rabbit: loner behavior escaping mate

Question
hi there,

My mother rabbit is doing some weird things again. She has learned to jump
one of the baby gates and now hides from me. Getting her out of the storage
closet takes time and a lot of chasing between racks of clothes. So i just left
her there to see how long she would keep it up. She eventually jumped back
for meal times. But her bonded bunny mate, her daughter is left alone most of
the day now while mom is a recluse closet bunny. Could there be any reason
why this could happen?

And.. Do you have any tips on how to keep bunnies cool durring the
summer? Air con isnt working. Thanks!  

Answer
Hi,

if you can, let her enjoy the closet.  Rabbits love plaing in closets, they are cool and dim and are like a neat hidey hole.  Open it up.  You can get an exercise gate (at least 30 inches high) and corral the part of the closet you don't want them to get at.

As for A/C, get a room air conditioner for where they are during the day.  They are anywhere from $90-100 bucks.  If you can't, get a number of 16-20 ounce (clean) empty soda bottles, fill 3/4 full, and put a thick cotton sock over each bottle.  Sew the end of the sock closed.  You can put one of these down where each rabbit tends to rest, they may rest against it to feel cooler.  At night, refreeze.

You can use fans to get airflow, just don't blast the rabbits directly with the fan.  Fans should never be directly aimed at rabbits.  Indirect airflow is needed, like a ceiling fan or a fan that moves air around the room but not aimed at them.

Lee