New to e-mail. Believe I used wrong e-mail address with first message. My question is. . . my rabbits are in the barn away from wind but their water freezes. I tried a heat tape around the bottles which kept them from totally freezing. However, the water froze in the nozzel/spout (whatever you call it). Any suggestions? I change out their bottles twice a day now. Thought there might be a shortcut. Thanks!

-- phyllis warman (phyllis.warman@twcable.com), December 20, 2000

Answers

We only have a couple pets right now but use to raise hundreds of rabbits for meat. I've seen folks put up all kinds of fancy systems but we always used metal pans in the winter (even metal ice cube trays with the dividers taken out) instead of the bottles. I'd just get cheap (10 -25 cents) pans from the thrift stores and have enough on hand that I could bring the frozen ones in to thaw between feedings. Also, with the metal pans, if the water wasn't frozen solid we could pour hot water in and it would melt the ice and the water would instantly be a nice lukewarm temp. for the rabbits to drink, which encouraged them to drink more in the cold weather. Plastic pans break if you add hot water, and sometimes even just from the water freezing.

-- Lenette (kigervixen@webtv.net), December 20, 2000.

Look for my answer on the forum in your previous post.

-- Suzy in'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), December 20, 2000.

When we had rabbits, I kept a supply of tunafish cans which I used to fill with warm water twice a day. Also, giving them apples, celery, carrots, etc. hydrates them as well,

-- kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), December 20, 2000.

Somebody suggested a few months back to get black rubber pet bowl from the Jeffers catalogue. They cost a few bucks a piece. They won't reduce freezing, but when they do, you can throw the things on the ground to knock out the ice and are indestructible. (Do rabbits tongues get frozen on metal?)

-- Christina W. (introibo2000@yahoo.com), December 20, 2000.

my answer is on the previous post

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 20, 2000.

Previous post.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), December 20, 2000.

hey, I forgot that when it gets reeaally cold, I have to use a hammer to get the ice out of the rubber bowls. Stepping on them isn't enough. They still just pop out but you have to wack it a few times.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), December 25, 2000.

Do the rabbits chew on the rubber bowls? We use the black rubber buckets for larger stock, and if the water freezes in, just swing the bucket really hard against a tree or a fence post a few times to break the ice out -- works great! But it would be pretty expensive to buy enough rubber dishes for a lot of rabbits. Seems like the tuna cans or the ice cube trays would be more practical -- if, as someone mentioned above, the rabbits don't get their tongues frozen to the metal!!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), December 26, 2000.