Rabbit resting pads

[Xerocles]

This is minutia, not a life changing question, but I thought I'd toss it out there with all the experience in this crowd. Sometimes the little things can add up in the big picture.
Resting pads. Give the rabbits a break from the wire. Wood, commercial pads, ceramic tiles, some I probably can't even imagine yet. I don't have super hot summers but it gets pretty warm if you're wearing a fur coat. So I am thinking of any edges to help. Shade, fans, frozen water bottles, all YES. But. I read somewhere that natural stone tiles (granite, marble) retain their "coolness" longer than ceramic. Any thoughts/experience?
Like l said, not earth shattering, but any edge is more of a leg up.

 

[animalmom]

I like the plastic ones best.

I've tried ceramic tile and found it to be more work than it was worth. The rabbits didn't seem to care for the surface, they peed on it and made it something I had to clean/disinfect twice a day. Plus you get enough of them and they are heavy. I don't recommend ceramic tile at all. If you could get marble scraps that might be better.

The plastic ones are easy to clean, occasional do break, and some rabbits will chew on them, but over all they last a long time.

I keep two sets so one set is in the cages the other set is in a diluted bleach solution soaking. Scrub, rinse and you are good to go for another week.

I have two large barn fans in the bunny barn, one at each long end -- set at different heights so one fan cools the top row and the second fan cools the bottom row. I also have a misting system that is out front of the cages so it helps cools the air but doesn't spray on the rabbits.

Frozen water bottles didn't work for me with my 8 cages for the following reasons: didn't last but a couple hours, would need three sets of bottles (one set frozen in the cage, on set just put in the freezer, and the third set half frozen so it would be ready to go in the cages next). My DH put the stop to that because all that warm water was thawing the freezer. Other folks have had great success with the frozen bottles.

 

[Xerocles]

Oh, you're just wanting to brag on your fancy professional set-up with two big fans, misters, and double rows of cages. JUST KIDDING!! Envy talking. Yes, I like the plastic ones also, but having no experience, I thought, still holes, so where is the escape from the wire. TEACH ME, OH WISE ONE!

 

[animalmom]

You ask really thoughtful questions! Keep it up!!!

The plastic resting mats are not completely flat. Each piece is a raised half moon shape so the sitting rabbit is putting pressure on different parts of the back feet. The spacing is not the same as wire so the pressure evens out... the rabbit spends time on the wire and then spends time on the mat.

Humm, not satisfied with that explanation. Let's try this... on the wire the pressure on the back feet is at 1,3,5 and on the mat the pressure is 2,4.

Was that better?

Just curious, what are you planning to do for rabbit water? Bottles, crocks, hooked up to pressurized house water? What is your plan for when it freezes? Rabbits will not eat if they can not drink.

 

[Baymule]

Yeah, carrying buckets of boiling water gets real old, real fast! This was January 2018, but here in east Texas, it only lasts a few days and it melts and goes away. But for those freezing days, it's not much fun! We got to 11 degrees! Then the sun comes out and the temps go up, NO WAY I could live with months of snow and freezing weather. Yup, just call me a Southern Magnolia!

I did this twice a day, toting buckets of hot water, while my husband kept the pots going on the stove. By the time I cracked ice, added boiling water and slogged back to the house, he had more boiling water ready. Teamwork!

​

If you use water bottles, you could keep extras to rotate them in and out of the house.

 

[messybun]

Rabbits are far more cold tolerant than heat tolerant, so good on you for already thinking about the summer.
Unfortunately my outdoor rabbit experience has been pretty bad, so let me warn you of some pitfalls.
My lion heads loved to sit with their backs on their water bottles to make the cold water drip on them. Comb them out every now and then and there was no trouble until I got two with fly strike. Learn what eggs look like. One survived and the other was dead before anything could be done. Baby powder or DE will dry up the water and can be brushed out btw.
Frozen water bottles can be chewed and eaten, they apparently taste better than hay and wood treat sticks too. Almost killed my favorite girl.
Spiders also love to hide where you don’t even think exists and will kill rabbits. Brown widows will leave a blueish tint on the lips ffr.
Heatstroke is pretty common, so shade is always a good idea. Fans are great, but make sure the wires aren’t near the cages or where a goat could manage to push them within chewing range. Thankfully it wasn’t plugged in.
Oh, and if you let them in the grass for a while make sure your rabbit won’t climb the fence, because they can.
I ended up with house rabbits only. Better luck to you.

 

[Xerocles]

@animalmom the first explaination was perfect...which was good. Because that second attempt was about as clear as mud.
Heres what I'll do. Neither option is going to break the bank. So I'm gonna get BOTH. And see which the rabbits use most. Long term observation, because I won't really know until the heat of the summer. Hey, it may turn out they have a winter pad & a summer pad.
Water?? I don't know. See, you're staying a step ahead of me. That was one of my upcoming questions. I planned to start with crocks. Since I probably will start with young stock (I'm gonna start a thread about that later today cause it has become a frustration for me. Watch for it.) So probably won't have more than 3-4 rabbits until hard freeze danger is past. Not so hard to dump ice from 4 bowls....well and the chickens of course. Big infrastructure things like cages & sheds I know I gotta have right the first time...but 4 waterers...I can think about it and change later.
But speaking of winter @Baymule your picture and refering to yourself as a "southern magnolia" gave me a shivery laugh! I remember our blizzard of this past winter (my first here). I ran outside and counted the snowflakes....and used up nearly all the fingers of BOTH hands! Now watch, I probably just cursed myself and we'll get snow to my armpits this year.

 

[messybun]

Rabbits are far more cold tolerant than heat tolerant, so good on you for already thinking about the summer.
Unfortunately my outdoor rabbit experience has been pretty bad, so let me warn you of some pitfalls.
My lion heads loved to sit with their backs on their water bottles to make the cold water drip on them. Comb them out every now and then and there was no trouble until I got two with fly strike. One survived and the other was dead before anything could be done. Baby powder or DE will dry up the water and can be brushed out btw.
Frozen water bottles can be chewed and eaten, they apparently taste better than hay and wood treat sticks too. Almost killed my favorite girl.
Spiders also love to hide where you don’t even think exists and will kill rabbits. Brown widows will leave a blueish tint on the lips ffr.
Heatstroke is pretty common, so shade is always a good idea. Fans are great, but make sure the wires aren’t near the cages or where a goat could manage to push them within chewing range. Thankfully it wasn’t plugged in.
Oh, and if letting in the grass for a while make sure your rabbit won’t climb the fence, because they can.
I ended up with ten in the

 

[Xerocles]

Rabbits are far more cold tolerant than heat tolerant, so good on you for already thinking about the summer.
Unfortunately my outdoor rabbit experience has been pretty bad, so let me warn you of some pitfalls.
My lion heads loved to sit with their backs on their water bottles to make the cold water drip on them. Comb them out every now and then and there was no trouble until I got two with fly strike. Learn what eggs look like. One survived and the other was dead before anything could be done. Baby powder or DE will dry up the water and can be brushed out btw.
Frozen water bottles can be chewed and eaten, they apparently taste better than hay and wood treat sticks too. Almost killed my favorite girl.
Spiders also love to hide where you don’t even think exists and will kill rabbits. Brown widows will leave a blueish tint on the lips ffr.
Heatstroke is pretty common, so shade is always a good idea. Fans are great, but make sure the wires aren’t near the cages or where a goat could manage to push them within chewing range. Thankfully it wasn’t plugged in.
Oh, and if you let them in the grass for a while make sure your rabbit won’t climb the fence, because they can.
I ended up with house rabbits only. Better luck to you.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll try to keep an eye out for those things.

 

[Baymule]

Make sure your water crocks angle out instead of in.
Don't breed your rabbits in the summer. Pregnant, fat, fur coat, heat=heat stroke and a dead rabbit. Fall, winter and early spring are ok, not late spring or summer.