Rabbits inside for playtime in winter?

[Aich]

I am going to be getting a rabbit soon (hopefully, depending on my parents' approval) and I am wondering whether, if the rabbit is outside in the winter, I can safely bring him/her inside for an hour or two at a time for playtime. Our house will be 65-68 degrees farenheit while the outside will most likely get down to about 10-15 degrees.

If that would be dangerous to the rabbit, can I warm her up slowly in a blanket or towels before I bring her in? Can I keep my room cooler than the rest of the house so that the temperature change is not as great? Should I heat the cage? In the cases of cooling my room or heating the cage, how much will be enough to keep the rabbit safe?

There has also been talk of the rabbit being inside from about 2 pm to 6 am but outside the rest of the time. Would this be safer/less safe?

Thanks for any input!

-Aich

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

I bring rabbits inside if the weather is nasty out and they do just fine. I will give them a water dish or watery treat to offer them liquid, but for most the part they don't stay inside for more than an hour.

If I notice they are starting to get warm, I take them back outside.

I think if you're going to have a rabbit be inside from 2pm to 6am, why not just keep it inside or outside ALL the time? I think that would be much safer than constantly going through a temperature change.

Emily

 

[funnybunnymummy]

I agree with Emily. If you're already bringing them in for most of the day, why not keep them indoors 24/7? But I wouldn't recommend keeping them inside for 16 hours, then putting them out for 8 every day. Not with that big of a temperature difference. I think they'd become acclimatized to the indoors and going back out would be a shock to their system.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it doesn't get below zero (32F) very often, so it's not that much of a shock for bunnies to go between inside and outside. Gus did it pretty much all last winter.

Hope that helps!

Rue

 

[Aich]

Thanks to both of you. My parents didn't want the bun to be inside ALL the time or not at all. But it sounds like the bun will be able to have at least an hour, probably more, inside every day and will be able to stay outside safely the rest of the time. So thanks for the advice You've brought me one step closer to having a bunny

-Aich

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

:yeahthat: me too. I bring mine in for about 30 mins in the morning during the winter. Too much I've found is detrimental to the respiritory system. Maybe that's just with my buns though.