Keeping my bunny warm during the winter?

[Andrew]

Hey everyone,

So my Bailey went back outside to her hutch yesterday after a week of staying indoors following being spayed. I went out last night to put her back and for the first time since we’ve had her it was a bit of a cold evening. This got me to thinking about winter…

Now obviously it’s not freezing yet and it won’t be for a little while but I just want to get ahead of the game. 

Bailey lives outside in a two tier hutch with a closed off bedroom which we fill with straw but during the winter months when it becomes freezing is this enough? I’ve heard conflicting stories….

I found this Hutch Cover for my hutch. Does anyone think this would be a good option or am I overthinking it? At night we normally just put a tarp over the top of the hutch so that the foxes can’t see in but I can’t imagine its got many thermal properties. 

If anyone thinks I shouldn’t bother with the hutch cover do you have any better or more suitable suggestions?

Bit of a novice so any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks! 

[Sirius&Luna]

Can she not permanently move inside? Obviously this isn’t an option for everyone, but it’s a lonely life for a single bunny outside. If you can’t move her into the house, then I would advise looking into a friend. Rabbits are very social animals, and outside, they just don’t get enough human interaction. It will also help her to stay warm in winter!

A second rabbit is a big commitment, but lots of rescues will help you with the bonding

Where do you live/how cold does it get in winter?

[Andrew]

Not really, we don’t have the biggest of houses. We get home from work at around 6pm everynight and bring her straight inside for the evening when we get home. She hops around the house and sits with us and climbs all over us for the evening so we try to give her as much interaction as we possibly can.

We talked about a second rabbit before but like you say it’s a big commitment and she really honestly does give us the run around on her own at the best of times, I’m not sure we could cope with two at this stage.

We live in England so typical English winter expected really so I suppose at it’s lowest it can get into the -1, -2 sort of territory but never much colder than that.

[Sofia]

I’m in Dublin so we have quite similar weather my buns also outside and most of the time she’s fine. I’ve given her loads of blankets and boxes to burrow in to keep warm, but I think that they just aren’t bothered that much by our winter temperatures. Of course if there’s a snowstorm or something similar (like February) you would need to bring her inside for that. Definitely do consider getting a second bunny, it is a commitment but if you already have a rabbit, twos not that much of a difference. You can even go to a shelter and maybe look for a bit of a lazier bunny who isn’t that energetic, so you don’t have to be chasing them all over the house. Of course lazy buns still need exercise, they just don’t tend to zoom all over the room often

[Hazel]

Posted By Andrew on 9/12/2018 9:30 AM

We get home from work at around 6pm everynight and bring her straight inside for the evening when we get home.

Once it actually gets cold, you won’t be able to do that anymore. Sudden temperature changes can make a rabbit sick or even kill them. Taking her back and forth between wintery temperatures outside and a warm house can be dangerous. It will also impact the development of her winter coat, she’ll end up either being too hot inside or too cold outside. You’ll either have to find room for her in the house so she can stay inside permanently, or keep her outdoors 24/7. In that case you would of course also have to spend several hours with her outside every day so she can get her exercise and interaction.

I think finding a way to keep her indoors would be the best option. Since you let her inside in the evening, I assume you already have a litter box, hay, water etc. set up for her in the house. All you would need at that point is something like an x-pen to keep her safe when you can’t supervise. 

[Andrew]

Posted By Hazel on 9/13/2018 12:58 PM

Posted By Andrew on 9/12/2018 9:30 AM

We get home from work at around 6pm everynight and bring her straight inside for the evening when we get home.

Once it actually gets cold, you won’t be able to do that anymore. Sudden temperature changes can make a rabbit sick or even kill them. Taking her back and forth between wintery temperatures outside and a warm house can be dangerous. It will also impact the development of her winter coat, she’ll end up either being too hot inside or too cold outside. You’ll either have to find room for her in the house so she can stay inside permanently, or keep her outdoors 24/7. In that case you would of course also have to spend several hours with her outside every day so she can get her exercise and interaction.

I think finding a way to keep her indoors would be the best option. Since you let her inside in the evening, I assume you already have a litter box, hay, water etc. set up for her in the house. All you would need at that point is something like an x-pen to keep her safe when you can’t supervise. 

Oh wow, i can honestly say I didnt know that.

In which case we’ll move her inside for the winter then and then put her back outside in the spring 

What point in time would you suggest moving her inside, maybe in another month or so when or now?

[Hazel]

I thought I already replied to this… Ideally you would want to take her inside when the average temperature outside is about the same as indoors. The difference in temperature shouldn’t be more than 10 degrees. Hopefully you will enjoy her company so much that you might decide to keep her indoors all year round. 

[Author]

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