Please Answer - drinking enough in heat vs ac?

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Hunny.Bunny

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Okay, so I have an almost 4 month old Holland Lop/Netherland Dwarf girl named Hunny. It's summer, obviously, and my house does not have air conditioner (sucks, I know), so I've been having to use other methods to keep Hunny cool. I wet her ears frequently, and I try to keep the windows open at all times. She also has a plate (that I feed her breakfast and dinner on) that she loves to loaf out and flop on.I tried supplying her with a frozen water bottle, but she refused to flop near it and spent hours trying to dig and eat through it, which was ineffective, since it only worked her more up and made her ears hotter. I also tried a cooling mat that she might lay on, she just tried to eat the thing. Water is always readily available for her. It's in a approximately 6-7 oz bowl and she maybe drinks 1 and mayne a half of those a day. More sometimes, but it depends on the day. It's hard to tell, because if it was ever half full, I'd pour out the water, rinse the bowl, and then refill it. I've always been worried she wasnt drinking enough.

Well, recently, I've come to realize I had bed bugs (yeah, I know, fun). Not for too long, thankfully. Maybe 2 weeks, three at most (I timed the bites), and as soon as I figured it out, I had Hunny out of my room and to my grandmothers in a day. She's been at my grandma's place, in a play pen, for almost a week now, in air conditioning around 70-75 degrees (which is nice so I dont have to worry about her getting too hot). And I've come to realize she's now drinking much more water. I probably replace her bowl 4-6 times a day, and they're usually half way filled, sometimes a little less. I figured this was a good thing, until I looked up a few stiff and realized that rabbits can apparently over drink and that it might mean something is wrong?

Maybe I'm just paranoid. I mean, her poops are good, and she just saw the vet about 2 weeks ago, and the vet said she was all good and cleared.

She's eating around a 1/4 cup of pellets a day, give or take, and around 4 or 5 strings (stems?) of cilantro for dinner for the past 6 days or so.

I'm just super worried and anxious for her. She seems okay and as curious as ever. I'm just paranoid.

Any advice is appreciated, thank you for reading my rant.[emoji173]

(Ps. The hay feeder isnt full because she refuses to eat hay out of there. I, however, think she might like to chew on the wood, so I put a little hay in there to encourage chewing. She's lost interest in chewing stick the past few weeks, but that's another topic.)20190725_135726.jpeg
 
I have 2 special icepods made for bunnies. They're neigh unbreakable/unchewable and have a pleasant shape for buns to lay on top of or against. I have 2 so I can have 1 in the pen while the other is cooling in the freezer and I can swap as needed.

https://scratchandnewton.com/products/ice-pod

For the rest, as long as she has water and is still looking fine I wouldn't worry. It was 38 degrees Celcius here yesterday and 35 today and my buns are fine with their icepod, I don't have airco either.
 
She's a beauty and I don't think she'd drink more than she needs it is great that she has access to fresh water anytime there's no need to worry I believe. As for your title it has zero information in it 'answer asap' doesn't say anything about your problem so would be nice if you could state your question in your title next time I think you'd get more attention this way. Good luck with your bunny.

I use freezer blocks they are looking like those icepods but I wouldn't want my rabbits to chew them as I am not too sure what's inside so I just put them on top of their cages over their toilet boxes and change 2-3 times daily I also have some extra so I can rotate them. Same with the bottles I give them 2 ltr bottles but it is just behind the bars so they can't reach them. Also you can put a box over them with metal foil lining inside so bottles will stay cold longer this way.

P1060113.JPG
 
I'd suggest a larger water bowl. I use a 20 oz size. You can get the kind that twists on to a clamp if you are concerned about spills.

I'd also suggest buying a 12" square piece of porcelein tile from a hardware store. You can usually find one for about 99 cents. (Maybe get 2) Then put that in the cage for a cool place for bunny to lay upon. Put the 2nd one in the refrig to cool it and use that on hot days. Then you can trade out the one in cage for the cold one and put the spare to cool in the fridge.

upload_2019-7-26_9-2-2.png
 
In that picture your bunny looks like me after taco night, lol! Minus the poop in the floor, of course. But after many margaritas, who knows what could happen.

Is a portable or a window air conditioner a possibility for you? You're going to have this bun for many years and if I were you I would worry every time summer came around. My buns are like yours, very lethargic in warmer weather so I crank the air conditioning for them. I only have a window unit but it pleasantly cools 630 square feet. I bought a nice window unit at a garage sale for $80.
 

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