Odd question, I know. I inherited the care of a couple of rabbits from my eldest daughter, whose interest in them evaporated. She had them in her room, and they smelled and have never been trained in any way (I've read you can do that, but I don't know personally). I moved them outside to a small wooden hutch last spring, and they have been pretty much thriving in it. We clean it out weekly and let them out to run around as often as we can.
So now winter is coming on and we're going to be getting down to overnight lows in the 20's this week. The hutch has an enclosed box-like area made of, oh, maybe 1/2" ply with some framing and siding, and an angled asphalt shingle roof. I place wood shavings in there to insulate them from the floor, but I am concerned that it won't be enough. Rabbit burrows are usually underground, at a more constant and amenable temperature. We may see temps here as low as 10F for a few days over the winter, and nighttime temps at 0F or below are not unknown.
So I've been trying to think of some reasonable options for heating the box area of the hutch. Nothing can go inside because they'd chew the shit out of it. I don't want to tarp the whole thing and run a greenhouse heater because they won't get any air or sunshine and it would be a pain to set up and take down (and maybe expensive, I don't know).
I remembered yesterday I have a six foot length of pipe warmer in the shop. Basically this stuff:
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/31..._sJXegN7a0_PLA__15557577904_c_S&026=-99&025=c
The orange part with the black button is a thermostat. I believe they are set to turn on at 38F. I don't know how warm they get but I would expect... 50F or so? Whatever is required to keep the pipe from freezing would be what I would expect.
What do you guys think about coiling this on the underside of the hutch floor, maybe with the thermostat mounted against the plywood, so if the floor gets to 38F it turns on?
Any other ideas?
So now winter is coming on and we're going to be getting down to overnight lows in the 20's this week. The hutch has an enclosed box-like area made of, oh, maybe 1/2" ply with some framing and siding, and an angled asphalt shingle roof. I place wood shavings in there to insulate them from the floor, but I am concerned that it won't be enough. Rabbit burrows are usually underground, at a more constant and amenable temperature. We may see temps here as low as 10F for a few days over the winter, and nighttime temps at 0F or below are not unknown.
So I've been trying to think of some reasonable options for heating the box area of the hutch. Nothing can go inside because they'd chew the shit out of it. I don't want to tarp the whole thing and run a greenhouse heater because they won't get any air or sunshine and it would be a pain to set up and take down (and maybe expensive, I don't know).
I remembered yesterday I have a six foot length of pipe warmer in the shop. Basically this stuff:
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/31..._sJXegN7a0_PLA__15557577904_c_S&026=-99&025=c
The orange part with the black button is a thermostat. I believe they are set to turn on at 38F. I don't know how warm they get but I would expect... 50F or so? Whatever is required to keep the pipe from freezing would be what I would expect.
What do you guys think about coiling this on the underside of the hutch floor, maybe with the thermostat mounted against the plywood, so if the floor gets to 38F it turns on?
Any other ideas?