My bunnies against the Summer Heat

[URAKI]

Hi everyone, 



I have 2 bunnies (my avatar) who are 4 months old and I’ve made them a little bunny house on my roof (can be seen in attached pics). I live in an area where summers are really really hot and temperatures go up to 48-50C (120 F) in May to July, which is of course a sign of grave danger for my bunnies. For now its February and temperatures are around 18 C and the bunnies seem happy to cope with it.

I’ve tried to make the bunny home as close to natural habitat as possible by putting lot of soil and dirt and they have tunneled in a complete circle around the entrance in the middle plus on the second level i’ve put ceramic tiles which they like the most to lie down upon as they remain cool most of the time.

I am really concerned about fast approaching hot summer days and need the bunny experts out there to help out in making it comfortable for my bunnies. Plus any ideas about what are the underground (tunnel) temperatures when there is so much heat outside.

Thanks

[Stickerbunny]

It looks nice, but honestly it looks like it would get very hot inside during hot days. The underground tunnels would probably be a bit cooler (maybe 10-20 degrees) but if it is 120, that still won’t help them too much. The tunnels and burrows in the wild are dug pretty deep to protect from the worst and lined with things to keep them comfortable, a rooftop with some dirt won’t provide the same cooling as an under the earth burrow with multiple entries. Also, our domestic breeds are not the same as the slim, muscular wild breeds. A lionhead for example would fare poorly in the wild.

Is there anyway you could bring them inside during the worst heat? Or provide some sort of cooling for their building? Fans or a window ac unit (well away from teeth of course)?

[Roberta]

Hi Uraki, It certainly looks like you have put in a lot of thought and effort to their home. Sticker bunny is right about the tunnels, they are very deep and this is what keeps them cool. I notice the only ventilation is through the door… This might help keep the structure cool as the walls are quite thick but in temps over 40C I don’t think they would keep it cool enough. Bringing them inside during the heat would be the best, is that possible ? If not then we need to find structural ways to reduce the heat.
For a start you could add an awning or tarpaulin on poles to add some extra shade (preferably white or a pale colour) What materials have you used to make the roof on the shelter ?

[URAKI]

Yes it will be getting very hot in summer, so i’m thinking of putting more soil to make the tunnels deeper and making a second layer of shade around the house. What i’m not sure of is that would that be enough? To bring them inside is an option which will involve putting them in cage, taking away all the freedom they have right now as the door stays open all day and they roam around at will. Which one would be better? Cage or the current home?

[Roberta]

Oh I wouldn’t worry about the loss of freedom, they sleep all day…LOL We get temps above 40C here too in Australia.. My buns are inside all year round and usually during the day they will get back into the cage themselves and have a 14 or 18 hour nap. They have frozen water bottles they like to lay on and an aircooler in their room. You can give them more room by building an inside habitat and creating levels using NIC squares or local materials depending on where you are. What city are you in ?

[URAKI]

Right so i’m thinking of keeping them in the same place through the spring season and then in summer they can move to their new home inside, until then i’ll remove some of the blocks to make it more ventilated, that will surely keep them cool. I’m from Lahore, Pakistan Thanks to both of you for your time

[Roberta]

Hi Uraki, No problem… You could also ventilate by allowing some space between the walls and the roof without actually breaking apart the structure. Pakistan… Always wanted to visit there… So much history… I have trouble getting the NIC cubes here in Australia so I am guessing you would have similar problems, timber and a good mesh will work. If you look at the habitats section on the home page there are some great ideas and pics of indoor runs people have built themselves. Let’s face it money is tight every where and if you can build it yourself it’s the way to go… I do love your roof top house… The buns must love it, we can’t let our buns outside here because of the introduced diseases the government has released to control feral populations. I would love to have a roof area like yours for mine to play.

[URAKI]

Hi Roberta,

you are always welcome to visit Pakistan, I looked around the habitat section and now I’m pretty much sure of what I need to do…. n yes the bunnies love their house and surroundings in which they hop around and love to chase each other. good thing about the roof is that there are a lot of places for them to hide and cats also don’t come so high up, I never noticed any owls or eagles in the locality either. Thanks for your comments

[Roberta]

Hi Uraki… I’ll get there one day !!!!! I was looking at the pics and wondering if you could add some plants in pots. Foliage always helps to cool an area. Also by planting clay pots of bunny friendly veg and herbs you would be giving them another dimension to play in as well as adding herbs and veg you could use yourself. Bunnies love Nasturtiums and I am pretty sure they would grow there as long as they had plenty of water. Nasturtiums will drape and cover things and look all lush and green, because they have a peppery flavour the leaves and flowers are also great in fresh salads and sandwiches. Check out the veg list on the diet and health page. Its in an embedded link in the text or if you have herbs and veg that grow particularly well in your region, list them here and we can give you an idea if they are bunny safe. Actually it doesn’t even have to be clay pots… Old tyres layed down on some tarpaulin and filled with soil are great for hot climates as they aren’t porous and they are brilliant for growing herbs and veg in. Just about any container woud work but if you can get hold of some old tyres you can stack them at various heights and even paint them different colours and have trailing herbs as well as upright ones. They are also great for growing potatoes.

[Roberta]

Oh, I’m on a roll here… You could even stack the tyres in a staggered pattern around the enclosure which adds extra insulation and then if you add trailing bunny friendly herbs and veg it would also add the foliage to help cool. It will take a lot of soil to fill them if they are overlapped as you will need a solid surface under each layer.

[Roberta]

A few examples of what I’m talking about.

 

 

 

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