Welfare Wednesday - snow forecast in October

[RWAF]

It's Welfare Wednesday - and this week we want your input please. Snow is forecast for the UK this month, so we hope everyone with outdoor bunnies is thinking about keeping them warm and dry, and still allowing them to exercise. Bedding areas should be kept clean and dry, and filled with straw (because it is warmer than hay). Dont forget to add a tarpaulin to your exercise run to offer shelter from the rain and snow, and this will allow the rabbits to have their regular exercise.

Snuggle safe pads are great for keeping rabbits warm overnight, and dont forget to keep a spare water bottle so that if one freezes you can replace it with another. Hutches can be brought into empty garden sheds, and the rabbits can have the run of the shed too.

Of course, the best way of keeping rabbits warm over the winter is to keep them in pairs so that they can snuggle together.

Have you got any tips you would like to share? We'll pick the best ones and add them to the website.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Well, I've had 5 outdoor bunnies and am always looking for new ways to keep them warm in winter.

We drilled a whole in the hutch and there's a {fairly low watt} light bulb for when its really cold. That helps add enough heat to warm things up a bit. (CAUTION: keep hay etc **Well** away from in to avoid starting afire or something. that's the one worry with a light or anything like that.

Also, now they make these heated water bottles that plug in, to make watering wayyy easier. Now we don't have to constantly hastle with changing out frozen water bottle.

We staple plastic flaps (clear plastic from hardware store) over the wire part of the cage. Then cover that with several blankets and cover that with a big tarp.

I feed extra of course in the winter to keep them long and fill up their cage with lots of hay. {we'll have to consider the straw if its truely warmer!}. The make tunnels through it and like that.


I'll post more idea's later as I think of the other things we do.

 

[RWAF]

Thanks, Bunnyluva4eva. These are exactly the sort of practical tips we're looking for. Once we've gathered everybody's submissions together and chosen the most helpful, they'll appear on our website http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk

 

[Niomi]

I put up some windbreaks that I made out of old shutter in front of my hutches. The purpose was not only to protect my hutches from cold wind, but to give me an area where I could hang out with my rabbit without me freezing to death.

 

[RWAF]

Thanks, Niomi. I'm keeping a file of all the suggestions people are making on the forums with a note of who said what and where.

We're likely to put the final list of tips on our A Hutch is Not Enough pages here http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/ahutchisnotenough.htm