First rabbit colony, needing advice for the summer

Hi all, long time lurker first time poster.

I have decided to set up a colony with artificial warrens, as my summer in Western Australia can get to 47c (118f) and my plan was to surround large containers with my native soil, which is heavy clay, and add drip emitters to keep the soil damp, while also considering the use of Mylar (reflective material) to act as a mulch.

I also planned on making a corner with misters on a temperature sensor to allow the rabbits to go in and out when they desire.

My concern is that there is not a lot of info on the depth I need to bury those containers and whether or not soil dampness and Mylar will reflect radiant heat enough.

The entire enclosure will be clad in fly screen and shade cloth, mainly to prevent myxomatosis and calicivirus which comes and goes here, but also stop direct sunlight in the summer.

Sorry for the long post, but if anyone can give me insight and suggestions that would be amazing!

What kind of material are you using for the containers? That would make a difference in advice.

Shawn Foster wrote:What kind of material are you using for the containers? That would make a difference in advice.

Heavy duty storage containers with 200-250mm pvc pipe feeding into the side.

Make sure they also have some nesting material, but also keep those containers not too much bigger than your largest rabbit.  Too big, and they’ll use a corner as a litter box, which gets really difficult to clean out. Warrens in the wild have small dens!

If you dig the containers down into the soil so that the lip is level with the ground, that will give them about 10F/12C degrees lower than the air temp at ground level. Burying them deeper will only cause you headaches when you need to open up those boxes, and you will want to do that with fair regularity for health checks, cleaning, and to make sure that the boxes are still intact. If you’ve got shade over the whole thing and a mister, that’s also going to help. You can add some kind of insulation to the top of the lids, also, which can also help. You’re going to want to be sure they can’t chew on those lids, anyway, so you might as well add insulation value while you’re at it. (Just make sure they still can be opened.) You’re giving them plenty of choices, so they will be able to find the location that makes them the most comfortable.