Too Hot, Too Stressed!

Our bunnies will overheat in a matter of minutes. Putting them in a car adds stress and therefore more heat, even though the car's a/c is running. Many times we have arrived at our destination with an overheated bunny. Some of our friends are planning trips in the next few weeks and must take their bunnies with them. Here is a cool solution - the poor man's a/c. We found the instructions last summer on the 3 Bunnies website and built one to see how it works. It worked well for us for several reasons: it was portable; it was small enough that it fit in the floor of the van between the seats(can be placed on the seat too - just make sure its level - placing a shallow tray under it is a good idea); bags of ice are available all along the trip(although the frozen 2 liter bottles worked best); our power source (a battery charger) was renewable and portable too. Note that the fan on the lid needs to be at the opposite side of the box so the air can be drawn across the ice and out to the bunny. The instructions are found at www.3bunnies.org, click on Caring For Your Bunny, then Housing, then Bunny Chill Box. Note: we had to place the vent holes right up against the door of the bunny's pet carrier for maximum cooling. Keeping a close eye on the ice supply and the power supply, seeing to it that the a/c is still operational, is very important. David Fisher, 3 Bunnies web master, and the inventor of the 'poor man's a/c' has given permission for anyone to post it and share it(but please don't take credit for it). He has placed it in the public domain to benefit bunnies everywhere. Way to go David!