Baby It's Cold Out There - Winterizing Your Rabbit Hutch For Winter
Written by The Rabbit Hole Hay Team
With temperatures dropping in the cold winter months, it’s important to make sure that your rabbit is warm enough in their hutch. While allowing your rabbit to sleep inside of your home is the safest; we understand that some people use hutches, whether for just during the day or for full-time use.
Using a hutch is popular, that's why we found the basic care involved in keeping your rabbit's hutch warm and weatherproof this winter an important topic to educate on! Keep reading to learn the best techniques for winterizing your rabbit hutch.
As we mentioned, the best way to ensure that your pet rabbit is the safest during the winter months is to keep them inside with you.
This way they'll be in a warm, covered area where no wind or rain can reach them. Plus, you probably have a heater going which, they love just as much as you do!
It's important to remember that rabbits are delicate creatures who get colder faster than humans do. If a rabbit is exposed to too harsh of conditions, like extreme cold or wet weather, they can easily get sick or die. This is why knowing how to care for a pet rabbit when weather conditions get cold and being extra cautious is vital to their health.
If your rabbit is using a hutch, make sure you are even more careful and aware fo how well you've prepared it for winter weather.
Winterizing Your Rabbit Hutch
Hutches need to be clean and dry. Rabbits can cope with the cold fairly well, but not dampness. Make sure you cover up your rabbit’s hutch at night to prevent any drafts.
If the hutch is attached to a run (an area that is exposed to the outside so they can move around), buy a waterproof cover to keep the run area dry. Use a tarpaulin with eyelets so it can be secured in place over the hutch and run. If you don’t want to buy one, make your own by using something like plastic sheeting, tar paper or Plexiglas.
Ideas on Preparing the Outside of Hutch
- Put old blankets or carpets over the hutch and run, but under the tarpaulin for extra insulation. Make sure the rabbits cannot chew on these as this could result in an intestinal blockage.
- Put windbreaks up around the hutch and run.
- Line your shed to create a double wall and an extra layer of insulation.
- Add clear sheeting; plastic, plexiglass, or perspex sheets to the front of hutches and runs to keep them weather proof. Keeping the sheeting clear helps the rabbits to see out. If you do this make sure there is still good ventilation; perhaps leave a small gap along the top.
- Entrances should face south, away from the wind. If this is not possible, turn it around and put something in front to block the direct wind and rain.
Ideas on Preparing the Inside of Hutch
- Use some cheap carpet samples for the rabbits to lay or sit on (make sure the edges aren’t fraying). Keep an eye on the samples to make sure the rabbits are not chewing on them.
- Add a cardboard box with a small hole to the sleeping area and fill it with dry straw, hay or food grade bedding. If your rabbit urinates in the sleeping area, get a litter tray which fits inside the cardboard box, this will help by making it easier for you to clean out and it’ll make the box last longer.
- Buy a ‘Snugglesafe Heatpad’. You warm it up in the microwave and it releases heat for a few hours, so you’ll need to reheat it a couple of times a day.
- Add a low wattage heater to your shed, but make sure the rabbits cannot get to the electrical cord.
For all the hay your rabbit needs this winter or extra bedding to keep their litter box or hutch clean and protecting against odor longer, shop our store!
