Both our rabbits died last night. Beware!

Bloomin_Freezing2

Ah, thats so sad, sorry for you. What a shock to find them.

aloise

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

Surely rabbits manage to live even through the harshest of British winters?

Yes, I find it surprising that they died. My daughter has a rabbit that stayed out in all weathers. Had a hutch for him but would not entertain it at all. He was out in all the bad weather last year and was quite healthy and happy. He was a lucky rabbit to have his freedom and no cage, and the cats to play with. He loved them

jacobsdaduk

morg_monster wrote: »

Wow, I'm surprised by this too. I would have thought that with two of them they would have generated enough heat to stay warm together. Plus, at the moment with the sun still setting around 6pm or whatever it usually isn't freezing for more than a few hours before dawn. I also wonder if something else happened to them; it isn't unknown for rabbits to die of fright.

Oh? So you think it could have been fright? They were about 6 yrs.

My thoughts were that a sudden cold snap was what killed them. Our garden is very secure with 6ft walls and fences all around. There was no evidence of a fox and no blood on them.

I would be interested to know any other thoughts as to why they died, as my wife feels terribly guilty and thinks it's her fault.

MrsTinks

Accidents do happen and yes it could be fright that killed them, or they could have eaten something or it could be the cold snap if they are small bunnies without good winter coats. I have 1 bunny at the moment and she has a large hutch with a very full bed of straw but I have noticed she's getting a very thick winter coat already. I don't believe in the snugglesafe covers personally - I had rabbits in Denmark as a child and not being funny but -10 was quite normal in winter and my rabbits never had any covers on the hutches and they managed just fine... The important thing is making sure they are out of any wind and that rain can't get in.

jacobsdaduk

MrsTine wrote: »

Accidents do happen and yes it could be fright that killed them, or they could have eaten something or it could be the cold snap if they are small bunnies without good winter coats. I have 1 bunny at the moment and she has a large hutch with a very full bed of straw but I have noticed she's getting a very thick winter coat already. I don't believe in the snugglesafe covers personally - I had rabbits in Denmark as a child and not being funny but -10 was quite normal in winter and my rabbits never had any covers on the hutches and they managed just fine... The important thing is making sure they are out of any wind and that rain can't get in.

Actually, we only moved to this house a month or so ago and I've noticed on a couple of lists that both ivy and oak are toxic to rabbits - both of which are growing all over our garden.

morg_monster

I think it is more likely that they died of something other than cold. I mean I know it has been cold the past few weeks, but only a few degrees below zero (but OP if it has been colder than that where you are do say so!).

It could have died of fright; but tbh I think if it was a fox, he would have taken the bunnies and not left them there (sorry), and also it sounds unlikely that he would have been in your garden in the first place (although not impossible, they would probably prefer to crawl under a fence than jump over). Also this is horrid but bunnies would know there was a fox there and ours used to scream awfully when there was a fox in the garden, despite being locked in a hutch inside a secure run, they'd wake all the neighbours up, so you would have known about it I think.

I think the most likely explanation is that they might have munched on something poisonous. Don't beat yourself up about this, if you are going to get new bunnies and are intending to keep them in their hutch or a run all the time, you don't necessarily need to get rid of all poisonous plants unless you want to (there are a lot of them!). But if you want them to be able to explore the garden, or you worry that escapes might be a frequent occurrence, then you might want to do some investigating and at least clear toxic plants from ground level.

We have cats, and there are lots of plants that are toxic to them, some of which we have in our garden (daffodils, tomato plants), but cat's just aren't so into munching on green stuff so it's a question of balancing the risks and we have carefully watched them and decided not to remove plants. Bunnies are a different kettle of fish though and will havea little munch on almost anythign to see if they like the taste; sometimes even just a little munch could make them ill :-(

Kaelea

jacobsdaduk wrote: »

Oh? So you think it could have been fright? They were about 6 yrs.

My thoughts were that a sudden cold snap was what killed them. Our garden is very secure with 6ft walls and fences all around. There was no evidence of a fox and no blood on them.

I would be interested to know any other thoughts as to why they died, as my wife feels terribly guilty and thinks it's her fault.

sorry to hear about your bunnies .. its such a shame when we lose our much loved pets

It does sound very fox like, I'm not sure how big your bunnies were, but going years back a fox got into my uncles back garden, 6 foot fence all round, the fox was able to get bunny but then not able to jump out of the garden with a bunny in its mouth so abandoned it when it was disturbed, there wasn't a mark on my uncles bun either, if my uncle hadn't of seen the fox we would never of known

pug_in_a_bed

Thats so sad, what an awful thing for you all

Last year my sister found a robin frozen to death on the bird feeder, he had somehow become caught and then died from the cold.

My guinea pigs were on the grass yesterday but after about 2pm they hid in the shelter to get warm so i think that was their last day outside for a few months.

Tulip

I am so sorry for your loss poor Bunnies