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Bunny Chill Box
Plans for Bunny Chill Box
Rabbits can very easily suffer from heat stroke. In fact, it is the
number one killer of pet rabbits who are exposed to the elements.
It is important that
your rabbit can find shade (if your rabbit spends time in a cage, make
sure it isn't in direct sunlight) and stay cool. Rabbits do not have
a way to cool themselves off like other pets (they only dissipate heat
through the ears - in the wild they go
underground to stay cool. If the temperature gets warm enough
(temperatures over 80°F can cause heat-stroke), some
things you can try to keep your rabbit cool are:
- Squares of tile chilled in the freezer and then placed where the
bunny can lay on it (if you use marble, on average it stays about 10°F cooler
than ambient/surrounding air anyway)
- A cold wet towel or bowl of ice cubes, placed in front of a fan
(preferably an oscillating fan, so the bunny isn't constantly having
the fan blow on him)
- Ice cubes wrapped in a wet towel and placed where the bunny can
lay against it
- Put a plastic bottle of frozen water in the cage (NOTE: water expands when it freezes, so leave room for this expansion in your container)
- Ice cubes in the water crocks
- Let the bunny hang out somewhere on a cool bare floor
- Dampen the tips of your bunny's ears (the evaporation will cool
the ears)
- Block all sunlight and use only fluorescent lighting, which puts
off much less heat than incandescant or halogen lamps (this won't
help cool an area that has already warmed up - if it's going to be a
hot day and there won't be air conditioning, keep the shades drawn)
- If your bunny becomes listless and unresponsive, get him to a
vet immediately!!
You can also offer your bunnies an air-conditioned hidey box. A
really cheap air-conditioner can be made using a styrofoam cooler, a
small fan, and ice bottles. Below are simple instructions on how
to do this. Then simply
point it so that the cold air blows into their hidey box, and your
bunnies will have a nice cool place to hang out and get away from the heat.
The best way to use this design is to have the air coming out of this
"air conditioner" blowing into a box large enough for the bunnies to
hang out in when the want to cool off - not only do they have a hidey box,
but it stays nice and cool for them
Parts needed:
- Styrofoam cooler (or any plastic bin that is relatively air-tight) - insulation
is not a major factor since the fan will always be pushing hot air into the enclosure
- Small fan, like a computer power supply fan (easy to get one from one of your
geek friends - almost all geeks have power supply and/or CPU fans - it's an
unwritten law of geekodynamics) or you can find at radio shack - get one
that works on 12 volts DC).
Try to get the quietest fan possible so the noise doesn't bother your bunnies!!
- Glue (okay, fine - glue, super-glue, adhesive, epoxy (including binary epoxies,
- Wire strippers and electrical tape for the following:
- Depending on the fan, a "wall-wart" power supply (aka AC to DC adapter) rated
anywhere from 6 to 16 volts (12v fans can actually run on a range of
voltages, although giving it 12V is the best)
(a wall-wart is one of those little boxy things that plugs
into the wall outlet and has a connector on the other end - cut that off and
strip the wires, connect them to the fan wires, tape each one up separately with
electrical tape)
- If you know what your doing: You can easily do the same thing with an 110-120V
AC fan and a plug to go diectly into the wall outlet.
- NOTE: you can probably find an AC adapter somewhere around the
house that you can use
- NOTE: you can cut holes in the styrofoam with a steak knife and the
styrofoam won't disintegrate - heating the knife makes it even easier by melting
as it cuts (DON'T PUT METAL IN A MICROWAVE OVEN!!): to heat the knife, turn the
stove on to a low heat and press the blade against it for a few seconds. You'll
need to do this a few times as the blade cools.
How you build:
-
Measure the diameter of the fan (about 3 to 4
inches depending on the fan)
-
Cut a circular hole at one end of the top of the
cooler just smaller than this diameter
-
Mount the fan at one end of the top so that it
pushes air into the cooler
NOTE: Make SURE to glue the fan onto the
cover so that it blows air INTO the cooler!! And
some tape to help keep it in place won't hurt
either.
-
Cut small vent holes on the short side of the
bottom of the cooler about 2 to 3 inches from the
bottom (if the holes are too low, condensed water
will leak out) - these holes should have roughly
the same total area as the hole for the fan
-
Fill the cooler with ice bottles (see notes),
gelpacks, any large frozen object) or even ice
(although ice will melt quickly)
-
NOTE: the larger the volume of frozen water, the
longer it will stay at 32°F (water can be
both solid and liquid at this temperature) as the
ice melts - so, use the largest possible container
(a gallon water jug will stay cold for almost an
entire day!)
-
Put the cover on, add a little weight to hold it
in place (the air pressure from the fan will lift
it up)
-
Turn the power on, and enjoy the cool air
Notes:
- because the fans are tolerant of a range of
voltages, this system can be used with a car's
electrical supply or a 6 volt lantern battery with
little loss of performance
- to make this system portable, connect the fan to
a cigarette lighter plug, and wire a cigarette
lighter outlet to the power supply - then you can
use the unit in the car
-
if you can, store the containers with the tops off
to allow for the expansion of water when it
freezes;
-
clear ice is pure ice - the cloudiness is from
the impurities which are frozen in suspension, and
will escape as gas upon thaw, so the water in the
container is actually very pure after one or more
freeze cycles
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Last update: Sun Jun 28 21:49:23 EDT 2020
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