keeping rabbits warm

hi

i just come in from tucking the bunnies in and its getting quite cold out there and its forecast to drop to -5 on Tuesday, my bunnies live outside they have a heated snuggle pad each , shed loads of hay and a frost heater ...

how do you keep your bunns warm if they live outside do you think they should come inside if it does reach -5 i know rabbits dont mind the cold too much its the cold windy weather they dont like ...

regards

mine are indoor buns so can't answer that but brrrr that's cold
would love to see pictures of your buns are the giants or standard size

Hi there

they are mini lops a blue otter and an opal i did have a giant rabbit he died last year

awwww so sorry to hear that,
mini lops seem very exciteable are blue otters generaly laid back like French lops my flopsy is so laid back she is horizontal

thank you..

yes they are like little puppies into everything but so cute Darcy is the blue otter and he is more laid back than Bridget but then he is male

funny how us males are all more laid back when there's a female present

Mine live outside too
They live in a shed and have a hutch in the shed which is used for a bed. There's a duvet over the top of the hutch and when it's really cold I pull a flap of the duvet down over the open part of the hutch. When it gets down to -4 (depending on how cold the shed is) I put the snuggle safe in the bed. Last year I also lined their bed with a cardboard box which insulated even more with the snuggle safe and duvet.

I think we have to be wary of bringing outside buns inside at winter due to the massive temperature change. Not to mention mine have been fine out there in -12. It's a matter of what they're used to I think and general health

Mine are in a shed, we have insulated the Walls and they have carpet on the floor and two snuggle boxes filled with hay and I wrap them in fleeces at night and they have a couple of snuggle safes. I also use towels as draft excluders around the door and their run hatch.

I still worry about them out there though :-(

when I had outside buns who lived out all year, we had two winters with temperatures of -18 and even eeveryone was fine. if acclimatised, rabbits can cope very well with such low temperatures. what they struggle with is damp. the hutch must be waterproof and not draughty. lots of hay and a thick layer of newspaper as insulation will help. you can even pop a cardboard box into the sleeping area to provide maximum insulation. also having two buns makes heat retention so much better too. I also used to up their feed in the winter so they put on a bit of extra weight. mine loved the snow.

NickieM wrote:...... I also used to up their feed in the winter so they put on a bit of extra weight. mine loved the snow.

Nickie made a good point about upping their feed. Even though they move around less, keeping warm uses a lot of calories.