Summer - Rabbits Don’t Do Sunbathing! | Seasons | Rabbits

At this point in the year all thoughts of winter have passed and evenings are spent by the grill. Whilst for many of us this is the ideal time of year, rabbits may not appreciate the heat and dryness so much. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help this.

Your rabbit may well have a good amount of grass in its diet already but if it doesn't, make sure you introduce it slowly. A sudden change in diet can make itself all too apparent by giving your rabbit diarrhoea.

Summer – too hot to handle?

Make sure that you check your rabbits twice a day in the summer heat. Apart from the usual daily and weekly routines try to check their body from end to end twice every day for any unusual signs. In particular, thoroughly clean any faeces that has collected around their rear end, as a dirty behind can leave rabbits susceptible to flystrike - flies, especially greenbottles can be a very nasty parasite. They lay their eggs and within a matter of hours they will hatch into larvae. Not too bad so far, but... after a few days they will start to feed on your rabbit by burrowing into the skin. Clean your rabbits’ lavatory each day. If your rabbit and housing are clean then a rabbit's natural grooming habits will go a long way to stopping this problem.

Be sure to keep your rabbit’s water supply topped up, not only will they be drinking more but the water will also evaporate.

Be sure to provide your bunnies with some shade that they can retreat to when the sun gets slightly too hot.