Getting a Holland Lop to Idaho

Two to three days, routed through Nevada and up.

The dry heat is slightly easier on a rabbit than humid heat, but only slightly, and the temperatures here still matter.

What the Idaho climate means for a Holland Lop

Hot dry summers and cold winters. Boise regularly passes 95°F in July. Rabbits handle cold far better than heat, so the summer is the part to plan for, but an unheated outbuilding in an Idaho January is not kind either.

What Idaho owners should know

Boise sits in a valley that traps summer heat, and July regularly passes 95°F. The dryness helps at the margins and the nights cool properly, which matters more to a rabbit than the daytime peak does. Idaho winters are cold enough that an outdoor rabbit needs genuine shelter, and lop ears are more vulnerable to frostbite than upright ears because the blood supply is more exposed. Exotics vets are concentrated in Boise and thin elsewhere, so sort that out before the rabbit arrives rather than after.

Common questions

How hot does it get for rabbits in Boise?

Boise regularly passes 95°F in July and the valley traps the heat. The nights cool properly, which helps more than people expect, but an outdoor rabbit in a Boise summer is still at risk.

Do lop ears frostbite in Idaho winters?

They can. Lop ears have more exposed blood supply than upright ears, which makes them the first thing to suffer in genuine cold. An unheated outbuilding in an Idaho January is not somewhere a Holland Lop should live.

Before you buy

Two things are worth reading first, and both are the sort of thing a seller would rather you did not think about until after the sale.

• How long they actually live. Seven to fourteen years.
• What the first year actually costs. The rabbit is about a quarter of it.

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