Need Advice

[FlayFanatic]

This past weekend, my folks & I built an outdoor pen for my bun, Peanut & he absolutely loves it! Ever since though, I've noticed he hasn't been drinking from his water bottle as much, before we moved him outside I had to fill it up at least every other day, now, I've re-filled exactly once. I'm concerned that he's not been drinking, my mom says she has seen him drinking but I have yet to see it.

Thoughts??

Kris

 

[BunMommaD]

Our cookie doesn't always drink as much as I would like lol so every few days (or everyday when it's hot) I give him a bowl of ice cubes! He has a ball picking them up and tossing them and licking them...etc and he usually ends up eating them all... Which means he is getting a lot of water but he is also an indoor house bunny

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Perhaps put a water crock beneath his water bottle? Rabbits tend to drink more out of crocks than they do bottles.

Emily

 

[FlayFanatic]

well, the weird thing is, before we moved him out of his cage & into the new pen he drank out of the water bottle constantly. I used to bring his cage in & let him sleep in my room occasionally at night & he was always drinking out of the bottle, it's only been since we moved him that all the sudden the bottle isn't being used (or so it seems)

Do you think those contraptions that they have for dogs & cats where you can fill it up with food/water & they're good for a while would work for a rabbit? (they're mainly used for when you go out of town & have no one to feed/water your pets)

 

[ZRabbits]

Maybe the water is a bit warmer outside than inside. I know that my boys will go to the water crock as soon as I fill it because they love cool water.

Or it could be it's a whole new experience for him and he needs to really get used to everything. You would be amazed how little things tend to set a bunny off. And now being moved outside, though he loves it, could be a little daunting.

I would just observe. Hopefully after he's really settled in, maybe his drinking habits will go back the way they were when he was inside?

K

 

[Benjamin08]

I would try a bowl instead of a bottle and see what he does.

 

[FlayFanatic]

thanks for the advice guys..will try a bowl & see what happens..just to clarify, Peanut has never been an indoor rabbit, he's always been outside. On occasion I would bring his cage in & let him sleep in my room as a change of scenery, but he would always go back out the next day. In the winter he would sleep in a insulated shed we have out back & then when it got warmer I'd move him to the back porch. The pen we built will be his permanent home all year.

Sorry if I didn't explain things very clearly earlier, I'm fighting off a horrendous migraine at the moment so I'm not focusing very well

 

[ZRabbits]

No sorry needed. I would use a bowl then. Maybe he's tired of the bottle or the sun is heating up the water bottle now that he's out there permanently.

Get a bowl and try it in different places until he start to drink the way you saw him drink before.

Wishing you luck.

K