How to keep outdoor buns warm.

[Laura]

Hi,

Anyone have any clever ideas on how to keep my rabbits warm this winter? I was looking into the thermal beds they make for cats.  It has been getting into the low 20’s here at night, lots of frost.  Their watter bottels are freezing (but I change them twice a day).  They have blankets and lots of straw covering the floor.  I am afraid to put a heater in because I don’t want to start a fire (but I have fans up in the summer).  Here is a picture of the rabbitat, it’s 10 x 15 (size of a bedroom).  Most of it is elevated because it floods in the winter, but there is a little part where they can run in the dirt.

Thanks,

Laura

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[JK]

No chance they can be moved inside, huh?

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh, O.K. Laura, I read your other post so deleted what I had written down here when I saw that you have Reno rabbits.   I totally understand now and please do not hesitate to to contribute and participate on this board!  As for keeping your rabbits warm, it looks like the siding on the bunny house is single-ply.  Is there insulation at all on the inside?  Or as an alternative, use house-wrap on the outside and put siding on it. That might be something to put on the to-do list and caulk any cracks that let the winter breezes in. As for a source of heat, I am thinking that an infra-red heater like is placed in horse stalls might not be a bad idea and would not pose a fire hazard so much like a regular heater would.  It warms the body of the animal be it human, horse or rabbit, but be sure to place it so that the rabbits can get away from it too. I’m going to do a bit more looking on that, I’m sure that there are smaller ones that can be purchased and I’ll check on safety as well (you can too of course) and maybe someone here knows too.

[MooBunnay]

I have heard of something for cats that is some type of disc that you can heat in the microwave, and then wrap in a towel and then it will stay warm for awhile. I found an example on amazon called the “SnuggleSafe Heat pad” – at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008AJH9/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

A friend of mine works at an animal shelter and they give these to the cats in the winter.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hmm, I am reading up on infrared heaters and they are more for larger areas like I am used to them being in, like a barn (open-airy spaces) so they won’t work in your situation. I too have heard of the cat warming beds. Offhand I cannot think of the name of them, the ones that you heat up in the microwave.

Aha I found it!  It’s called Snugglesafe Heatpad. Here is the discussion it was in about keeping bunnies warm too: https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=54&forumid=2&tpage=1&view=topic&postid=4002#4299

 

[osprey]

I agree with MooBunnay, SnuggleSafes are great.  I use them to keep my litter of little ones warm.  You pop them in the microwave for 5 minutes, and they get up to about 140 degrees F.  Wrapped in a blanket, they can hold that temp for 5 or 6 hours.  This is in house temps, with your night time temps getting so low, the snuggle safe would probably hold only for 3 or 4 hours.  I had a bit of trouble finding one, I finally found them at Pet Food Express.  The PetCo and PetsMart here did not have them.  I have found with the babies that body heat + insulation is what keeps them warm for the most part.  Could you build some kind of super insulated box, maybe lined with fleece or something, that the buns could snuggle in?  I also read that some people put deep piles of straw with their rabbits and that the bunnies will dig into the straw and use it as insulation.

I have most of my bunny experience with indoor bunnies, I am sorry I cannot give you better advice.  You could try Rabbits Online, that is a large rabbit community that includes some folks who house their bunnies outdoors.

[JK]

What are Reno rabbits?

[osprey]

There was a rescue of over 500 rabbits from a single site in Reno Nevada a couple of years ago by Best Friends Animal Rescue.  These bunnies were living outdoors in a semi feral state.  Laura adopted them knowing that they could never be house rabbits because of their feral upbringing, this is why she has questions about outdoor housing for her bunnies.  You can find out more about the big rescue here.

[JK]

Thanks for the info. Never heard about that. I just read the link to the rescue and it mentions using a heat lamp? Is this a possibility?

[Beka27]

thanks osprey.  i had no idea what reno rabbit meant either.  i thought it was a breed i had never heard of…

[Laura]

Posted By osprey on 01/25/2008 8:19 PM

There was a rescue of over 500 rabbits from a single site in Reno Nevada a couple of years ago by Best Friends Animal Rescue.  These bunnies were living outdoors in a semi feral state.  Laura adopted them knowing that they could never be house rabbits because of their feral upbringing, this is why she has questions about outdoor housing for her bunnies.  You can find out more about the big rescue here.

By the time they collected all the rabbits there were over 1000!  There was inbreeding, and breeding with wild rabbits, and lots of fighting.  One of my buns (Clint) is missing 1/2 his  ear.  Another is missing part of her eyelid, which after a few months of having her I noticed that her eyeball was drying out, so now I put an ointment (not drops) on it every night. I hope to get that surgically corrected this year (bunny plastic surgery!). Cinnamon developed pneumonia last winter and right after that had 3 abscesses in his head; a year later we are still fighting the infection in his head. And Gerald is a sweetie (they all are really), here is a picture of him before we got him, and how happy he is now.

The picture above, of the rabbitat, is from last year.  We have since put gutters on.  When it is really cold, like now, they get lots of extra straw and blankets.  In the summer we take off the walls on 2 sides.  Hot summer days they get frozen water bottels, fans and shade cloth goes up on one side.  There is a door on the front and one on the side that are always locked.  It is cleaned once a week and it takes an hour.  We buy straw by the bale and timothy hay by the box ($50). I would not recommend having rabbits (or any animal) outside, for tons of reasons.  For me the biggest reason is stress, on me, I worry about them all the time, espically when we get wind storms.

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[Laura]

Oh, snuggle safe heat pad, very cool!

Thanks so much.

Laura

[JK]

Wow I have so much admiration for you.  I just had no idea. It takes a very very special person to do what you are doing. How many rabbits do you have?  What about a heat lamp?  They mentioned that in the rescue article above. Please do keep us updated.

[Scarlet_Rose]

KnowItons, a heat lamp could be potentially dangerous in an unattended building especially with very dry straw (it could ignite). That’s why I was thinking of an infra-red heater which will only heat up a warm body and not the envrionment around it, but that won’t work either. The straw is great, like it was suggested, maybe make them a wall of apartment-like nesting boxes filled with straw for them to snuggle into.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I think it was very great of you to rescue those bunnies in need!

[JK]

The link to the rescue said that if the temperature falls be 20 degrees then they need a heat lamp. That’s where I got that info. I can definitely see the danger in that scenario though as you say. I guess this snuggle safe pad is the way to go!

[Lisa_43]

I never heard of the Reno rabbits either, God bless you for taking them in and making sure they are ok.

 

[Laura]

I just read a bunch of reviews on the snuggle safe heat pad and will buy some.  What a great idea, thanks so much!

Thanks everyone for all of your kind words too.

Laura  

[Laura]

Posted By knowltons4 on 01/26/2008 11:17 AM

Wow I have so much admiration for you.  I just had no idea. It takes a very very special person to do what you are doing. How many rabbits do you have?  What about a heat lamp?  They mentioned that in the rescue article above. Please do keep us updated.

I have 4 rabbits.  I could have had as many as I wanted!  Originally I had all 4 together, but when Cinnamon got sick last year, and he had many trips to the vet, had open wounds from abscess draining, I had to separate him.  When I introduced him back with the others there was fighting with him and Clint.  So now the rabbitat is divided in half and Bambi/Cinnamon are on one side, and Clint/Gerald are on the other.

I am too afraid to use a heat lamp, I can’t take the chance of it causing a fire.  But those heat pads will work just fine.

Laura

[Gravehearted]

I’ve heard of broken bunny bonds over vet visits, I think the bunny comes home and smells funny so the other start to fight with him 🙁
The snugglesafes are great, and sound like a really good solution to the problem. You might also add in some faux sheepskins, since they help keep in the warmth too.

[Scarlet_Rose]

That’s great Laura! Let us know how they work out for you!

[Author]

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