winterizing

[AquaticRex]

hey, this is the first time I've ever needed to winterize a bunny cage. it gets cold in the winter, especially in the basement where Dante's cage is. i have him upstairs during the day, but at night is when he's in his cage (been using a cage since he chewed a hole into the wall in his room :S) so yea, i don't really want to use straw or hay if i can help it. is there anything else i can use? (I'm still trying to get David to be OK with my idea of putting Dante in our room for the winter since we usually have a heater going. he said "maybe" so far, which is a good sign, but not the best) but in-case i cant put him in our room or upstairs (another idea I'm trying for but I'll have to convince a lot more people) then is there anything i can do? i wanna be able to go get the supplies now so I'm prepared before it gets too cold. i live nice and far up north so it gets much colder then some places. i don't even go outside in the winter >.<

 

[akane]

How cold? I would think you'd still need to keep the basement above freezing to avoid issues with the pipes. Most rabbits are good down well below freezing and with protection from the weather some are kept outside in to the negatives F.

 

[AquaticRex]

ok then it shouldn't be too bad. though i think it is a bit below freezing, i remember leaving a cup of water down there last winter and it froze, but the pipes are very well insulated even if the rest of the house isn't >.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

If the upstairs is hot and the downstairs is kept cold, You need to decide which he is at. It will make a rabbit sick going to big degree changes constantly

 

[AquaticRex]

yea, thats why i'm trying to figure it all out now. i'm trying for my bedroom, since we try to keep it at about the same temp as the living room area, which is where dante gets his free run time..

 

[tamsin]

You could use a greenhouse/shed heater or similar to keep the chill off. I would create an insulated box. Double walled plywood with insulation eg polystrene between works well. Just a small entrance hole to keep the warmth in. Some sort of bedding will help too - any reason you don't want to use hay? - Hay/straw is probably the best option.

Tam

 

[AquaticRex]

dante is in a room that is also used for part storage by the rest of the house for now. and he tends to be very messy (digging in his litter and such). i already have to sweep up around the cage 2 times a day so the others don't complain about it, and if hay is added to the mix i'll really get an ear full. i got them to stop complaining about him being in there by telling them that the bedroom is already crowded and they told me to move him from the living room so if they want him out of that room they're going to have to put him into one of their rooms and he is staying, there is no getting rid of him, that it's just not an option, ever.. if i were to put him into my room, he would have only a 2x2x2 cage with a small shelf, and that is really small to me. i wouldn't even be able to build up.
if he came into the bedroom for the winter i have to move the chair out of the room to make room for him. the cage would be smaller then the 4Lx4Wx3H he's used to, but he'd stay in a better temp. david is trying to say that it don't get cold in there, but he's a human furnace >.< he's so stubborn. i put a thermometer in there to show him how cold it gets and i'm writing down the temp at every feeding time.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

if you have to move him to a 2x2 cage, thats really fine for all the free time you give him. I know its downsizing, but honestly I don't see him staying in the warm nest box for the winter..... i can recall basically every rabbit i've ever had they just sit out in the cold and don't seem to care and ignore their boxes.

if he gets a lot of free time, then I'd do the 2x2 cage just for winter.

 

[AquaticRex]

yea he's usually out of his cage as much as i can manage so floor time is no problem. i don't like the idea of cages, he used to be free run in his room, until that very rabbit proofed room turned out to be not so rabbit proof when he managed to chew a hole into the wall... it's not really a visible hole, just a small one behind a very big pile of bricks (house mate's project that i doubt they're going to finish). so ever since i have had him in a nic cage and i've slowly been building it bigger and bigger lol. what i'm worried about is Dante is really active, and with a small cage, will he maybe just calm down? cause i dont want him to hurt himself when he's acting up at night...

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

He'd get used to the smaller cage at night, and may eventually understand thats bed time, play time is over. and just keep him busy during the day.

 

[AquaticRex]

i usually do, the lights go out 1 hour after his night time meal. that hour i spend sitting in the cage playing with him to tire him out. then lights go out and he's usually quiet. the cage is mostly big for when i'm gone out during the day time. that and i don't like the idea of cages, so i tried to make it as big as i can lol

but yea i guess he'll prolly get used to the smaller one in no time at all, especially since it would only be at night.