Hot & Humid

[thatkiidsean]

Hey guys!

It's me yet again! This time, I have a couple questions about cleaning and cooling down a rabbit. The summers here where I live are often very hot and very humid; we usually have AC in the house, but sometimes it takes us a while to even put the AC in. Would the rabbit get overheated if the AC wasn't hooked up? If so, what is the best way to cool it down? I have heard you can provide dirt for them to lay on, but this leads me to my next question: how would you clean your bunny afterwards, since it's not recommended to give the bunny a bath? This may be a silly question, but could you use dry shampoo?

Thank you!

:thanks:

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

I've never heard of using dirt. They should be fine under 80 degrees F but if it gets above that then they can get heat exhaustion. Put a fan in the area you have the bunny, not directly on it but just to get some air movement.

Put water in bottles 3/4 full and freeze them then they lay on them to cool off. Make sure they always have cold water and you can put ice in the water. They won't drink it if it's warm. You can also freeze treats or fruit and then they chew on them! Also, you can wet down their ears, that helps them cool off. I hope this helps.

 

[Bville]

You can use ceramic or marble tiles for them to lie on. The tiles stay cool even in the hot weather. You can buy them at any home improvement store like Home Depot or Lowes. You can even put them in the freezer and rotate them out during the day.

 

[RandomWiktor]

In addition to all of the great suggestions above, you can also get a good-sized granite tile or slab - better, two - for the rabbit to lie on. They tend to stay significantly cooler than the surrounding environment, and you can rotate the slabs from your refrigerator to the enclosure for further cooling effect. This is popular for chinchillas, which are even more heat-sensitive than bunnies.

ETA: oops, someone beat me to it!

 

[JBun]

http://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-health/recognizing-heat-stroke-in-your-pet-rabbit/

Side note to a suggestion in the link: It's best to wait to introduce veggies and fruit to rabbits that are at least 12 weeks old. If providing veggies and your rabbit isn't used to them, they should be introduced gradually and one at a time. Same goes for fruit, which should be in very limited amounts because of the sugars, and shouldn't be given if your rabbit develops a poopy butt.
http://www.lagomorphs.com/salad.pdf

 

[Lati]

I live in Barcelona, so It gets incredibly hot for my poor fluffy baby, so I always leave frozen water bottles in her favourite places, give her cold water to drink in her bottle and some in a bowl with ice, we leave all the interior door and windows open so we can have a breeze running through and she seems okay, we just keep an extra eye on here once spring/summer kicks in here. Also, and I hope this doesn't upset people, but I put her in the freezer - with the door open a crack - for a couple of minutes, she absolutely loves it, she's always trying to get in the freezer and loves laying down on the bottom shelf to cool down, just have to remember she's in there!
We're also planning on getting some tiles that we can freeze and leave around for her to lay on.

 

[bellaarchie]

Spraying water on their ears can also help, as this is where they lose the most heat from. And frozen water bottles.