Do I bring bunny in from the cold?

Helen2k8

Cold and dry is not a problem if they've been outside through autumn and had time to grow that nice warm fur coat. Cold and WET is the killer.
I wouldn't bring my rabbits indoors - they chew, they wee & poo, the dog would be too interested, and the landlord would not be happy...!

You might need to feed more as they use more energy to keep warm, if you handle them you'll work out if they're losing condition at all.

Certainly consider a hutchmate (and a nice big run) but be aware that adults of either sex may well fight horribly.

I've ripped up loads of newspaper in my run for extra bedding, they have carefully pulled it all out of the hidey hole and now sit on it in the open air.

rosie383

I took the advice from here and got the perfect sized box, it had had something fragile in it, so was double/ triple layered anyway. Packed all around it with hay, and used some of her fresh bedding to put inside (I was worried that she would be suspicious of it and refuse to go in!) so that it would have a familiar smell for her. When I checked her bedding yesterday, despite having snow on the ground, where she had been sleeping was actually very cosy and felt warm to touch. So I think she is warm enough.
How on earth would I go about getting a mate for her though? Where she came from, she had been living with her son who had bitten her and got her pregnant. If I get another female, how would I know that they would get on? I don't really want to get another bunny, only for them to hate each other and then she wouldn't have the cuddles and companionship which she needs.

krlyr

Is she spayed? Generally the best pairing with rabbits is a neutered male and a spayed female. No flying hormones, but being opposite genders does often seem to help. Two females together can work, but generally many people would recommend the neutered male over another female.
You can find a local rescue that will do the bonding process for you. If you're not too fussy about what the other rabbit turns out to be (you may have some limitations, e.g. not a giant breed because of your hutch size, not too old because your current rabbit is young, etc.) then they can do a "dating service" where they basically try your rabbit with one/two/three or so in rescue and find which one it gets along with best, rather than trying to force a bond with one particular rabbit just because you like the look of it.
You then take home your rabbits once that bond has started to form, to avoid the problem if them hating each other.
http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk has a section to search for both rabbits needing homes and rescues by location I believe.

gildius

We used to bring our guinea pigs into the house over the winter - we have a back room/utility room where we had two hutches (they couldn't be together because they fought, but they liked being next to each other), and we'd let them out to run around the lounge sometimes. It worked pretty well - I'd recommend bringing them in

chemical.galaxy

I have kept rabbit as pets for years outside and they have a very large run and double decker 'happy' hutch.

I insulated the hutch with thermal insulation foil from Wickes (clear plastic bubble-wrap with an aluminium foil sheet stuck on one side) as I could not find a big enough hutch hugger.
I covered the insulation foil with a large plastic sheet.

The bunnies seem to spend more time outside than in, they have grown a thick coat over the autumn which moults like mad in spring.

They are absolutely fine and living their life as rabbits should, running and jumping and digging the lawn up to their hearts content.