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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Room temperature too low for bun?

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    • Luna Rose
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        So it has been very cold outside and wed and after is suppose to be freezing. It’s like 27 or 21 degrees Fahrenheit here. In my studio apt its 66 degrees. It feels very drafty too. Not sure where it’s coming from. Don’t believe it’s from my Windows. They aren’t opened and they are locked. I checked one and there is no coldness coming from the bottom of it. X
        This morning I woke up and it was around 64 and I was freezing. I am cold right now and it just feels extra cold because it feels drafty.

        Is 64 too cold for a bun? I will check on the morning if I can find where the draft is coming from. This might sound weird but I thought it was coming from the heater. It’s built into the wall and when I turn it on after not having it on all day it blows out cold air. I live in an old building. Tomorrow I plan on asking the maintenance guy checking it out because it also seems like it needs to be cleaned out. If you look in it it’s really dusty. I believe you need a screw driver to try to get into it but it looks like the heater hasn’t been touched in a long time. And I don’t want to mess with it in case I am not suppose to, plus I don’t own a screw driver and I rather have someone who knows what they are doing mess with it. Since it’s Dusty and smells like it when it’s blowing hot air I haven’t felt comfortable having it on when I am gone… So I leave it off. But it’s on usually when I am home, depending. I just don’t want it to cause a fire when I am gone, I am scared about my bunny when I am gone and scares me a fire could be caused and I would lose her and then also lose the place I live at


      • Luna Rose
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          And it seems to blow cold air at first til it warms up but that isn’t normal. In April used it and that never happened.

          Also how cold is too cold for a bun?


        • Bam
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            64 F is not to cold for a bun. They just grow thicker fur. Bunnies are very resistent to cold. They can actually live outside in freezing degrees as long as you give them new water twice a day, since water freezes. As long as they have a comfy hidey-house that shelter them from wind and snow and rain, they don’t need extra heating (the way f ex chickens do). That said, I think rabbits are better off indoors. Anyway, a bun won’t suffer from a temp around 64 F, far from it.

            Direct draft is bad though. So if you can fix your bun a comfy cardboard-box house with a fleece blankie in it so she can withdraw there if she feels it’s drafty, that would be good. It should preferably be elevated off the floor like an inch or so if the floor is cold and there’s a draft along it. A stack of old newspapers would do, newspaper is insulatory. 


          • Mimsy
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              I never worry about the cold, it’s the heat that worries me. If I am surviving the cold in the house, my furry animals are probably doing just fine, well my pitbull might disagree, that boy loves his heat.


            • Luna Rose
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                Thank you guys. Not sure where a draft would be coming from. I checked my other window and not from there.

                And glad she will be okay with that temp. Right now it’s 75 degrees as I had the heater on. It’s it bad for her if the temp falls quickly in a couple hours back to 66 if I don’t keep the heater on?

                Also I know this is off topic, but on Thursday I was gonna take hEr to my exes house because we are gonna spend thanksgiving together. We have a dog, she lives with him.

                Even if I put my bunny in another room, is it still bad for me to bring her over because of our dog?

                I feel bad because I don’t want her home alone on Thanksgiving. Plus I don’t know how much colder it is gonna get and can’t have my heater on when I am gone and you guys said she will be fine so no worries there. Plus I might be gone for 13 hours.. that is too long for her to be on her cage. She will be in her cage at his house but at least she will have us to listen to and won’t be alone.
                HEr cage is maybe three feet long and 2 feet high and its only one level though. I would feel so bad she would be here alone.

                What do you guys think I should do?

                Is it better she stays home because she might be stressed from the dog if I take hEr to my exes house?


              • Bam
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                  It rather depends on the how scared she is of the dog. And on the dog, if it’s very intense and will seek her out and perhaps stand at her cage and whine and display other signs of predatory behavior. An obiedent dog with a laid-back attitude is much less of a problem. I have a dog and she was there before I found my buns, so they just had to deal. You need to put her cage so the dog won’t reach it. And obviously don’t leave the dog and bun alone together.

                  A drop from 75 F to 66 is not a problem. You’ll need a drop of more than about 18 F (10 C) for it to begin to be bad.


                • Luna Rose
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                    Thank you very much. My dog is very territorial. She will probably keep on barking at my bunny Luna, if I go at how she has acted in the past. Well I had hamsters before I got her and so when we got her that didn’t bother her. But we have had people come over in the past and she would bark non-stop until they left.

                    I feel bad for leaving her if I do. But I will talk to him about it.


                  • Bam
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                      I think she can cope with you being away for 13 hours. Rather that than having to spend 13 hours with a barking dog. I think that would be really stressful. And it would be stressful for your dog too, if she couldn’t relax at all during the time Luna is there.


                    • Luna Rose
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                        Okay thank you so much. Made me feel better.

                        What sucks even more is that yesterday and today (including the next several days til I feel better) I have to.stay away from her as I came down with a cold. So now I feel even worse and know she is lonely.

                        She doesn’t like to play. Only thing she likes to do is eat and have me pet her. So I feel bad I have to stay away from her while I am sick. Bunnies can catch our colds correct?


                      • Bam
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                          I’d say the risk that a bunny to catches a human cold is very slim. It has to be a very special virus to affect two such different mammals (humans and rabbits). Most flu-like viruses don’t cross the species barrier, but there have been a few exceptions in history and more recently (bird-flu and pig-flu f ex). Ebola and rabies also cross the species barrier, but that of course is rather less of a worry in your case. If your cold is bacterial the risk is greater, but most colds aren’t bacterial.

                          My buns don’t play either. Bam will occasionally chase his treat-ball but that’s because there’s food in it=) They lounge and eat and like to be pet. They dig in their fleece blankies and run through their tunnels. Yohio occasionally bunstructs a cardboard box. They both like to strip (and eat) the bark of apple-twigs. 


                        • Vienna Blue in France
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                            bam – Great advice from beginning to end – as usual

                            Especially a rabbit preferring 13 hrs alone to 13 potentially very stressed hours ! Definitely agree with that !
                            Luna Rose, just make sure there’s more than enough food and water !

                            I was working out 64F and that it pretty much what my house is anyway !!! LOL
                            And my bun chooses to lay on the ‘cold’ tiles.
                            (I’ve tried a fleece blanket but unfortunately she thinks it’s a litterbox…. boohoo.)

                            If you have a cold draught and can’t figure out where its coming from, and if you have heating (gas) could you maybe have an airvent to the outside which is letting the freezing cold air directly in to your room? Maybe this should have a one way airvent ”flap’ which means it closes when the appliance is off but opens when it is on…. this could be checked.
                            If I sound as if I’m speaking from experience…. I sure am !! LOL


                          • Luna Rose
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                              Bam:

                              Thank you so much. So I can hang out with her normally then? Yay

                              And your buns are so cute!!

                              Vienna:

                              Thank you!! Unfortunately when I have to work she is in her cage for about 11 hours which makes me feel so bad.

                              You know, when I tell people I know that when I am home that I let her out of her cage and she is never in her cage when I am home they look at me like I am crazy. wish all people were caring towards animals. Anyway didn’t mean to go off topic.

                              Lol that’s funny she thinks her fleece blanket is a litter box. Though not fun for you.

                              I don’t have any airvents around in my house. And the heater is built in the wall.
                              Maybe there is no draft and it’s just that I am not use to this coldness? Idk. it’s now 63F but I hate the cold. Too cold for me.

                              I saw that the heater has collected a lot of dust and needs to be cleaned. I need the maintenance guy to do this for me as I don’t own a screwdriver plus it looks as though the metal screen thing for it hasn’t been taken off ever. And if there is a filter that needs to be changed or whatever then I want him to deal with it as I wouldn’t know what I am doing. Lol I must sound dumb, I don’t know anything about this stuff. But I think the dust may be one of the reasons why I have gotten sick. I just started Showing symptoms after waking up yesterday. Breathing that stuff in isn’t good for you and I have been taking airborne and coldeeze like crazy so I hope I feel better by tomorrow or I won’t be celebrating thanksgiving. Nooo. anyway sorry for the ranting. That dust isn’t good for luna either so I need to get it taken care of before I use it again


                            • vanessa
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                                I agree that she would be fine for 13 hours, compared with spending that time with a stressful barking dog.
                                Now that my bunnies have been living indoors for a few months, I’ve noticed that when their room gets up to 75, Guin looks hot, and is panting. She has acclimated to the nice cool 68 that I keep my house. Outside, she was used to the cold snowy winters we get here down to 4 degrees F, and the hot muggy summers up to 110F. Not good for the summer temps – during winter they avoided the heat lamp so I removed it. They grew crazy thick fur, and played and dug in the snow. During summer they ignored the frozen coke bottles, but appreciated the cold tile I put in their run. They also dug shallow “cool pits” to lie in. Outdoor temps in my state can vary as much as 20 degrees F from day to day. My indoor temps don’t vary a whole lot, but Guin is much more comfortable when the temps are below 70. The others don’t show too much heat stress, so she is my “bench mark”.
                                I’m a gadget girl – so I have a little $20 hand held laser device that measures surface temps, and gives me a readout of the temp, and a color code for if the second reading is more or less than 5, 10, or 15 degrees off from the first. I use it to find drafts and cold spots requiring better insulation in my house.


                              • Vienna Blue in France
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                                  Gadget girl !! LOL – a girl after my own heart….!! (I think my dad gave me and taught me how to use a screwdriver before I learnt to ride my bike !!)
                                  Surface temp laser IS one that i’d like though….. Do you ever get a reading off of the animals? lol

                                  Luna Rose, people have different opinions about most things, especially the definition of “animal welfare”….
                                  I had my dog in a small appartment and people tutted… but they didn’t know that she went out for 3 quality walks a day, went to agility, went everywhere with me and was loved so much. And I would have preferred a thousand times over to have been my dog than one in a huge house with a garden but never went out for walks with noone caring for it or worse, abusing it….

                                  She probably only sleeps all day in her cage, so whether it’s open or closed makes no difference to her.
                                  You sound like a very caring bun-mum :o)

                                  It sounds as if your bun gets lots and lots of love and of course she can boing boing BOING around your place when you’re home. Why shouldn’t she?
                                  And slowly but surely, other people will come around to that idea too….

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                              Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Room temperature too low for bun?