Hanging in there

[coffeenutdesigns]

It's 96 out there with some breeze and so far the rabbits are handling it fine, still fairly active and not panting yet. I'm trying to see how high their tolerance can go before any heat distress. We have established it doesn't go to 104. I am trying to acclimate them by holding off cooling measures until they actually need it. We're supposed to top out at 96 today, so if they can handle that temp for an extended amount of time, that would be good. The breeze is definitely a factor today. It's not a "convection oven" breeze we get a lot of, which makes it nicer outside. I know a lot of people breed for heat tolerance which will be part of my long term plan, but in the meantime I don't want my breeding stock miserable or dead.


I am going on vacation again in a couple of weeks. Last time I hauled all my rabbits to my dad's house to make it easy for him. This time the kids are staying with their grandparents, so it will be up to them(16, 14, and 11, very responsible) to come over during dad's naptime around 1-2 pm and feed, water, hand out frozen bottles if necessary.

 

[Andrei]

Water makes things colder.
Evaporation process absorbs heat.
So watering the floor helps.
Wet towels/rags on the cages.
Spray mist but that is professional.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

I don't have a problem keeping them cool I am trying to determine where their threshold of tolerance lies.

It got to 96 today and I got by with spritzing them with a water bottle just a couple of times and even then they weren't distressed, I was just trying to keep them comfortable. I'm sure when I finally get around to getting that mister up, it'll be awesome...until my corrosive well water ruins it. Hopefully it will at least get me through one summer.