Keeping them hydrated during the frozen months?

Does anyone have tips or ideas to share? For over half our year the temperatures dip below frozen. My rabbitry is unheated...well actually it is outside. I go out twice a day with hot water to melt the ice in their EZ crocks. I also give them chunks of ice which they happily gnaw. I am interested how other cold-weather rabbitries manage keeping their animals hydrated during the winter months.

Pretty much the same thing here.

Though not as many months of frozen water here, I do pretty much the same. I go out two times a day and add fresh water to their crocks.

When I"m home I try to replace the bottles two or three times a day but when I'm at work or out socially they just have to wait until I get home. I've had many litters born in the colony in the winter and the doe has nursed them with no problems.

They also clean up any snow that's blown in and when I put a handful of snow in with them they all gather round and eat it up like candy.

I have 2 of these per cage. It cost maybe $1 each for all materials. In the morning I put out new ones with warm water and bring in the other ones to thaw. In the evening I rinse the thawed ones, fill with warm water, and go swap with the current set. They have popped a few apart so I need a better cold weather glue. Maybe silicone instead.

They don't chew them up Akane?

I go out each week when there is no room in the crocks left for water, remove them and place them in a large bucket of hot water. The ice slides out, and then I put the chunk of ice on the floor of the cage and return the empty crock to be refilled.

The previous design they chewed up. We tried to ziptie containers in to keep refilling with hot water but they'd chew them and jerk them around until they spilled anyway. For some reason they are not interesred in the lip of these containers from dollartree.

I'm just changing out water twice a day.

Regarding the ice, couldn't that drop their internal temperatures and make them colder? I know that's why it's not recommended for people to eat ice if stuck in the middle of the wilderness.

I give mine a crock of warm water twice a day. In really cold weather I soak hay cubes and grains in swarm water so they are eating wet food. yes, drinking icy water, eating snow will lower body temps. Not too much of a problem if the rabbit is seating enough. If food/digestive fiber in short supply, then there will be a temp regulation issue. The body cannot use water until it has reached body temp...

Hi,

I made a simple electric heating for their water, this, and the bottles coverd with some old clothes work pretty good.

For this resistors I use an old 15.2V laptop power supply, when it get's really cold I could use 24V. Just take care they can't get their teeth at the cables, won't hurt them, but there's nothiung they like more than cutting cables.

Preitler

10 years later, my solution to this problem is different.

Now I use stainless steel dog water bowls, the tip proof kind , and a 12V10W silicone heating pad under them, hooked up to an 3A adjustable power supply. Now we have about -6°C during the night, 8V, which results about 3W per dish is enough to keep the water from freezing, so that system will be good for down to -20°C.

I appreciate low power solutions like this. I will look into this solution, but have al least a dozen bowls that need to be heated. So, I am not sure if I can use this solution.

One thing that I've found to really keep rabbits well-hydrated in the winter is to give them, in addition to bowls of warm water once or twice a day, an ice block to chew on. It really seems to help the rabbits stay in good condition. We freeze water in old yogurt/cottage cheese tubs, often adding a little bit of something tempting like apple cores, carrot shavings, or sweet potato peelings frozen into the middle. We leave these blocks in the cages all the time, and the rabbits love to play with them and chew on them - they get hydrated, entertained, and good tooth-trimming round-the-clock. The rabbits love them.

Years ago, due to a miscommunication with a housesitter, our rabbits lived for a week with only the ice blocks. I wouldn't do it on purpose, but when we got home, they were none the worse for wear.

Some have expressed concern that like humans, rabbits might get cold from eating snow and/or ice. But unlike humans, rabbits are totally cold-adapted. In fact, our rabbits suffer far more from heat than they ever do from cold. Wild and feral rabbits live on ice and snow for many months of the year in our area. There is no liquid water anywhere when it's below zero, in the single digits, or in the low teens (Fahrenheit), but they don't seem to have any difficulty. We do give our rabbits liquid water at least once a day, but I like the ice blocks because they ensure there's a source of water in case the liquid isn't available for one reason or another (e.g. dumped, drunk, fouled or frozen almost immediately when it's really cold). Actually, my rabbits' favorite is snow - they love that, and strangely (to me, anyway), they will sometimes eat snow before they even drink warm water. But it doesn't last like an ice block because they play with it/in it as well as eat it.

Schipperkesue said:

Does anyone have tips or ideas to share? For over half our year the temperatures dip below frozen. My rabbitry is unheated...well actually it is outside. I go out twice a day with hot water to melt the ice in their EZ crocks. I also give them chunks of ice which they happily gnaw. I am interested how other cold-weather rabbitries manage keeping their animals hydrated during the winter months.

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I use 2 electric water bowls good I -40.
https://www.amazon.ca/Thermal-Bowl-...0&psc=1&mcid=adbfde1db51c3c93ab947a9446736dae

We have electrical 120v heated water bowls. Bought from Amazon. This last time. We had bought the ones from Walmart. Made in the USA. But getting a year out of them was troublesome. The bottom always broke, cracked. So now from Amazon. Don't remember brand but they seem stronger.
I built our pens to fit inside our 8x8 greenhouse. So pens are 24"w×45"lx18"h. By having them end to end. 2 rabbits share 1 water bowl. It is cut into the bottom corner in the middle, front. We have to build a wire devider in the bowls or they will crawl through. Easy enough, zip ties work well.
I just believe that for the cost of running the electric bowls compared to not having our rabbits it top condition and having fresh water available is worth the cost. And the convenience for us is great. But having to deal with long cold winters can be hard on us and the rabbits.
Along with keeping them hydrated. We give them a pinch of sunflower seeds each day. Along with 1 cup of 18% protein rabbit pellets. I feel that having a bit of energy with the sunflower seeds also helps keep them warm.
Along with having a box in with them year long. And having hay in the box to chew on also helps. I am going to try to remember to add some apple juice to their water. And going to follow what ak satin does. And have some ice blocks to chew on. I generally always follow their advice. Thank You ak satin.
Anyhows I thought I would explain how we keep our rabbits hydrated. And how we deal with long ak winters. It all works together to have happy healthy rabbits. Which I feel will perform at their best ability. And get us friers for the freezer. And the best manure we can get for our garden.
And as homeschooling grandparents, animal husbandry is a great science class.

akane said:

I have 2 of these per cage.

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The photo doesn't show up, what did you make?

For multi cages i use the farm innovators heated small animal water bottles bought on Amazon. Knock offs break. Singles just a mini submersable aquarium water heaters meant for beta tanks. Just make sure they can’t get the cord. My metal bowls hang so easy. Got mine at walmart

jani said:

For multi cages i use the farm innovators heated small animal water bottles bought on Amazon. Knock offs break. Singles just a mini submersable aquarium water heaters meant for beta tanks. Just make sure they can’t get the cord. My metal bowls hang so easy. Got mine at walmart

Click to expand...

For bigger bowls bird bath heaters work i use them for chickens

Schipperkesue said:

Does anyone have tips or ideas to share? For over half our year the temperatures dip below frozen. My rabbitry is unheated...well actually it is outside. I go out twice a day with hot water to melt the ice in their EZ crocks. I also give them chunks of ice which they happily gnaw. I am interested how other cold-weather rabbitries manage keeping their animals hydrated during the winter months.

Click to expand...

I was doing the twice a day water swap. Switched to 3 gallon metal poultry waterer with heater under. So we could take a short trip for the holiday. Came home with a flu bug so only having to fill water and food every other day was nice. I use colony housing. A 3 gallon waterer for each family group and each grow our pen lasts 2-3 days depending on their current number. I bought those cheap silicone mat heaters that were only35 watts as they are running on an extension cord, claimed could be used outside or in, could be hosed off. Protected cord with a piece of recycled plastic plumbing pipe split in half. They did ice up at the edge when it dropped to -20* but still had a little liquid and ice chunks easily pried out.

Use an old crock pot on warm