winter rabbit care

[lozza1985]

hi I'm recently a new owner to 2 rabbits can some one help me with different things need to do with them in the winter ! also what veg they can eat thanks x

[purplepidjin]

I'm a new bun owner too - although mine's a house bun Afaik, they should be under cover (garage under a duvet minimum) from around about now until the Spring. They don't have the defences wild buns have, and a hutch bun can't make a nice warm burrow to hide in...

Only food I know mine shouldn't have is lettuce, because it gives them indigestion! Mine loves carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans. Not so keen on soft stuff like tomatoes, courgettes, aubergine etc.

I know they're supposed to mostly eat hay so bun has fresh in his overnight crate, plus a bowl of the proper dry food which he snacks on. He gets veg when we've got it - mainly peelings rather than an entire carrot glares sternly at DP He absolutely loves twigs from my parents apple tree to chew on, and I have to hide stuff like bank statements because he's got quite a taste for paper

Fresh veg is the bun equivalent of chocolate. We're quite lax about it because ours gets so much exercise - the litter tray is upstairs, so he's up and down those four or five times a day!

[droves]

My rabbits are in the cave under the stairs ...they need lots of hay , mine get Timothy hay and sometimes as a treat calmomile hay.

They need lots of stuff to chew and nibble to keep their teeth down . Over grown teeth can cause no end of problems for a rabbit.
Sisal mats are good too , as they can chew them , but as they are tough the wear down claws also .get your vet to teach you how to trim claws properly . You will need to do it if the rabbits are house pets.

Hard veg is good , but mine would happily eat anything ...don't give lettuce it's very bad for them...and wash all fruit and veg first.

Also you will need to worm your rabbits , use pancur obtain it from vet . They need injections 6 monthly if they go outside or if they will be in contact with other animals who do.

You can get special rabbit toys from pets shops , mine love their little wooden house for hiding in , but you could happily give them a cardboard box to play with / chew . Rabbits can be quite clever at finding treats if you hide them inside boxes /tubes . Any toy that mimics natural environment (burrow like) is good ....tunnels , boxes to hide In .

And you will need to neuter them , so you don't have them fighting , or end up with loads of baby rabbits !

[purplepidjin]

House Bun has a cardboard box which he alternately eats and sleeps in. He also has access to about a billion cat toys scattered around the house, and is adept at killing toy mice

[smartyparts]

Mine love cabbage, cauliflower & sprouts. Their favourite thing is carrot green bits.

We put ours in the greenhouse last winter, but we're leaving them out this year. They have dug a huge burrow which they sleep in. I suspect it's the height of cosiness in there as we excavated their greenhouse one when they left and it was amazing.

I put lots of Timothy hay in their hutch too, although they rarely go into it as they don't seem to like it.

[southeastastra]

i usually put a blanket on the roof and around the cage, then secure with a tarpaulin in really bad weather

[thisisyesterday]

how old are they?
if you've just bought them as babies then I would really recommend that you keep them in over the winter as they will be too small to generate enough heat in their hutch and won't have grown big thick winter coats.

if you've rehomed them from someone, were they previously outside?

they'll eat most veg, but don't give them lettuce, potato, tomato leaves, rhubarb leaves

[thisisyesterday]

and can I just ask... did you not research before you got them? did the place you got them from give you no advice on keeping them? :(

did you check what food they were being given? rabbits have very delicate tummies and I've known more than one die from a sudden change in food

[southeastastra]

blimey thisisyesterday you are jumping (fnar) to lots of rabbity conclusions about the op's bunnies

rabbit really belong outside albeit it in tunnels

[thisisyesterday]

i'm not jumping to conclusions.. i am asking to see how much she knows and what their situation is

to be fair any reputable pet shop/breeder/owner looking to rehome/rehoming place would make sure that new owners knew EVERYTHING they needed to know about rabbits before selling them

[GypsyMoth]

Well we certainly weren't taken through an entire list of vegetables which are suitable! Or given winter advice. We bought them in spring so it was way off

From a re homing centre

[thisisyesterday]

oh no, but they would normally tell you what common things to avoid. or they ought to!

[louloubelle]

My 2 house buns eat a small handful of non selective food in the evening with a veg, not straight out of fridge. They eat occasional carrots with tops on, a bit of cabbage, parsley (have a plant on the windowsill), occasional bananas, strawberry tops, occasional pear, apple, celery, corn on cob and mounds of hay... My last house bun who lived to 12 died eventually of calcium build up...we fed him (not realising too much was bad) cabbage almost every day as he loved it. They enjoy demolishing lego boxes and skirting boards.

[WetAugust]

My 2 buns are still outside in double-deck hutch. The hutch outer walls and ceiling are wrapped in foil bubble insulation with a hutch hugger on top of that. The hutch hugger has a thick plastic front cover than goes down at night and is firmly velcro'd into place.

They have a sleeping compartment stuffed with straw and as there are 2 of them they snuggle up together.

When it gets colder I shall add a foil bubble layer to the front of the cage overnight and put perspex sheets against the wire doors.

It it gets cold for a long period they'll go into a smaller hutch in the garage overnight.

During the day they're in their run from early morning until dark and have a wooden house filled with straw to snuggle in and a tarpulin covering half the run - top and sides.

They seem happy so far.