Room Temperature?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 8sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 5 months ago by Carolyn.

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- 11/18/2018 at 7:34 AM
  Carolyn
  Participant
  28 posts
  Hi, I have a 8-9 week old Lop named Syrup that I got about 2 weeks ago. (Yes, I’m aware it’s earlier than it should be, but I’m guessing the regulations in Japan, where I live, aren’t as strict as the US..) I really didn’t realize this was too young, although I could have been lied to about the age to make him/her seem younger.
  
  Anyway, about a week after I got him/her, I noticed him/her having sneezing attacks and red around the eyes, with a tiny bit of white snot coming out. I took him/her to an emergency vet (it was night time and rabbit-savvy vets here have the weirdest hours.) who still had a semi-rabbit savvy person on hand. They checked him/her and said temperature was fine, but there’s a high chance it could have snuffles, so they gave me antibiotics. Syrup’s doing a lot better. Still red around the eyes, but no more sneezing and still a week or so to go. And is taking the meds easily like a champ
  
  Anyways, the vet had told me that until about 3 months old, I should keep my room temperature at 25-27 degrees celcius. (77-80F). In my opinion that’s way too hot, even for ME when I don’t even have a fur coat on. I read online that from 8-10 weeks on, 15-20 is ideal. I’ve been keeping it as a semi-crisp 21-22C (69-71) in which i’m comfortable in a sweatshirt. (I figured that’s my version of a fur coat)
  
  I’m just scared that’s I’m keeping it too cold for the bun. He/she seems happy, is eating (albeit not eating hay as much as I’d like and just waiting for pellets…-.- is drinking fine, is jumping and running around his/her pen binkying (i hope..) and playing, is friendly and curious about everything when I let him/her out, so he/she seems fine with the temperature, but the vet told me to keep it above 25C (77F) because he/she’s still a baby.
  
  What’s the ideal temperature for an 8-10 week old? I keep a fleece blanket in the pen just in case, but he/she kind of avoids it or just sleeps half on top of it if it’s in his/her favorite flopping spot.
  
  I bought a pet heating-pad for the colder winter months just in case, and plan on putting it in a separated pen that I’ll attach to his/her pen now. I plan on introducing the bun to be free-range after the toilet training has been mastered and I’ve bunny proofed EVERYTHING.
  
  I worry too much about this bun, and I’m trying to learn as much as I can to be a good bun-mom So I apologize for this being a long-probably obvious question.
  
  Thank you for reading!!
- 11/18/2018 at 5:28 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5835 posts
  That’s really warm! I do not think you need to worry too much about temperature. My mentality is:
  
  1) Cold – if I’m slightly cold, Wick is probably feeling fine because of his fur. If I’m freezing, he’s probably cold.
  2) Heat – if I’m hot, Wick’s slightly hotter.
  
  …. Usually the temperature is around 67-74 for my home, depending on the weather outside. I’ve had Wick since he was 9 weeks old, and he’s now 2 years old. No issues!
  
  Any fur problems that would justify higher temperatures?
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 11/18/2018 at 5:45 PM
  Carolyn
  Participant
  28 posts
  Thanks for your reply!
  
  I don’t think there are (and hope there aren’t) any fur issues. He/she was matted with mucus on his/her front paws because of the snuffles before the vet, but not anymore after a couple days into the meds. His/her ears were still kind of hairless when I got him/her and it seems like they’re starting to get more hair on them, but other than that I don’t think there are any issues… what fur issues would happen if the temp wasn’t right? I’ll have to look out for them…
  
  I’ll keep it the temperature as it is! I like your mentality. Syrup seems happy atm so…hopefully he’s at a content temperature.
  
  Thanks again!
- 11/18/2018 at 5:56 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5835 posts
  I was just thinking if there was something extreme the vet noticed that would make a recommendation like that. There is a rare condition where rabbits are literally fur-less, so in that case, yes, temperature is a concern.
  
  Thin fur on ears is completely natural. I was just throwing that out there just in case it was an omitted detail!
  
  Matted fur from snuffles nose discharge is normal. I hope he is better now!
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 11/18/2018 at 7:49 PM
  BunnyTheBunny
  Participant
  29 posts
  Syrup is such an adorable name!
- 11/18/2018 at 8:28 PM
  Carolyn
  Participant
  28 posts
  I see I see. No, I was just giving the vet as much information as I could, and mentioned that I keep the temperature at around 20-22C and she was like “oh, since he/she’s so young you have to keep the temperature above 25.” but in my mind if he/she was a newborn with no fur, I’d understand but… Plus this vet wasn’t necessarily rabbit-savvy, since it was an emergency vet, so I had a hard time trusting her against the research I did, so I just wanted other people’s opinions. I’m going to the same vet for a check-up on saturday to see how the meds are doing and if there needs to be an extension of them, but I think I’m going to take a morning off of work this week and go to a rabbit-savvy vet for a check up and to help with some other questions I have.
  
  I saw your post on another topic about your bunny Wick having the same snuffles-at-8weeks with the same exact condition as my Syrup (I waited a couple days too because I thought it was allergies/hay dust). I was wondering if while Wick was on antibiotics, if he didnt really eat his cecos as much?
  
  When Syrup was sick, and I thought it was reaction to hay, I kept the hay but fed him/her a lot of pellets so that he/she would have some type of food if he/she couldnt eat hay without sneezing. I’m back to limiting his/her pellets to less than before and doubling on both hay (I have two hay feeders and some hay-toys) but I still see PLENTY of cecos, and they smell gross. When I wake up I can definitely tell that someone hasn’t been eating them and has decided they’d rather scatter them around and make them smell and smeer all over the flooring.
  
  I was just wondering if you had this experience. I think limiting the pellets has made the amount of cecos go down, but I was just wondering if antibiotics had any side-effects to cecos not seeming good? I don’t know.
  
  I’m going to take off a morning of work this week so that I can get him/her checked out, and maybe even sexed (Althought I know its hard to tell at this age)..
  
  The thing is, like any bunny, he/she gets so stressed out and I hate having to stress out the little fluff. Going to the vet was fine, but after…soooo stressed.
- 11/18/2018 at 8:35 PM
  Carolyn
  Participant
  28 posts
  BunnyTheBunny -> Thank you so much! I had a hard time finding a good name, and I wanted something kind of rare that no other Japanese person uses for their dogs (Caramel, Cookie, etc).
  
  And, in Japanese, it’s Shiroppu, where the rup in syrup is the same pronunciation as lop, because he/she’s a lop. I dont know if i explained it right, but its kind of a play-on word.
  
  Although I call him/her “honey” or “good bunny” more than I use Syrup. Haha.
- 11/18/2018 at 8:44 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5835 posts
  Hm hm. I generally remember Wick leaving behind cecotropes when he was younger, as opposed to now (2 yo). I don’t think antibiotics (bactrim, baytril, penicillin) affected cecotropes.
  
  Rather, it could be that there is a lot more nutrients in your rabbit’s diet than there needs to be at this time, if you see a lot. If you only see a couple a day, that’s pretty negligible in my opinion.
  
  Are you on both alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay? Alfalfa is much more nutrient-dense, which is appropriate and needed for a growing young rabbit, but eventually rabbits will transition to timothy pellets and non-alfalfa hays (timothy, orchard, oat, meadow), which are more appropriate. Rabbits switch to non-alfalfa at different times. The general rule of thumb is transition at 6 months, unless you see signs that you can earlier (i.e. excessive cecotropes). Your rabbit is very young though, so I’m tempted to say more so limiting the pellets than switching at this time. You mention you’ve already started to limit. How much and how often does your rabbit have access to pellets?
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 11/18/2018 at 10:02 PM
  Carolyn
  Participant
  28 posts
  The first week he was here (I’m just gonna call him/her a he because it’s easier lol) he didn’t leave any behind, but I saw him eating them plenty of times. I have a feeling he’s still eating them now, but he’s leaving them and they smell and I the smell kind of bothers me, along with sometimes getting stuck to his butt/feet and I have to wipe them off, which he dislikes.
  
  I have a mix of alfalfa hey and timothy hay. At first he wouldn’t touch the timothy, so I thought maybe it was too hard for him to eat, so I bought soft-mat timothy just incase and have that one in a different hay feeder next to the one with alfalfa/normal timothy mix. When I let him out to play, I have another area that has some hay, and he decides he likes that pile better, even though its the same hay, and placed at the same time. Picky bunny.
  
  The pellets I was told to give the amount of the size of the buns head every morning and every night, which thats what Ive been doing. When he got sick, I sort of gave him a little more cause I was scared of starving him if he was only eating because it tasted good but had no appetite because of being sick. I think that’s what kind of screwed everything up, so I’m giving about half his headsize in pellets in the morning and night (More in the morning and less at night though, just in case I have to work overtime). Also his head is getting way bigger, so I’m going by his headsize of when he was smaller. Its really not that much, not a full cup or anything.
  
  Hopefully his ceco problem will clear up. I cleaned his cage twice yesterday because those cecos are stinky stinky. Haha. Everytime I see one I clean it up because he tends to just get it all over himself.
  
  Ill keep an eye out after the pellet reduction. He always acts like I’m starving him when I feed him. I think I spoiled him with the pellets from worry :'(
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