# are drafts dangerous for bunnies?



## SnowyShiloh (May 27, 2009)

Sorry if this is on the wrong subforum, I couldn't decide here it belonged!

Our new bunny boy lives in our bedroom, which is upstairs. In the next couple days it's going to be getting hotter, which of course means it will be warmer upstairs. I think the temperature has been fine in there so far, but considering he's missing an ear and can't regulate his temperature as well as other bunnies, we're keeping a really close eye on how hot it gets in there.

In the summer, we keep a box fan in the window and turn it on at night (we would also turn on a smaller fan aimed at him during the day to keep him from overheating). It works really well to keep the bedroom cool- sometimes it even makes it too cold! It also creates quite a breeze going across the room. My question is, could our bunny get sick from being in a room with a fan going that's blowing cool air on him? 
Thanks!


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## Korr_and_Sophie (May 27, 2009)

I would not want it blowing directly on him if he has no where to get away from the fan. If the fan was pointed at one end of the cage/room and he could get away from it, then it should be fine. 
Rabbits can handle the cool better than the heat. Probably if you are cold in the room, your rabbit might be a bit on the cool side. 
You could try putting the fans on the lowest setting and maybe opening a window a bit. Only using one fan sometimes could keep it at a better temperature.


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## SnowyShiloh (May 27, 2009)

Kate, we put the fan in the window- so the window is open all the way. It would get too hot even with the fan on if the window is closed. We would only have one fan running at a time: the big one at night and a little one during the day. Unfortunately, his cage is on the other side of the room directly opposite the window with the fan. There's no other place to put his cage in the bedroom and no other place to put the fan.

If we have to, we'll move his cage downstairs into the kitchen!


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## Saudade (May 27, 2009)

The kitchen might be better, especially if you have tiles on the floor. I move lucy in to our laundry during our hot summer days. There are cool tiles in there and i freeze a freezer block wrap it up and put it in her cage.
She loves it! Haven't had any problems with her. If you have no freezer blocks a well cleaned brick put in the freezer and frozen will do the trick, just wrap it up in a towel.


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## tonyshuman (May 27, 2009)

If he has a way to escape the draft, it should be fine. I have heard of a few bunnies getting sick from being in drafts--it happened to one of Little Bay Poo's adorable bunnies (Billy or Ronnie, don't remember which). One of them got an URI from being in the draft of an A/C vent. However, my guys LOVE cold, moving air. When I first got Tony, he used to sit in front of a large box fan (it was spring/summer) and let his ears flap in the breeze. He also will sit on A/C vents in my parents' home (has central air) and I aim a fan at one area of their cage on purpose because I know he loves it.

I would give him the option of having an area with cold, moving air in the cage, but also an area that's blocked off from it, if possible. We aim a box fan placed in the window at the top level of Tony and Muffin's cage. They're only locked in there at night, but on hot nights they like to stay up there by the fan and eat hay (we have a hay rack and litterbox right next to the fan). When it's a colder night, they go down a level or two where we also have hay and a litterbox available. During the day, sometimes they stay near the fan, sometimes they hang out under furniture in dark places, sometimes they go and lie on the cool tile of the kitchen floor. I think bunnies know how to regulate their temp pretty well if you give them options of places with different temps to be in. Your guy may need a little more help staying cool, but if you give him the option of getting away from the cold air if he gets too cold, it should be fine.


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## pamnock (May 27, 2009)

A cold draft is harmful - a fan running in the window on hot days is fine. We keep fans blowing in our rabbitry all the time. Occasionally, I run it directly on the rabbits at shows if it is extremely hot.

Pam


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## BSAR (May 27, 2009)

Oh my gosh Shiloh! At first I thought this topic was about Drafting bunnies into war! lol I was like why are bunnies getting drafted? of course its dangerous! lol

Back to the topic.....we keep fans on in our rabbitry during summer and sometimes blow it directly on the bunnies, but they have a spot where they can get out of it also, they usually run away from it anyway.


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## kherrmann3 (May 27, 2009)

I have a mini clip-on fan for Toby during summer. I just clip it to his cage and have it blow on the wall next to the cage (45* angle) so it doesn't directly hit him. I am going to try to get a granite tile for his cage. I've seen them sell granite tiles for chinchillas (called "chin-chillers) to keep them from overheating. I just thought it was a good idea for bunnies.


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## SnowyShiloh (May 27, 2009)

Thanks for the advice, everyone! Last summer I actually posted about getting a fan for Rory since he acts like he's too hot sometimes (lying stretched out and breathing kind of hard). When he gets like that, I turn the fan to oscillate and then aim it sort of to the side of his cage so he just gets a little direct breeze. 

It's been pretty cold and windy today so we probably won't need our big fan tonight (haven't used it at all this summer). Would it work to put a sheet covering half of his cage, or are sheets not thick enough to divert the breeze?

He's on antibiotics for tearing out his neuter stitches so I really don't want him to catch a chill. Good to know that a fan blowing room temperature air shouldn't hurt him. We don't have air conditioning.


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## tonyshuman (May 27, 2009)

I bet that a sheet would work.


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## fancybutterfly (Jun 11, 2009)

I have a large living room so I put one fan at one end of it.
For zues in his room, I have a small fan, about 10 inches across, so it doesn't blow too hard. I often see Zoo (in the summer) sitting by it.


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## maherwoman (Jun 11, 2009)

My suggestion, check out the Cooling a Rabbit thread and maybe put a nice, cool floor tile in the cage with him? 

Another idea, freeze a regular ol' red brick and put it in there with him. You'll find him laying next to it. (Don't worry if he checks it out a little bit with his teeth...he won't eat it, he's just checking it out.) The good thing about the bricks is that they maintain their temperature for several hours.


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