Cooling rabbits in this extreme heat .

Today it was over 95 degrees with a 105 heat index here in S.C. needless to say my rabbits that live in hutches are not liking the recent weather.
I have found a way to give them some relief by adding frozen 1 gallon milk jugs of water to their pens starting at about 11 am and leaving them in till after sunset when the weather finally cools down.
I just removed them at 1130 pm and still had small amounts of ice still in them .
I also placed small frozen water bottles in with those that have water dishes and not bottle water feeders . Some of the rabbits had already figured out to sit in their water dishes prior ,when they get hot.
If you have extra water bottles that you can freeze for the water bottles that hang would help as well. Just remember not to fill all the way to the top of the bottles before you freeze them as they will expand and could burst your bottles.
Good luck to everyone with this heat and I hope this info helps to save some bunnies life from this extreme heat.
On a side note my doe with 3 week old kits ,her and the kits figured it out in less than an hour that all they have to do is lay next to the bottles to keep cool.I just placed them nest to where mom likes to lay and she positioned it where "she " wanted it to be .You may want to try placing it inside your hutch boxes also .I left mine out in the open so they can get a breeze as well.

We cooled the entire area by freezing cheap styrofoam coolers in the chest freezer and putting them in the horse stalls that have our cages and colonies.

I've got to put some water bottles in the freezer! They would work so well on such hot days like we've had recently! Great suggestion!

I had fans running all day, added ice cubes to their water dishes throughout the day, misted with cool water, and one of my does loves to be rubbed down with ice cubes. She comes to the cage door, lays down like a dog, and lets me rub her from nose to tail with an ice cube. :lol:

I have three fans running on high, plus I put ice cubes in their waterers at noon. The rabbits seem to respond very favorably to it.

Our heat has not yet been extreme, thank goodness. I use a spray bottle on all the rabbits when necessary and ice bottles if it gets extreme, but I soak down the buck's ears when it is even moderately hot. Bucks seem to feel the heat more than does or youngsters and cooling the ears gives them fast relief.

We had a couple days where the heat was 100+, it was terrible! I put frozen bottles, misted ears and heads, extra fans, washed down the concrete floor, etc. They seem to be doing ok, thank goodness it has cooled down some. Still in the 90's here though....

We've been bumping up against 100* here for the last several weeks. The bunnies have been getting frozen 2 liter bottles, and frozen veggie trimmings when available. I wish I had freezer room for gallon jugs! That's an awesome idea!

hHven't seen any eral heat since last weekend-- not even 60 at this point today-- low fifties at night--I have a freezer full of frozen water-- want to bet, if I remove the bottles, and fill the freezer with food, that temps go up?

I've been using fans, frozen water bottles, misting them and giving crocks full of ice cubes.

The crocks of ice seem to be their favorite. They like to stick their feet in the crock, chew on the ice and it supplies them with some really cold water for a bit.

I too use frozen gallon jugs.I also hose down the hutch and underneath it as well.

Temperature 105 yesterday
hutches under several large pin oak trees - check
Frozen Water bottles changed out every 2 hours - check
mister fan - check
misting ears every 2 hours - check
pillow cases soaked in water hung over those unshady spots changed every 1-2 hours - check
16" square frozen ceramic tiles changed out every 2 hours - check

That's what I do in Austin, Texas. These efforts bring the temperature down to 85-90 degrees. I like the ice cubes in the water bottle idea. This is a labor intensive process, but I can't stand the thought of those poor rabbits, fur coat and all, in this blasted heat. Highly abnormal for this area this time of the year.

Temps are suppose to be 105 here today and I have to be gone all day. I am scared for my rabbits & didn't know what to do. My dh suggested putting a sprinkler on top of the hutches running low all day to keep them "misted". We live in the country and have well water so that's not a problem. I just hope it works as I can't be here all day to keep them cool enough.

Legacy":1r4bhkpb said:

Temps are suppose to be 105 here today and I have to be gone all day. I am scared for my rabbits & didn't know what to do. My dh suggested putting a sprinkler on top of the hutches running low all day to keep them "misted". We live in the country and have well water so that's not a problem. I just hope it works as I can't be here all day to keep them cool enough.

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I Know of many wells that run dry after 30 minutes or so-- now if the sprinkler is set on a timer-- you may have an option that keeps your well full...

it is supposed to it the 80's all weekend here-- I see my Weatherbug tells me it has already hit the mark-- bUt rabbits seem fine-- I will probably put out the ice bottles in another half hour or so. Just before the sun hits the zenith for the day-- thankfully, it is slightly overcast--

It's a hot day by our standards, but not outrageous... about 80 degrees F. Feels hotter because we are not getting our accustomed lake breezes. We gave the bunnies ice bottles today because this is the first summer we have kept rabbits in the shed over the summer and we are being careful. Everybunny seems fine though.

Maggie, you'd never hear me complain about it once if this area never got above the 85 degree F mark for the rest of the summer.

We've been hovering near the 100 mark for the past 3 weeks, and the heat indexes have routinely been above the 100 mark. Makes for a scorching hot July and August. I hate this hot weather crap!!!

We have yet to top 70. I wish I could take 10-15 of your degrees, I feel like we will be skipping summer this year.

How do you feel about snow and cold, Billy? Maybe you should move further north! I know I couldn't cope with the kinds of temperatures you are getting. Even today I really felt the heat. We are pretty lucky in this part of Ontario... We seldom get extreme weather, although it can be windy.

Eco, like I said before, I'd have no problem with the temperatures not hitting higher than 85, and 70's would be right up my alley.

Wanna know the truth, Maggie? I LOVE cold weather. I lived in Alaska for 6 years, Iceland for a year, and Plattsburgh, NY (60 miles south of Montreal) for 5 years. I was a flightline aircraft mechanic (crew chief) at the time, so I'm conditioned to cold weather and it doesn't bother me that much. I rarely put on more than a light jacket around here in the winter, and that's when the temperature gets into the teens.

The problem for me would be finding work up north. The job market stinks in this country right now, and moving up there would be a huge gamble from a financial standpoint. Taxes are no small issue in the matter, either.

It's well over 90 here, and supposed to hit 100 by the end of the week. I've been putting frozen bottles of water in the hutch. I have a fan going to.

It has been an extremely strange summer for us here in NW Montana by the Canadian border (Glacier Park area). It has been hot hot hot! Typically, we won't get more than 2 or 3 days over 80, but the last few weeks it's been 75 at 9am (typical to see 40). Got off work at noon yesterday and it was 93. His never happens! I have a fan going for the rabbits. And every 45 minutes 8 check on them to see if they need sprayed down. Then it's the dogs' turn to be sprayed down. I'm looking at getting a simple misting system.