Question About Sunlight/Vitamin D

[Saltflower]

I've moved to an apartment that does not have sunshine coming through the window of the rabbit room. I asked my rabbit savvy vet about the need for sunlight but I'd like to get various opinions here.
There's a patch of sunlight on the patio. Should I put each one in a crate once in a while and let them get some sunshine or would that overheat them and be dangerous?

 

[Butterscotch]

I don't have an answer for you but I was wondering what did your vet say?

 

[Saltflower]

He said that I shouldn't worry about sunlight and that rabbits in the wild hide during most of the day under shrubbery which proves that they don't actually need sunlight. He said that some house rabbits like to sleep in the sun simply because it's warm. But I do worry about sunlight and vitamin D anyway!

 

[Hermelin]

Maybe you can try to take them out sometimes, so they can play.

I think bunnies and humans both can get vitamin D deficiency because it need sun to become active.

In the wild bunnies come out when the sun go down and when it goes up are they most active. So they still get sun on them those hours. If they live in a safe place they will also come out and eat and run around during the day.

 

[Saltflower]

I'd be afraid of pesticides in the grass. Also we live in an apartment and I'm hiding them. The bedroom is what I call the rabbit room. There's plenty of room for them to run around. No furniture in there. I take each one out and let him or her run around for maybe an hour and then put them back in the pen and get to the next one.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have ultra violet lamps for our birds

 

[samoth]

I don't know about biological needs (though it's probably addressed in some rabbit vet texts I don't have with me right now), but I have noticed my doe loves to lay in or near the sun coming from my slider door all day every day... to the point where she thumps at me if I try to get her to go upstairs!

I've often wondered if sunlight affects rabbits biologically -- or even psychologically -- like it can with humans (e.g., studies involving individuals who work third shift versus first shift).