What do you do with your buns in the winter?

[Pipistrella]

We have two buns who are happily bonded, a male and a female. The male recently had minor surgery and has been kept in the hutch, so she stayed with him obviously so they didn't start to fight.

The female really wants to run about in the garden sometimes, but often they just sit cuddled up under part of a blanket on their hutch and don't run about at all.

The garden is wet, almost flooded in places, very muddy and not very exciting in this weather.

They do have the walk in run whre their hutch is, but it's only 10x10 and has a large hutch and a large chicken ark in it so there's not much room to roam.

Added to this, male bunny has started getting a very dirty bottom and I think being in the wet grass adds to this.

I'm tempted to keep them in their hutch/walk in run, because it's warm and dry and they don't seem to make the most of being free anyway - just till the weather perks up.

But would this be unkind?

It's a lot better in the summer obviously when everything is dry. But I wondered what everyone else does with their rabbits in the crappy weather.

[fiverabbits]

We have 6 outdoor rabbits who love to get out into the garden but ours is dreary, muddy and and cold at the moment. What we do is we bring in the one that has free run of the housing, the others have their own cages but are 2 couples and 1 single, so when the one is indoors, 1 couple or the single then run free. Sometimes the couple or the single come indoors for human company and run around in our large shower room so if they make a mess it can be cleaned up easily. They all love coming indoors for cuddles and one of the singles comes in when the DD is home and watches the TV for an hour, he loves Emmerdale and Coronation street and sits on his part of an armchair, yes I know this sounds crazy but he does. He spent this afternoon on the DD's bed as it was raining outside, at any time he could have come downstairs and gone outside but he didn't want to.

[Pipistrella]

Thank you for replying, that sounds lovely! I would be tempted to bring ours in but we have a bathroom crammed with things and there are cables to eat, too (washing machine) and there isn't anywhere really safe for them to run. I wouldn't mind the mess so much, but am worried they would get lost and not be findable!

A complication is that we have a chicken, too (just the one!) and she shares the run but she has to go out in the garden every day or she goes nuts, so that means letting them out too - I think once the weather improves it will be a lot easier but at the moment I'll just take it day by day.

It worked well at our old house but the set up is a bit different here so we're still trying to adjust.

I love the idea of a rabbit watching TV

[noramum]

Our two bunnies are have a large run attached to their hutch and they are sitting on the patio. The lawn is a no-go area, even for humans at the moment.

They are part time upstairs, sitting together, cuddling and part-time in the run, chewing on whatever is there to play, the run is situated that lunchtime sun (if there is any) comes in and I often see them laying there getting their fur warm.

The female (larger body) seems to be less irritated by the cold, she is around a lot more than her brother (smaller build and lighter). But I recently saw them on the ground at 9.30pm when it was freezing cold.

I found that even in Summer in the larger lawn run they often sit around, eat (the male would eat everything set in front of him, so grass time has to be limited or he would be sick). and only run around for short burst of time.

[Slimmingcrackers]

Ours live inside all year round but have a choice whether to go in or out at certain regular times of the day (when the dog is out of the house or locked inside). Given the choice, they prefer to go out very early in the morning or just as it is getting dark; they seem to avoid sunny and bright weather. But when the weather is really wet and dull like it is now, they prefer to stay inside all the time (but they have loads of space in which to move around) but I still give them the option ifyswim.

The floor in the room where they live is quite cold (despite being strewn with hay) so they have an indoor hutch to retreat to in really bitter weather (it was -5 here this morning for example) but they rarely do.

I must admit that looking after largely indoor rabbits is a lot less chilly for me and dd too!

They seem to quite like snow btw!