Misting systems...

[OneAcreFarm]

Anybody use these? Trying to figure out ways to help my rabbits keep cool this summer....already gonna be 98f here today! :help: I have frozen bottles, which help and a fan to push hot air out. Should I get an additional fan to blow across the top of the cages?

 

[Anntann]

Swamp coolers are simple a device that has a fan which blows across a spray of fine mist. Very useful for cooling in hot dry areas. The Romans used the same thing to keep cool centuries ago. Fans, propelled by slaves, which blew across a splashing fountain.

I just came back from picking up rabbits all over the US, including AZ and southern California...I learned that misting the rabbit itself helps to cool them, as well. The humidity evaporating creates a cooler temp.

There is also evidence that a fan blowing across a block of ice was used to cool down rooms in the 19th century in some places.

 

[xlt]

living here in El Paso, I can share my experience with evaporative cooling, however... for the 1.5-2 mos. the humidity is high here (during our "monsoon" season) the evap coolers are next to worthless.

Might not work out as well for you, as I recall you are in South East Texas?

 

[OneAcreFarm]

hmm...maybe not. We are hovering around 90% humidity most of the time, except right now. We are practically in a drought! What can work well to cool in humid areas?

 

[xlt]

during a drought they still might work... but over about 65%, really over 50% they stop being very efficient... or normal is 10-20%, sometimes as low as 6%

ice is the only thing I can think of

 

[quintex]

I'm interested in hearing some more ideas, too.

So far I've been using frozen water bottles, ice cubes in a bowl, and fans but it still seems so unbearably hot for a rabbit! I've also read about people freezing tiles and using those but it doesn't seem like that will stay cool for a long time.

 

[MaggieJ]

I keep a spray bottle of water in the rabbitry and soak down the rabbits' ears on the hottest days. Our weather is not usually dangerously hot, but it is amazing how much relief it seems to give them. The bucks in particular seem to feel the heat badly.

 

[Miss M]

I would try misting, if our humidity wasn't so high! We do need to get a fan. It's in the 90s, and we are doing the ice bottles, but moving air is so helpful in these temps.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

I know a kennel owner in Florida-- despite the humidity, uses a misting system for the dogs-- and her horses and two cows---

Consider this, as well,-- cold air DROPS, while warm air rises-- So, put large bottles of frozen water ON TOP of the cages-- the cooler air should drift downwards....

 

[OneAcreFarm]

We are doing that as well as putting a bottle in the cage for them to lay next to. We will see how that works...