Summertime Concerns - Summer is the most dangerous season for the rabbits. The lops and the Flemish are much better suited to cold weather than hot and while keeping them in total shade is an absolute must, it may not be enough to keep it safe. They need air movement and can not tolerate high temps.
Tips to help in the heat: When the days get to be over 85 degrees fahrenheit, we keep frozen plastic soda bottles filled with water in with the rabbits. These are changed out twice a day. It takes the rabbit a little while to learn what good the bottles are. Our pregnant does may get 4 or 5 bottles throughout the day in different parts of their cages.
Additionally, for the outside rabbits we have put up misting sprayers all along the fronts of the cages. This works because the water evaporation in our very dry climate provides evaporative cooling. We turn it off and night and let things dry out until the heat of the day. The rabbits inside have fans and fresh air.
It also seems that in the heat the rabbits much prefer munching on hay. After the show season ends for the summer we begin to switch back off the hi-octane show feed and move to something higher in fibre and lower in fat.
Observing your rabbits will tell you a lot about what they need.
