Humidity/Heat Managment for a Rex

[Vilali]

Hello!

I’m a fairly new rabbit owner. My mother and I started volunteering at <g class="gr_ gr_237 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="237" data-gr-id="237">local</g> animal shelter a few years ago. When I started college we adopted a rabbit named Marvin. He is a cute little rex and is a little over a year old. <g class="gr_ gr_707 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="707" data-gr-id="707">TOday</g> it got very hot and humid in our house, and we just turned the A/C on because we noticed Marvin was flopping and panting. I currently have him set up with a fan and an ice pack to lay on if he gets hot.<br>

My general question is what do you guys do to set up an appropriate climate in the summer when it gets extremley hot and humid? Do you guys have a de-humidifyer for when it’s too humid and a humidfier for when it’s too dry? Is A/C good enough for your rabbit?

Thank you all in advanced for your responses.

Note: Please forgive me if this was posted already. I clicked through the forums a bit since the search function is down, but couldn’t find a similar thread. I also searched a bit on Google but was looking for more of a discussion with a variety of ideas from other rabbit owners versus just obscure articles.

[tobyluv]

Hello and welcome to Binky Bunny! If you run the a/c when it gets hot and humid, that should be fine for Marvin. Air conditioners take out humidity as well as cooling the air temperature, so a de-humidifyer wouldn’t be needed. I have never used a humidifier in the winter, although depending on the kind of heat a person has in their house, they and their rabbits may benefit from a humdifier. If Marvin happens to stay in a room of the house that doesn’t get as cool as some other rooms when the a/c is on, you could have a fan running in that room.

[Gordo and Janice]

Running the a/c should be okay. Of course it depends on how efficient the a/c is and whether it’s a whole house a/c or just a window unit. The important thing to consider is what the actual temperature and humidity is in the room or rooms the rabbit lives in. Generally a whole house a/c will be sufficient both temperature wise and humidity wise. For a point of reference we had an angora rabbit and we kept the temperature at about 70 in the winter and mid to upper 70’s in the summer. Our rabbit seemed comfortable. She would nap more on specific areas of the tile floors in the summer than she did in the winter because obviously it was more comfortable for her to do so.

Regarding giving him ice packs and such. If he is actually using the ice pack to cool off by lying up against it or on it or even close to it then he is most probably hot. And in that instance, you would want to check it to see how long it stays cool before needing to be switched out and replaced with another. Different ice packs stay cool or lose that coolness at different rates depending on size and the materials they are made of.

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