New and looking for some advice

Hi everyone I live in Adelaide, South Australia and I'm thinking about fostering a couple of bunnies to help local rescue groups. I am looking at adult bunnies as they are harder to re-home and rescues are more likely to need help with the adults as opposed to the babies.

I've been doing a lot of research before I actually get any bunnies and have heard/read different things from different 'rabbit experts' about housing and feeding.
I have an enormous backyard and I would like to have a large, movable run (with part of it protected/shaded) for the bunnies to eat and play on the lawn each day. I will also have one, possibly two, large permanent hutches under protection as their main 'headquarters'.

I'm hearing different viewpoints on both feeding and housing.
With feeding, some say that a bunny can have up to 85% of its diet being grass and supplemented with pellets, veggies, etc. Then a rescue group told me today that grass is a no no because it will give them the runs and they must have up to 85% of hay only and the rest in supplemented food. I had intended for the bunnies to be able to take advantage of lots of available grass. Can anyone give me some more guidance on this please?

In regards to housing, one of the rescues I spoke to said that their bunnies must be kept indoors in hot or cold weather. I remember our childhood bunnies never came indoors, we made sure their hutches were well protected from the sun or the rain and they were often 'free range' on the lawn.

I would be very careful to make sure any bunnies in my care were properly protected from the elements - I was wondering if there are any members here from Australia who keep their bunnies outdoors and what extra measures you take in extremes of temperatures?
I was thinking of frozen tiles or frozen water bottles wrapped in wet towels, and obviously lots of shade in summer, and in winter possibly putting the hutches into the shed with lots of extra bedding. Is this enough or do they really need to be indoors?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. I don't want to bring in any buns until I'm absolutely sure I can give them everything they need to be safe and healthy in an outdoor environment.
Many thanks,
Jo xx

Hello, and welcome! Im not in Australia but we do have members who are and hopefully they will add something. I would lean towards your feeding your rescues with a grass hay like timothy and/or orchard grass. I do know that lawn grass can cause loose stool so you would want to introduce that slowly to see how they tolerate it. We keep most of our rabbits outside without much problem. With precautions, you should be able to keep them outside except in extreme temps. Cold tiles, frozen water bottles and fans to keep the air moving are all good when temps climb.

I'm afraid I am not sure what the weather is like in that part of Australia. I live in the Sonoran desert in the SW of the US. By May, our daytime temps are keeping above 90F and stay there through September. In the middle of summer we stay in triple digits and usually reach up to about 120F. So housing rabbits outdoors, while possibly do-able with lots of prep and monitoring, it still is going to be stressful for a rabbit. The triple digits are especially difficult. A portable A/C unit would be necessary. This is why we house indoors all year round.

I agree with majorv that some fresh grass can be too rich for rabbits. Hay is a safe way to go.

I'm curious how the rescues there keep their rabbits. They may have requirements themselves for what kind of housing they would like to see. I know the rescues where I live will not adopt rabbits out to outdoor housing. They insist on indoor housing. Some also have cage size minimum requirements as well.

Since you were considering getting just two (I assume a bonded pair then, since rabbits typically don't get along unless bonded) are you completely opposed to housing indoors? Or are you just not familiar with how fun it can be to house them indoors? I have a site that explains what it is like to house indoors that was put together just so people unfamiliar with the concept could get an idea of what it can be like. It just might surprise you -- especially if you have only been familiar in the past with the "farm style" of keeping rabbits as opposed to the "pet style."

Thank you majorv Yes, I would have to gradually introduce them to having grass so their system can acclimate to the change in diet. They would also have hay available at all times. xx

Thank you Blue eyes Your website is an absolute plethora of information! Love the pictures too, you can easily visualise the info straight away. I really enjoyed going through it and have definitely changed my mind about bringing them indoors when needed

The rescues I've been in contact with keep their rabbits in huge indoor areas. They would prefer their rabbits to be kept indoors, but if they are outdoors then they must be able to come inside in hot or cold weather. The more I read, the more I agree with this, and I will organise an indoor setup. I honestly don't think I'd be comfortable knowing a bunny is outside when it's very hot or very cold.

Yes, it would be two fixed and bonded rabbits. They would be ones that have been in care for a while and the rescue would know their personalities well.

I have been heavily involved in dog rescue for a few years but have had to stop due to my own health issues - I was caring for seniors and special-needs dogs which are a lot of work but I miss being able to help. I still have 4 small dogs here, two long term special-needs and two of my own. I have been thinking very carefully about introducing bunnies into the mix. The dogs here have always been fantastic with new doggy fosters coming in but I realise that the appearance and movements of a bunny will be different to a dog and I'm very aware that I will need to keep the dogs here calm and introduce them properly so there is no stress to the bunnies.
Everything on your website was extremely helpful so thank you so much for the link xx

Hello there and welcome. I'm one of the members from Adelaide as well I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can.

In regards to grass, hay and diet:
I absolutely agree that hay should be the largest portion of the rabbit's diet. I preferably feed meadow hay (when it's in season) and either wheaten or oaten when I can't get meadow. Adult rabbits should not be fed lucerne. Orchard grass and Timothy hay are not available here (unless you buy timothy online from oxbow for exorbitant prices). One of the reasons I would not free feed grass as the main part of the diet is listed above, that it could result in loose stool, or diarrhea. The other issue to consider is any weeds that may come up in your lawn, sour sobs and some of the common milkweeds are poisonous to rabbits and could cause illness or death, so you really have to be careful about what's in your lawn and what the rabbits are eating before just letting them have at it. The general diet that I tend to agree with is roughly 80% hay (hay available 24/7, fresh hay daily), small serve of pellets (1/4 cup for Bandit every morning, he's about 3.2kg. Plain pellets only, none of that colourful muesli stuff), and an assortment of fresh herbs and leafy greens from the garden, usually only a small handful, but I'm building it up to a larger amount. Some people give a packed cup of leafy greens every day, or even more. Having said all of that, rabbits can obviously do perfectly fine on grass (hello wild rabbits) but as rabbits have sensitive digestive systems, you can't simply plop them onto a fresh grass based diet and expect it to go ok. Any new additions or changes to a rabbit's diet must be made slowly starting off with very small quantities or they can end up with gastro intestinal stasis.

Indoor vs outdoor housing:
This is a tricky one, mainly because my first rabbits were solely outdoor rabbits which survived through many summers. Having said that, summer is an extremely dangerous season for rabbits as they do not tolerate heat well and can overheat quickly and get heatstroke. Sometimes they might seem a bit better the next day but then pass away several days later from internal damage. If you remember earlier this year when we had that run of days at about 45 degrees, I heard of so many people (through a rabbit rescue, through my vet and people at the vet clinic) who lost their pet rabbits to the heat. Some of the people seemed surprised to have lost them (I thought they were stupid ). So yes you can keep rabbits outside, but you really have to be sensible about the heat. Anything over 32 is a risk to a rabbit. Some handle the heat better than others, but it's best simply not to risk it. Our cold temperatures however are perfectly acceptable for rabbits.

Another thing to keep in mind when housing outdoors is the risk of myxomatosis. This year was a bad year for it and there were quite a number of deaths from many different suburbs. You can't vaccinate for it, so the best you can do is prevention by keeping hutches covered in flyscreen, or by keeping rabbits indoors.

Ultimately, the decision is yours. Rabbits can lead perfectly happy outdoor lives, you simply have to be prepared to bring them in whenever it's going to be too warm, and if you work, this means preparing that set up before leaving for work in the morning. Rabbits do make very rewarding (and challenging) indoor pets. In regards to an outdoor run, I advise making sure it has a roof, not only to protect from predators, but also to prevent escaping bunnies (they're extremely adept escape artists).

Thank you Azerane Really helpful advice especially as you're from my area Yes, our last summer was a doozy, I barely survived it myself, that's what really made me think about having them indoors in those kinds of conditions. Interesting about the cold weather, I didn't realise that they could tolerate the cold (I will probably bring them in anyway though).

I intend to slowly introduce them to grass and see how they go. I will start with clippings (sheared of course, not lawnmower clippings) added to their hay a bit at a time and monitor their 'output' and general health closely.

I've just looked up myxomatosis information ... oh man, another thing to worry about. Are there other ways to protect them without have to mesh the whole hutch? That's one of my biggest worries now.

Thanks again. xx