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AR15.COM
6/14/2009 8:30:23 PM EDT
Learned a valuable lesson today.  Rabbits can't handle heat all too well.  I keep my rabbit cages in the shade, and pretty well ventilated.  Fill the water cans twice a day, check on the rabbits and all that jazz.  My preggo momma rabbit had a heat stroke and died when it was about 90* out today, lost 8 kits 4 days before they were due.

Keep your rabbits cool folks, going to buy some fans tomorrow.  According to my breeder New Zealands tend to handle the heat very poorly compared to other breeds.
6/15/2009 5:22:02 AM EDT
[#1]
I have bred New Zealand whites for years and never had a problem with heat stroke. If you have one doe in a cage and have to fill the bottle more than once a day it is too hot or you have a really small bottle. Filling as many bottles as I used to once a day got old so I put in  an automatic watering system.  You should move the pen to a cooler area.



I breed rabbits for large snakes, so I produce several hundred a year. I have to get up before dawn to breed them, otherwise the buck will be sterile.
6/15/2009 10:56:39 AM EDT
[#2]
Take some decent sized water bottles and fill them and then freeze them. Keep some frozen and rotate them out as they melt.

My holland lop loved to lay against it in the heat. Of course he stays inside all the time now, so we don't have to do it anymore.