Unusual one.. Creating underground rabbit habitat/home under sheds..

[dan-fisher]

Hi, not sure what bit to post in as it's an unusual one but i invite everyone to tell me what they think..

I have 8 rabbits.. mummy and daddy 13months old and 6 babies now 14 weeks.

Now they have a large 3m x 1.5 mtr run, large 2 tier hutch attached to it, plus the cover i've made in the run... like so:



NOW..

I'm installing a slab base for a large wendy house which i've just bought. The concrete slab base will be 3x2 slabs measuring a total of 2.7 x 3 mtrs therefore just over 8 sq mtrs.


I want the rabbits to utilise the space under the house for their home, extra play space and have warrens to their run/hutch and directly into the garden.

I'm thinking 160mm (6") drainage pipe going underground, under the installation area and into 3x2ft square by 10inch high ply boxes i'll make up both linked by more pipe. Plus a pipe from a box directly into the garden which will be opened when they can come into the garden.

Questions are us this a good idea?? Will they use it?? AM i installing enough underground area and generally to those that know rabbits some guidance of what to aim for would be absolutely brilliant.

thanks in advance.dan

[Jez]

Originally Posted by dan-fisher

I'm thinking 160mm (6") drainage pipe going underground, under the installation area and into 3x2ft square by 10inch high ply boxes i'll make up both linked by more pipe. Plus a pipe from a box directly into the garden which will be opened when they can come into the garden.

How are you intending them to go back down the hole Dan?

Sounds great, you don't do things by halfs do you!

Hope it all works out fine for them

[dan-fisher]

Ahh well if rabbits go to safety when threatened and their underground home is safety then hopefully when shooed that way they should go diving down their hole back under the wendy house and into the run/hutch.

I just love the idea i want it to work well.. it's utilising free space and providing more space/sefety/play for rabbits

I also think it's cool

[dan-fisher]

Low quality scan but this might give you some idea...

[The Woodman]

Hi Dan

Your plan looks good and I'm sure they'll take to it straight away.

My only question - can you access the chamber in order to clean and service it? The rabbits will probably use it in preference to their hutch and it might be a useful place to catch them if needs be.

Go for it.

[valleyforge]

Hi Dan,

This looks like a good plan on the face of it, but as I see it one of the main considerations is going to be just how do you prevent your installation from flooding, or at least becoming uncomfortably damp and cold?

Last thing you're going to need in your garden is a subsurface sump of stagnant rain water.

So first consideration must be your soil type ... if it's not sandy and free draining, with sufficient (at least a foot) drainage below your planned installation, then probably it's a non-starter.

Next you'd have to consider covering your plywood boxes with something waterproof to prevent the ingress of water ... either from above, or soaking from below ... I think you maybe need to use a 'breathable' membrane. otherwise it's going to get pretty claggy down in there. Personally, I'd also install a 'breather' pipe to the surface ... a piece of plastic plumbing pipe would be ideal, with an inverted 'U' bend or at least a right-angle bend section at the top to prevent direct entry of rain.

For the 'burrows', I would recommend using perforated twin-wall drainage pipe, rather than the solid-wall stuff, but that again would need the surrounding soil backfill to be very free draining otherwise you are effectively encouraging water to drain directly into the proposed dwelling chamber(s). You'd maybe in any case need to cover the top surface of the pipe again with a water-resistant membrane.

As The Woodman suggests, you'd need to build an access hatch to the underground chamber, in order to service it or to retrieve any sick or injured rabbit who may hide down there for protracted periods of time, so this could be quite an undertaking. It's probably not a good idea to have to go 'rodding' for your rabbits if they prefer to stay underground

Hope I haven't completely put you off the idea, but just provided some practical food for thought?

Valley Forge Native Wildlife Refuge

[dan-fisher]

^^^^^ brilliant. That's exactly what i'm looking for thanks both.

I hadn't thought about the damp, potential flooding and ventilation. Being a plumber the hardware and availability is an advantage to me though - Maybe just dig 12"s sump below each box and fill with sand? Then breathable membrane above ?? The soil is very well drained however, it never puddles and in them nasty floods we had 3-4 years ago we barely got squidgy grass Ventilation wise i could fit a breather pipe (3/4" overflow) as you suggest?

Although breathable membrane wise, would the unit not breath/balance itself and pull out any moisture?? Alternatively a solar powered fan could be installed on the vent:

SOLAR POWERED FAN VENTILATOR,IDEAL FOR EXTRACTING DAMP on eBay (end time 07-Jul-09 14:21:59 BST)

The serviceability is an issue. It'll be non-accessable. I have an infrared underground drain camera to inspect but access not. Would the rabbits not perform their own decent house keeping ?? Would their instinct prevail and the home would be like their current homes and clean??

Would ply boxes be required also?? Would brick sides with a simply ply lid be ample so there is direct contact with the draining earth ??

many many thanks for you r thought and advice on this,

dan

edit: soil pipe wise would half round ridge tiles be better ?? creates a natural tunnel and clay, and cheaper as i can use reclaimed ones..

[The Woodman]

I've just read your plan to see if I had missed anything and am sure the advice given by valleyforge is well thought out.

Any ply wood, even marine ply, will delaminate and rot in time when kept in conact with soil, although 13 mm marine ply at around £60 per 8 x 4 sheet may last you a good few years.

If you have no base on your underground chamber, will there be a risk the rabbits will dig under the sides of the ply chamber? I would go for brick sides and consider a layer of chicken wire or similar on the base of the chamber. The mesh can be covered with layer of soil.

If you know a roofer, he may be able to supply offcuts of Tyvek or similar to cover the construction. I would personally be happier with some means of accessing the chamber for the reasons given, I didn't want to mention sick, dying or even dead rabbits but it has to be in the equation somewhere. Perhaps they are clean in their present accomodation beacause you keep it clean - it does look very good.

Using ridge tiles is a good idea but again, beware of digging under the edges.

I think the system would breathe naturally with recourse to electric fans, but the provision of a vent tube wouldn't do any harm.

I think we know what you'll be up to this weeekend!

[valleyforge]

Digging a sump below the sleeping chambers would be a good idea to assist drainage ... I would give it at least a foot if possible ... and fill with sand or better still pea gravel.

For the breather pipe, I guess 3/4" overflow would be OK, but I had in mind something a bit wider ... the stuff that's used for sink waste pipes ... isn't it about 1-1/2" diameter? You can tell that I'm no plumber . Anyway I've used that to good effect for breather pipes installed on hedgehog hibernation chambers.

As you know, rabbits are 'latrine' animals and tend to defecate and urinate in a particular area. If they choose (don't know how you'd disuade them) to do that in your underground chamber(s) then sooner or later (probably sooner) they're going to need cleaning. Any soiled hay or straw that you've put down there will become damp and mouldy and cause possible respiratory problems for your rabbits. So I think having some means of access is pretty essential.

Wild rabbits will generally create their latrine on the surface, and will periodically drag out old bedding material and replace it with fresh, but I wouldn't guarantee that domesticated rabbits would show the same behaviour even if you made the material available to them.

Also, rabbits are very good at digging, so a solid floor to the underground chamber is probably necessary to stop them making their own network of tunnels ... maybe a pea gravel sump/floor would work though, I don't really know.

For the burrows, I had in mind perforated, twin-wall, ridged polypropylene land-drainage pipe ... it's light, strong, easy to cut and you can get a 5 metre length for around £15 or so.

Your half-round ridge tiles might work OK, but would be dangerous in a tunnel collapse ... the land drainage pipe won't do that, or deteriorate significantly over time.

Hope this helps?

[dan-fisher]

^^ thankyou again Woodman

Yes chicken wire, or thinking about it cheap rubber door mat mesh type from wilkos, then soil would be perfect.

In fact this is great for what i want..

GATEWAY GRASS MAT playground golf course cow mats horse on eBay (end time 26-Jun-09 10:20:30 BST)


I've got an account at jewsons for the marine ply or i can buy drain chamber extensions like so..

5-Inlet Inspection Chamber 235mm Riser - Screwfix.com, Where the Trade Buys

Just core out my hole in it for the rabs and mortar over the gaps..

Marine ply lids are the way to go for me with damp/vapour barrier drooped over the top of the lot.