hot weather management

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Well now that I have survived our first winter with rabbits I am now thinking ahead to summer. I know bucks will become sterile if over 85 degrees. I have also been told about putting frozen water/pop bottles in the cage. What about actually hosing the rabbits with cool water? What concerns should I have with does kindling in hot weather? What other things should I be aware of?

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), April 15, 2002

Answers

Tracy... my rabbitry was broken up into three sections: a large barn, a small barn, and an outside section. The two barns were equipped with swamp coolers and sprinkling systems, but that was not possible for the outside section. In addition, I found that most of the outside rabbits had no idea what to even do with those ice bottles and simply didn't use them. Thus, I had to come up with other means of keeping them cool during the hot summers, and this is what I did:

We had rows of all-wire caging set inside of low, long shelters just large enough to cover each row. These shelters provided protection from the elements and were made of wood. The cages were hung inside the shelters.

Every two hours, I would spray all wood in the entire outside rabbitry, and including any wood accessible from inside the cage (the roof and the sides on each end of the rows). Then, I would *GENTLY* spray each of the rabbits. After spraying, I would go down the rows with the hose underneath the cages and wet the rabbits' bellies.

The tricks to this method are: 1. Keep the rabbits out of drafts. 2. Sufficient time MUST be given to allow each rabbit to be FULLY DRY before spraying, again (keeping them wet will cause problems). 3. NEVER use the hose at full force, as it will spook and can harm the rabbits.

Some rabbits actually enjoyed being sprayed. One red Satin buck would meet me at the front of his cage whenever he saw the hose in my hand, and he would stand up on his hind legs so I could wet his belly!

Once I instituted this method, I never lost another rabbit to the heat. And YES! It gets WELL over 100 degrees in eastern Washington state (high desert country)!

-- Pat Lamar (fuzyfarm@3-cities.com), April 15, 2002.


Signs of heat stress, including panting, drooling, or a nasal discharge.

Young bucks (6 to 9 months-old) have higher fertility and sex drive (libido) than older bucks and can be mated to does during the summer season to have good reproduction success.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), April 16, 2002.


Since I live in Texas this is generally a big concern. Here's what I have found, first they must be heavily shaded, I have mine inside the barn which is open on the south end... I have only two rows right now, an upper and a lower and I mounted box fans on the post which is right next to where the cages are mounted. I turn he fans on low in the am, and turn them off just before sunset. I also put in ice bottles in the morning before I leave for work. They hardly eat anything during the day when it's hot, often they don't drink very much either. I didn't lose any to heat stress last summer, which was my first summer with rabbits here.

You can breed them early in the morning when you are in a hot spell. Also be sure to use nest boxes that are not too tight. The kits will die if there isn't some airflow.

I was afraid to try wetting the bunnies down, but when I get the lean to built and cages in there I plan on misting that area.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), April 22, 2002.


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