100 deg temp kills bunnies ?

[blk90s13]

I had a 8 week old bunny die the other day when it was 102 deg here


they had plenty of water and food also they are in the shade for most of the morning only sun hits the cage at about 5pm for an hour or so


is that normal ?

 

[dbunni]

Yes ... any temp in excess of 90 is dangerous for animals. Many breeders have lost animals, young, old and litters, in this heat wave we are having in the Midwest (ohio specifically). The angoras are under fans 24/7 with the coated (not shaved down) and young having special units that blow across ice. We rotate frozen tiles every 2-3 hours, cold water is taken out 4-5 times a day (as bottles & bowls warm and animals are less inclined to drink hot water in the heat), and frozen fruit is given as treats.

Sorry about your loss, it always hurts to loose one of our friends.

 

[the funny farm6615]

we use frozen soda bottles for them to lay on and next to. and along with frozen friuts and vegies we give frozen bread- if they dont want to eat it they lay on it. and fans during the day.

i haddent heard of the frozen tiles what kind of tiles do you use? this might be better that the soda bottles.

 

[dbunni]

Any tile marketed for outside ... around decks and such will work. We use tiles instead of bottles beacuse of the Angora Wool ... itcky thing when it is wet! Cannot show a felted angora! Some buns don't like the slick surface, so just turn them over. The bottoms are texturized to sit in sand . Many of the rabbits will lick and play with it, cooling themselves down. Plus they do not take up as much space in the freezer and freeze faster than water bottles. Also bottles will eventually heat to the air temp. The tiles will cool then balance to the bunnies temp. We have been using them for years with great success ... our freezer has everything from 12x12 to 6x6 in it.

Also we use the blue cooler bottles (big heavy units with hard casings) to place in front of fans.

 

[blk90s13]

Thanks for the great ideas will try some frozen tiles sounds like it would work good

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Thanks from here too.

I already use frozen 2-liter bottles. But with needing to separate out a few from the last litters I was starting to worry that my whole freezer is soon going to be full of nothing but frozen bottles, especially if I need to start changing them more often in Late July/August.

I have some tiles stored in the garage, so I will plan to freeze them today. Thanks again!