surviving the hot weather

[Tay]

Hello everyone! Haven’t been on in a while – and I’m thankful because that means everything is going well with Charlie  

I live in Connecticut, and we’ve quickly gone from winter straight to summer – New England weather!

I’m getting a concerned with Charlie in the heat. Today was about 84 degrees and I could tell it was hot for her. Her room is upstairs which makes it worse, but other than where she is, I can only put her in the basement which I think would cause more stress on her than anything – and it’s secluded from everything so I fear she would become depressed. She has a pretty good setup upstairs with me – has her own room and is very comfortable in there

But it is HOT. And summer is just beginning in New England. I’ve read various tips online for how to keep a bun cool, but does anybody have advice? 

I gave her some frozen banana today to see if she would eat it and she loved it, but I can’t feed her a steady stream of frozen fruit (even though she would love it!), so it only provides momentary relief. 

I put a fan in her room and am trying to figure out if I should open her windows each day or just keep them closed. We have AC but I don’t have control over it and when we turn it on it isn’t on all day and night. 

I put a cool water bottle in but she didn’t seem too interested. I want to get a square tile to cool for her and see if she’ll use that but she is so darn stubborn! She’ll probably just lay next to it  

Thanks in advance for any ideas you might have!! 

[Ella]

You know your bunny best obviously and I cannot guarantee this to be true but I think that if you were to put tiles in there she would use them if she was feeling hot, and the water bottle, too. If she is not interested in laying on them, she may just not be hot!

My bunny has tiles and he sometimes will lay on them, especially after running around! Other times, he stays on his blankets and towels. I think if she were to be getting too hot and wanted to cool down she would use the water bottle and tiles or whatever is available for her to do so. So I’d still give those as an option for her!

[ThorBunny]

My bun looves to lay on tiles. I thought it would be uncomfortable but as soon as I put a few down they became her favorite lounging spot even when it is not cold! I have also tired the frozen water bottle thing (we live in Massachusetts and it is getting hot here too!) and she only lays down next to them when she is truly hot. So I think Ella is right that if she is ignoring the water bottle, maybe she is just not too hot yet!

It depends on where the sun comes in to your room, but in general it’s best to keep the shades drawn during the day to keep it cooler inside, then open the windows at night to cool it down. It seems like she is handling the 85 degree days alright so far… I would be a little worried about when the real summer heat waves start to come in, however. If it was me, I would move her to the basement for days when it is above 90, or 85 and humid. Obviously the best solution would be to use AC for those really hot days. If you don’t have control over AC, then it would be best for her to be cool and a bit more secluded than to get heat stroke in my opinion!

I am planning to use AC for hot days this summer, but I am also curious: does anyone here make do without AC in the summer?

[BanditCamp]

The 2 liter bottles work well for them to lay next to, ceramic tiles are good you can also freeze them for added effect. You can also get a large clay pot bowl and freeze that and put a towel in it or sometimes not!

[MeketatenBun]

The thing about fans is that you don’t want them pointed right at the rabbit in case they want to get away from the breeze and can’t. I live in an upper and it gets HOT. With Meki I have two water bottles of ice in the freezer to rotate. If she doesn’t want to lay on them, it’s possible she still appreciates the cold they’re radiating. She used a water bottle, so I’ll sometimes but an ice cube in the bottle. That way she’s not in contact with it, but it keeps her water cool. Lastly, if there’s a breeze outside that could help, open the windows, but if it’s stagnant hot air, it may be best to close the window AND the curtains/blinds to keep the sun out so it stays a bit cooler in the room for her.

The tiles are a good idea, too!

[Jellie]

I put a ceramic tile in my buns cage just because I’ve read they like them. He’s in the basement so it’s never hot but he will use his after binkys or playtime to cool down. He actually moved his stuffy toy from downstairs in his condo to upstairs on his tile so he can lay against it, so cute!!

When I lived in the attic room it was always unbearably hot in the summer. In the morning when it’s cool I’d open the window to let fresh air circulate and cool off the room. When the sun comes up and starts to get hot close the window and pull the shades. I recommend blackout curtains if you can get some, they really do a great job of keeping the heat out, and the cold in the winter. If you can’t get black out curtains tack up a thick blanket over the window when it’s really sunny and it’ll help keep the heat out.

Fans are great, but see if you can find something like a swamp cooler, it’s like a fan that uses cold water to cool the room. Uses less electricity than AC but works better than just a fan. You might be able to construct a DIY one with stuff you have already.

That’s all I’ve got for now but if I think of anything else I’ll add it later. I really hate being hot so I know all the ways to cool off lol.

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