Lilah is a BIG chewer...& drags stuff about if its not where she likes it:roll:

Also, they have water bowls, tried bottles & bowls & they prefer the bowls. Is there a way of stopping them freezing in winter?

They have a 2 storey hutch & a big run attached with 24/7 access. The bedroom rarely gets a visit at the moment, I hope they have the sense to go up there on cold nights/days.

Any outdoor bunny winter advice would be appreciated...worrying already:D

Christine x
 
Insulate the hutch as much as you can on the outside, bubble wrap with blankets & tarpauling helps. Covering the front of he hutch at night to stop worst of the winds. (I think it may still be too warm to cover the front at the moment).

They do chew vet bed, its not ideal but so long as no eating it, that should be fine. Daphne likes to dig the vet bed so its all fluffy on top before settling down.

You can stuff the bed area of the hutch with straw, blankets & get a heat pad to warm up and put in at night.

Putting a ping-pong ball into the bowl should stop the water from freezing.
 
Thanks daphnephoebe

They are a pain, even if its tipping down they stay out in the run. Ive got a clear tarpauling for that now as I was stressing seeing them sitting in the rain. Hopefully they will use the hutch more as it gets colder.

Bunnies eh:shock:
 
Regarding sense to go somewhere warm... don't get your hopes up :lol:

Sonic's 7 now, we've had some really though winters, once it got to -12 or something silly overnight, and he still sits in exactly the same place, against the mesh of the hutch with his fur poking out. When it snows, he's half snow bunny. Rain, he loves it.

Basically, don't get offended if you go to all this trouble and they still refuse to sit somewhere warm! I've found the guinea pigs are always more thankful for a bedroom stuffed with hay and straw than Sonic :roll:

The ping pong ball idea is great, I might try it! Usually I just sort his water out more the colder it gets. The ONLY thing Sonic seems to like is some warm water :)
 
Hi supersonic

My 2 sound like your bunny too. I'll try my best to make it warm & cosy & just hope they want it. Warm water sounds good idea. Thanks

Christine x
 
You could use a snuggle safe heat pad to provide warmth, you can put one under a water bowl too to stop it freezing.

I had a pair of boys once who chewed terribly, but they didn't chew the vet bed. I had to laugh at the comment of wanting things where they decided, one of the boys used to drag a small piece of vet bed down 8ft of runaround pipe to their run :lol:
 
If you cover the hutch, do leave a large air gap all the way around for adequate ventilation. If you tuck it all in tight, then you'll get condensation - and damp is worse for bunnies than cold. In my experience of around 25 years of bunny ownership, they will still prefer to sit outside on even the coldest night :roll:. Mine only really go in if it's really windy or tipping down with rain.

As for stopping water from freezing, I never managed it and mine are in a shed. I ended up installing tubular greenhouse heaters at water bowl level and that did the trick! Minus 10° and the bowl still doesn't freeze.
 
I've seen mine laid out on the playhouse windowsill on frosty mornings: they're obviously warm enough! I do use snugglesafe pads under the huge waterbowl though, or at least in the same area, however the bunnies will often look at me mournfully because they've choseen to try and drink from a frozen one (they have 3) :roll:
 
Mackers said:
If you cover the hutch, do leave a large air gap all the way around for adequate ventilation. If you tuck it all in tight, then you'll get condensation - and damp is worse for bunnies than cold. In my experience of around 25 years of bunny ownership, they will still prefer to sit outside on even the coldest night :roll:. Mine only really go in if it's really windy or tipping down with rain.

As for stopping water from freezing, I never managed it and mine are in a shed. I ended up installing tubular greenhouse heaters at water bowl level and that did the trick! Minus 10° and the bowl still doesn't freeze.
Click to expand...
What is a tubular greenhouse heater and where would you get one?? Is it batteries or plugs??
 
Like most others mine seem to sit out in whatever weather without a care :lol: Makes all my preperation seem pointless but it eases my worries knowing she has a place to get warmer even if she chooses to ignore it! :roll: The only thing I do to make sure the water is fine is make sure her bottle has multiple water snugs over it and there isn't much else I can do for the dishes except use those head pads beneath in (so expensive though) , if it gets really bad I just get some of my spare bottles and add snugs over the top of them as it has (touch wood) always kept them freeze free but still has them very, very cold.
 
Mackers said:
If you cover the hutch, do leave a large air gap all the way around for adequate ventilation. If you tuck it all in tight, then you'll get condensation - and damp is worse for bunnies than cold. In my experience of around 25 years of bunny ownership, they will still prefer to sit outside on even the coldest night :roll:. Mine only really go in if it's really windy or tipping down with rain.

As for stopping water from freezing, I never managed it and mine are in a shed. I ended up installing tubular greenhouse heaters at water bowl level and that did the trick! Minus 10° and the bowl still doesn't freeze.
Click to expand...

wow. good idea.. but we have to take care of this system
 
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