Fly strike

[Rhinelander]

I want to be prepared for summer because I live in an area where temps for the day usually exceed 100 degrees and during late summer it get humid my rabbit lives outside are there any herbs that would repel the flies and other bugs if there are any other natural alternatives to chemicals I would love to hear about them any help would really be appreciated thanks in advance also I live in the southwest part of the us so its pretty dry most of the summer it's only humid in mid August to late September because of the late afternoon thunderstorms but these happen almost every day without exaggeration

 

[Blue eyes]

I also live in the southwest. Bunnies can die of heatstroke in temps of 80F - 85F. I'd highly suggest you consider housing your rabbit inside. I know the rabbit rescues near me will not even allow a bunny to go to an outdoor environment in our heat.

There are those who use frozen water bottles and other cooling ideas when temps get warm, but where we (you & I) live, those outside temps of up to 120F are simply too hot. Heck, I have trouble keeping the house down to 85F INSIDE when it's that hot outside. I even use the frozen water bottles inside the air conditioned house for this reason.

I've always housed mine indoors and it truly is do-able. (Many on this site house indoors) Just take a look at the "2014 cages you've made" link to see how people keep their buns indoors.

Our outdoor temps are just too hot and it's a sustained heat, not just a day or two.

 

[Bindi]

There is citronella- you can get it in proper oil etc forms, or you can make your own like I did (boiled some orange and lemon slices to death and then left them to soak in the water overnight then bottled the water...) Probably a better way of doing that...

 

[lovelops]

I want to be prepared for summer because I live in an area where temps for the day usually exceed 100 degrees and during late summer it get humid my rabbit lives outside are there any herbs that would repel the flies and other bugs if there are any other natural alternatives to chemicals I would love to hear about them any help would really be appreciated thanks in advance also I live in the southwest part of the us so its pretty dry most of the summer it's only humid in mid August to late September because of the late afternoon thunderstorms but these happen almost every day without exaggeration

I will repeat what everyone else had written. 100F temps will kill rabbits from heatstoke. Here is an article online concerning that:

Whether your rabbit is indoors or out, one concern that all rabbits share is their rabbit's reaction to the sweltering summer heat. Looking at the makeup of the common domestic rabbit, one sees that he is completely covered from head to toe in a thick fur coat. This leaves no way for the rabbit to perspire. There are virtually no means of which the rabbit can cool his body temperature. Not only is it uncomfortable for your rabbit, it can also be extremely dangerous to his health, even fatal. Rabbits and heat are never a good combination, and heat stroke is one of the leading causes of death in rabbits. Fortunately it can easily be avoided, even if you do not have air conditioning.
Before we venture into prevention and treatment, let us delve into the signs ans symptoms that help you recognize that your rabbit has or is beginning to get heat stroke.
*The rabbit is fully stretched out. The feet are sprawled apart and the tail is limp.
*Eyes are half closed. The rabbit has a sleepy or dazed appearance.
*The rabbit's tongue is hanging out. His breathing is rapid and possibly labored.
*The rabbit is reluctant to move.
*The rabbit refuses to eat or drink. -If your rabbit ever refuses to eat or drink for more then 6 hours get them to a veterinarian immediately!
Prevention against the summer heat is key to your rabbit's comfort and survival. Prevention will save you both stress and is simple enough to do.
WAYS TO PREVENT HEAT STROKE:
Fill two to three one or two liter bottles about eighty percent full with water and freeze them. Take one out, wrap in paper towels or with a thin, clean rag that you won't care to be chewed upon. Place this in your rabbit's pen. This will last between four and eight hours before you will need to replace it with a new one. Place the thawed bottle back in the freezer so that you may use it again. Your rabbit will lay next to, or even on this bottle and get great relief from the heat.
Place a 12 inch by 12 inch ceramic tile in your rabbit's pen for her to lie on. If you place the tile in the refridgerator for an hour beforehand it will provide even greater relief.
Put ice cubes in your rabbit's water crock. I recommend spill proof crocks in the hottest part of summer over water bottles as the crockery holds the temperature making it less likely that your rabbit will have to drink warm or even hot water. Keep your rabbit in clean, fresh water at all times.
Place a cold, damp towel over a fan directed at your rabbit's pen. As the water evaporates it will help keep your rabbit cool.
If your rabbit seems to already be suffering from the heat - try the following:
Rub chilled, damp fingers over the rabbit's ears repeatedly. Rechill the fingers every few strokes (ice cubes work best for this task). You may also try a cool, damp (not wet) cotton ball inside the exposed area of your rabbit's ears. Take care not to drip water down into the ears. A rabbit's ears are very sensitive and a major vasculatory structure. Cooling off the rabbit's ears helps to cool off the entire rabbit.
Soak a towel in cool (not cold) water and drape it over your rabbit. Colder is not better as it may throw your rabbit into shock. Hopefully your rabbit will not resist this process. If she does, do not fight her on it. The stress will only aggravate the situation.
As a last resort, dip your rabbit into cool water, taking care to keep her head and ears above the water. Most rabbits will not like this, and though it is effective, it will likely cause undue stress for your rabbit.
The advice here is not meant to supercede that of your veterinarian. I am not a licensed animal health care provider. I have been involved in raising rabbits for five years and have taken all measures to educate myself on their well being. These things have worked for me in providing my rabbits with a healthy, and hopefully, happy life.
Remember- an ideal temperature for your rabbit is in the fifty to sixty degree Fahrenheit range. Any day above eighty degrees is a potential problem for your rabbit. With care and prevention your rabbit and you will enjoy many years of happy, comfortable summers.

 

[Azerane]

Are they in hutches? If so, you can attach fly screen to all of the mesh/bar areas of the hutch will prevent flies and other biting insects from getting in the hutch to them. Generally, if you're rabbit doesn't have a messy bottom (with soft poop etc) they are unlikely to get fly strike. It's much more common with rabbits with messy bottoms.

There are some plants which are supposed to repel mosquitoes, not sure if they'd work for flies. "Mosquito Plant" which is a form of scented geranium, and also some herbs. But this is only for mosquitoes. http://voices.yahoo.com/does-mosquito-plant-really-repel-mosquitos-6422148.html

Here's a list for flies: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/herbs-deter-flies-naturally.htm

 

[Rhinelander]

Thanks everyone blue eyes would this work I have an outdoor misting system I could run 12 hours a day I would also do the food floor tile and frozen water bottle and I could bring her in for the hottest part of the day from 1-4 pm and then give the cold things again I am going to build a hutch that will be 4 ft wide 6 ft long and about 6 1/2 ft tall bed aide I'm 6' 5" I could plant some tall sunflowers on the south and west sides of the hutch to provide shade and since the hutch will have an upstairs I could make a window to put a smal fan or hang on swamp cooler because I think they use water to bring down the temp

 

[Blue eyes]

Thanks everyone blue eyes would this work I have an outdoor misting system I could run 12 hours a day I would also do the food floor tile and frozen water bottle and I could bring her in for the hottest part of the day from 1-4 pm and then give the cold things again I am going to build a hutch that will be 4 ft wide 6 ft long and about 6 1/2 ft tall bed aide I'm 6' 5" I could plant some tall sunflowers on the south and west sides of the hutch to provide shade and since the hutch will have an upstairs I could make a window to put a smal fan or hang on swamp cooler because I think they use water to bring down the temp

The swamp cooler running 24/7 would really be the only safe option. Though I'm not sure if it would be good enough in August during monsoon season. Swamp coolers aren't effective when humidity is high.

Fans won't make a lick of difference when temps are that hot. And the misting system won't be enough either, imo.

Heck, I worry about temps getting too high in the air conditioned house in peak summer. It occasionally creeps up to 87F inside (still 30 degrees cooler than outside!) It's just plain too hot for housing buns outside here.

As for bringing them in during the hottest part of the day (for us, that is usually 4-5 pm, not 1-4 as it is on the east coast), that could be a problem too. I've read on this forum that it's not good to have a bun go through temp changes of more than 10 degrees. This was in reference to people wanting to bring buns in from the cold in colder parts of the country, but I think the concept is the same. If a bun is brought in to a 75F a/c house in the afternoon and than put outside again to 110F, that could be a problem.

Earlier I referenced a link to RO members' indoor cages. I'd like to also reference my own website too. It's about housing indoor rabbits and is intended to show people who are unfamiliar or new to that idea, what it can be like to keep buns indoors. I hope you will look around there and consider housing your bun inside, at least from May thru Sept. You could always switch bunny to your outside hutch idea during the cooler months.

 

[Fidget]

I think everyone's pretty much covered heat stroke, but since last summer I had a horrible experience with fly strike the day I got back from a weeks holiday - which was fatal to one of my bunnies- I think I can be a bit more useful on that particular topic.

First of all, my understanding is that fly strike is nowhere as common in rabbits as it is in undocked (tailed) sheep. Most of the time, rabbits are very clean. Making sure your rabbit is clean and dry (and not too hot, as others have pointed out) is the absolutely most important thing you can do. Flies are attracted to the smell of poop, basically, so make sure your bunnies do not get poop on the feet, legs or tail.

Do this in two ways:

1) Keep their diet full of fibre such as hay and veggies, reduce high protein pellets and sugary treats such as fruit and carrots. Their poops should be firm and dry with visible bits of hay. I was on holiday up until the day before my bunnies got fly strike, and my bunny babysitter did not feed my rabbits correctly, which meant they had a week of sloppy bum.

2) If it is humid or raining, groom the and use pure corn flor/ corn starch baby powder to absorb extra moisture- not talc. This isn't the way you should always groom them but during hot, humid seasons it can be a life saver. If you can, bring them inside away from extreme weather. It rained the week before my bunnies got fly strike, so they were wet and they had a poopy bum.

It is also important to check them EVERYDAY for signs of fly strike - make sure you check right down to the skin in the fur around their genitals and tail. When my rabbits got fly strike, I didn't know what had happened, and assumed the maggots I found where because my bunny was dead, and not the cause of death. I brought my other bunny, Fidget, inside, fearing some kind of airborne disease - it was only the next day that as I held her for comfort that I discovered, to my absolute horror, a mass of maggots crawling in the damp, matted and poopy fur around her genitals and tail. I fled to the vet, who'd had a lot of cases that week due to the week of rain and then subsequent heat wave, but nothing can erase from me the horror of finding a live animal, a beloved pet, with maggots literally eating her alive, and realising that my other rabbit had died of shock within a few hours due to the same fate. My living bunny had all the fur around her bum shaved, and got four stitches above her tail, and a prescription of antibiotics. A year on and she's doing great.

Fly strike is rare with the correct care, but a real risk depending on weather conditions and the health and housing of your bunny.