What are the methods for keeping rex rabbits safe through the summer?
The high heat of summer makes rex rabbits lose their appetite, and both their disease resistance and reproductive capacity decline. Rex rabbits also have poorly developed sweat glands and cannot tolerate heat, and their fur is fairly dense, so summer is undoubtedly a trial for them. Therefore, how to keep rex rabbits safe through the summer is a concern for many breeders. Below, Qinnong Network brings you the methods for keeping rex rabbits safe through the summer.
1. Build shade shelters
Summer heat and stuffiness can easily cause heatstroke in rex rabbits, so you must find ways to lower the temperature of the breeding environment. You can build shade shelters around the rabbit shed to avoid direct sunlight, and plant trees or vines around the shade shelters. This not only greens the environment but also achieves heat insulation and cooling through them.
2. Strengthen environmental sanitation
Clean the rabbit shed at fixed times every day and remove the rex rabbits' excrement. Clean the environment outside the shed once every 3-4 days and wash the ground with water. In addition, clean the breeding equipment and feeding utensils, and scrub the rabbit cages and kindling boxes once every half month or 10 days to keep the environment dry and sanitary.
3. Strengthen ventilation
A hot and stuffy environment has a major impact on the growth and reproductive capacity of rex rabbits, especially on the fertility of breeding bucks. Prolonged high temperatures will make the testicles of breeding bucks become hard and small, thereby losing reproductive capacity. Therefore, you must strengthen ventilation in the rabbit shed to prevent excessive stuffiness. If conditions permit, install fans for ventilation.
4. Reduce breeding density
Rex rabbits dissipate heat through transpiration. If the breeding density of the rabbit group is too high, the heat dissipation of the rex rabbits will also raise the temperature in the rabbit shed, leading to heatstroke in a large number of rabbits. Therefore, when raising rex rabbits in summer, you must pay attention to stocking density. It is best to raise adults and young rabbits separately, as young rabbits are more delicate, so as to avoid them dying from huddling together.
5. Feeding
High temperatures make the rabbit group lose appetite. Long-term poor nutrient intake will make rex rabbits thin and weak, and also affect conception and kindling in does. Therefore, when feeding, increase the proportion of concentrated feed to supplement nutrition. During the day when the temperature is higher, you can feed roughage such as vegetable leaves or green grass. When the temperature drops at night, feed enough green feed and concentrated feed so they can eat their fill. Drinking water should be sufficient and cool. A small amount of salt can be added to the drinking water to regulate the body temperature of the rex rabbits, and some heat-clearing and fire-reducing medicines can also be added.
The above are the methods brought to you by Qinnong Network for keeping rex rabbits safe through the summer. The key point of raising rex rabbits in summer is cooling down and keeping the rabbit shed at a temperature suitable for the growth of rex rabbits; then everything else is easy to solve.