How should I keep bunnies cool?

[Dutchgirl]

I found an unexpected pile of bunnies in the doe's cage yesterday. It seems that somehow she met up with the buck, Chaplin, when he was running around in the chicken coop. Mollie (the doe) has the nickname Houdini (yes, that's how much she gets out.)

Anyway, although I've raised a few litters before, they've all been in the springtime. How should I keep them cool now that it often reaches the 90s?
I've brought the nestbox inside this afternoon. However, I didn't put any bedding in besides a paper towel, a handful of grass, and of course the fur. Should I add more bedding, or will it get too hot?

 

[Bunnylady]

If this were my litter, I'd put hay in the nest box anyway. I have heard that crawling around on the flat floor of the box can lead to leg bone deformities in the kits - don't know if that's true. The kits will spread out to stay cooler, so make sure that whether in the house or the cage, they can't get out of the box. Good luck!

 

[Dutchgirl]

Thanks. I read that putting pine shavings in can cause liver disease. Is this true? I was going to put some in, but then I saw that.

What I'm worried about now is the brown crust lining their nostrils. I'm not sure what it is. They all have it. I looked it up but I can't find much...

 

[morgan36]

I use to have rabbits when it was hot out I use to freeze bottles of water and put it in the cage threw the day for them to lay against

 

[erinszoo]

We put frozen water bottles in their cages each day when it hits about 90. If it gets over 95 or so we bring them all inside. Our last litter of babies we brought inside and put in a nest in the corner of a big box in our room, then we brought mama in to them twice a day (cause we didn't know when she was feeding). It worked great. I would second using straw or hay in the nest along with the fur. They really have no way of keeping warm until their own fur comes in and mama isn't going to lay with them except to feed them. Don't know about brown crusty stuff. Haven't seen that.

 

[Heat]

I have heard great results from the frozen water bottle as described above. I have tried it with my 2 month old buns and they cuddle right up to it when they get hot.

 

[fiveladybugs]

We do frozen water bottles for our lionheads too. They really enjoy it.