Temperature change HELP

[benjismum]

Our 5 month old rabbit Benji leads a pampered life, huge double layer hutch, the finest veggies,lots of cuddles and love. As a family whenever we are home he is IN THE HOUSE, so this will be evenings between 5-10pm and weekends whenever we are in (sometimes the whole weekend) but he SLEEPS OUTSIDE as we dont have anywhere in the house for a hutch. He has a small cage indoors for his toilet and food when he’sin but its not big enough to sleep in all night and when we are out,PLUS we have a cat and wouldnt trust her 100% without us there. He has a blanket, mounds of hay and straw….and a thermal cover that zipsright round the whole hutch. He also has a microwave heated seat thing but as its still only October i was saving this for freezing weather so no tin use yet. He always seems ok and is growing a lotmore fur than when he was small, but will himbeing inside 50% of time in warm central heated house be causing him stress when he goes out. I have read conflicting info on this and i want him to be happy. I am in the UK by the way. Please can anyone give me some good advice and experiences. thanks

[LittlePuffyTail]

If it gets anywhere near as cold as it does here, I strongly suggest you find a way to bring your bun indoors. Have you looked into making a cube condo? You can make one tall as opposed to wide if you are short on space. Check out the Bunny Info/Habitat section here on BB for pics and ideas.

I don’t really know about him going from indoor to outdoor, how that will bother him but I suspect it will make the cold outside seem even colder.

Hopefully someone else has some more helpful advice.

[Mikey]

A rabbit adjusted to living indoors half the time will not be able to handle cold winter nights. The microwavable heating pad will not last more than a few hours, and wont do a bit of good once it stops being warm. The bun will have to come inside for the winter, or youll have to leave him outside all winter and upgrade his hutch to stay warm. Some rules for a winter hutch is off the ground, out of the wind/snow/hail/rain, refill water bottle with warm water twice a day (atleast), insulation, ect

[Bam]

A bun can handle a temperature difference of about 10 degrees Celcius – that’s sth like 18 degrees Farenheit. If it doesn’t get colder than that where you live, he can go in and out without harm. But if the difference is bigger, there can be trouble. if he grows a really thick fur he’ll be uncomfortable inside and if he doesn’t grow a thick fur, he’ll obviously freeze. We have one member whose bun is free to go in and out of the house as she pleases, that’s in the north of France, but I think this bun sleeps indoors. I’m not sure though, but I’ll ask her =)

LPTs suggestion about a tall rather than wide condo is great. That reduces the amount of floor space it takes up, plus bunnies have a natural liking for different levels. Prey animals as they are, the like a good vantage-point where they can lie and gaze out over the environment.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hello. I am that northern France person . Where in the UK are you? Glasgow is not the same as Brighton !

Zou currently sleeps outside. Her 24hr access condo (no predators here) is just in front of my kitchen french windows and she can see us permanently. She is a huge bunny with LOTS of fur and last winter I took on board the 10 degree difference ruling when I let her in. You have to use your logic. When it was very cold, she didn’t come in. Her ears were always warm, she has great shelter and I in no way felt she suffered. (it wasn’t a particularly cold or long winter either here)

My house is heated only in the evenings and only to 19/20 I have cold floor tiles in the kitchen and the french windows are even cooler. (I am painting a lovely picture of my freezing home!! LOL) so Zou used to lay up against that. I’d let her in for an hour or 2 max, she never seemed to be overheating (ears and breathing)

I have friends in the South of London who have bunnies outdoors to sleep and indoors when they are there…. they have the thermal hutch cover too and their buns are OK. Use your common sense. If theres snow out, don’t heat the buns up indoors.

Beware, putting loads of straw in their bedroom may turn it into a toilet even if they are litter trained…. then you get damp surface which bun will sleep on… not nice.

Having said that I would love them (I now have 2) to be indoor buns… but first hurdle, bonding sessions to get them together.

If benji is alone – you could transform a dog cage temporarily indoors over the winter, no ?

[benjismum]

thanks for the advice guys, i still feel so confused as what to do though and its sucha worry 🙁

[kirstyol]

I’m in the UK too and being totally honest I would not have a bun outside in this weather (I am in Scotland its pretty cold up here already), we are expecting snow here tomorrow. There are lots of options for housing your bun indoors, the condo grids are great if you can find them, but they are not as easy to find here as they are in the states (amazon usually has them though or Wayfair online) We have a dog crate with a pen attached that works well for us but everyone has different space and set ups, at first we had a rabbit cage (the pet shop kind) with the pen surrounding it so the cage could be open at all times but unfortunately my buns are naughty and one of them learned to hop on top of the cage and we caught him trying to jump over the pen which would probably have hurt him so that’s why we changed to the dog crate.

There are other options such as twin layered cages which are not ideal size wise but slightly better than a single layered one and would maybe be ok in the short term for just night time or something. How big is your bun? There are several different sizes of dog crate that might fit in the space you have but still be big enough for your bun to have a decent amount of room.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Benjismum.
You can bring him in for a bit if its not too cold outside, but when it gets very cold you should not bring him in.
OR… bring him in but keep him in.

Try and explain to us why you are confused and we’ll try to help more….

[Bam]

Benjismum, I totally second Vienna. Well try to help more if you ask more specific questions. Is there any way you can house him inside over winter?

[BunnyFriends]

In a simpler way of putting things, the others are saying this.

If the difference in the temperatures outdoors and indoors is 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) or more, your rabbit needs to stay in one spot. So either indoors or out. If it’s a lesser difference, your rabbit could still go between outdoors and in.  However I recommend keeping your rabbit indoors.

I would recommend finding some way to keep your cat out of an area in your house so your rabbit can be there 24/7. You could move the hutch in with cat-proofing, or some of the other options members mentioned above.

If it still confuses you, tell us what you don’t get and we’ll help.

(NOTE: None of this except the third paragraph are my ideas, I’m just restating in a different way what others said above. But I do agree. )

[jerseygirl]

If you have no choice but to put him back out in hutch, I wonder if you can transition him to area of house that is cooler for an hour, before he goes back into hutch? 

Does he actually sleep in the bed area of the hutch? Or do you mainly see him sitting out in the larger area?

This has a tip on insulating the bed area hutch further. http://www.therabbithouse.com/outdoor/insulating-rabbit-hutch.asp

Alternatively, do you had a shed you could put the hutch into throughout winter?

Ideally, keep him indoors. There are 2 storey cages that don’t take up a large floor footprint. Or small hutches. Some are almost as narrow as a console table.

Since you’re in the UK I do want to mention the calici virus RHDV2 there. Is your rabbit vaccinated against this? There is a vaccine now available but you may have to ask the vet clinic to get it in. The other combination vaccine does not give protection against this virus.

@Kristol, are you aware of RHDV2 also? Cases have now been reported in Scotland, Isle of Man, Republic of Ireland.

[kirstyol]

Yes, according to my vet and I tend to agree, mine don’t need a vaccine because they are house rabbits in a city so very unlikely to catch it. however they will be getting their jags anyway because I am putting them into a small animal hotel when and if we go away and absolutely wouldn’t do that without them being vaccinated

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