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Mould - Bunny safe ways to clean and prevent it in the shed?

DemiS

Warren Veteran
Hope everyone had a lovely christmas! :D The bunnies have been in their shed now since early November and already there's some small spots of mould on the shed walls, it's not coming from the floor luckily though! I've also noticed the kitchen roll I keep in there always feels a little damp. I was hoping for it to be nice and warm and snuggly in there but clearly there's not enough ventilation so I've bought a small vent with a flyscreen. Through winter I'm not home enough during daylight hours to leave the shed door open, is there anything else I can do? There's no electric in the shed so a plug in dehumidifier or heater isn't an option.

Has anyone used those desiccant/dehumidifier bags in their shed? Do they work and do they need replacing loads?

Also any ideas what the best thing would be to use to kill the mould in the places it's already growing? Some of it is at bunny-level so I can't use anything toxic
 
Wood is porous, it soaks up water. The wetter the weather, the wetter it stays. Our hutches are both soaked through 24/7 at the moment, pretty much :S And they're both pretty open. We've not dropped below 70-odd% humidity since, erm, September? I don't think the bags would 'do enough', like the little fish-tank looking things you get in caravans: they need replacing a lot (well ours in our room in our last student house did), I think if we'd've bothered it was every month up to every couple of weeks in winter. Our dehumidifier needed emptying once a week as well (that did the whole house from the landing, which for some reason was a really 'wet' 1980s detached), but we also use dehumidifiers in the big outside aircraft at the Air Musem with a draining pipe, I'd totally recommend that if you can put it somewhere out of reach :D

Removal: white vinegar (when isn't it XD) and I'd scrape it off TBH first then apply vinegar. It'll just come back IME as long as everything stays wet. We're lucky, ours is in near-external places the bunnies don't sit (near door hinges etc.) and it goes away once the wet is gone.
 
I would wipe it down regularly with a washing up liquid and bleach solution (eg weekly or twice weekly).

The wood really needs sealing to stop it getting so damp and to prevent mould growth, but you may have to wait until it dries out before you can paint it. Paint of any sort won't stick to damp wood very well, although water based fence / shed paint may work (but will take time to dry, so needs to be done when rabbits won't come into contact with it until it dries).

Otherwise, increase the ventilation (a lot). Can you leave a meshed window open all day? As long as it's not raining in or blowing a gale, the buns should be Ok. Better slightly cooler and drier than warmer and damp. I assume they have somewhere stuffed with bedding and out of draughts anyway.
 
Oooh, I'm reminded of something I did from Shimmer's post: because of the ludicrous wetness we get here (living next to the canal has its drawbacks) we used Cuprinol Wood Preserver on the inside, but we left it maybe at least a month before putting the bunnies in as it's not 'safe' as such. We did the floor (both sides) and all the internal walls and anything plywood and new (tube surround, door) but not the windowsill or roof. And it's the roof that gets mouldy :roll:

I should put it on the other hutches we have, so they don't get mouldy...
 
Thanks for the ideas everyone! I have white vinegar and i know it's fairly bunny safe so I'll try that first, and I've bought a small vent that I'm going to put in the mouldiest area. The mould is a mix some patches are white some are blue. I'm definitely planning on painting or sealing the wood inside but not until the weather is better because it'll take ages to dry and there's no where I can put them whilst it dries. I think I'm going to have to buy some pet safe silicone sealant too because there's been a few accidents and i think some wee may have gotten in the tiny gap between the vinyl flooring and the wood sides
 
I've got white on the insides of places, but not blue. Blue tends to release spores IME so that should be your priority, but the white seems much more innocuous. I reckon the blue is penicillin, but googling for the white is proving awkward :roll: It might be trichoderma.
 
Unfortunately the problem is getting worse, probably due to the extremely cold and wet weather we have had recently. I put a vent near the mouldiest area and bought a non-electric dehumidifier (which so far hasn't collected a single drop) but now theres a mix of white and blue mould in various places on the shed walls and some black mould on the roof 😔 I keep wiping it off and it comes straight back so I think bleach is going to have to be the next option. Luckily most of the mouldy patches are above bunny height and amazingly they have shown no interest in chewing any part of the shed. Aside from moving on to a bleach based spray and putting some more vents in I'm not sure what to do. I have a long outdoor extension lead so I could potentially borrow and run a heater or electric dehumidifier inside but I could only run it once or twice a week when I'm off work
 
I would have a word with the manufacturer as a brand new shed shouldn't do this. I feel so sorry this is happening. Had the shed been treated before you bought it?
 
I do agree with tonibun, it sounds like the mould was already *in* the wood before your bought it :S If I had a brand new now-well-ventilated shed it shouldn't be doing this and I would complain, it's only happened on constantly-wet parts of my setups, where water gets in through mechanical problems rather than lack of ventilation. So, either it's getting constantly wet on the outside and permeating through (bad but fixable), or there's big problem with the wood (worse) :S
 
Thanks guys I'll see what they say. To be honest though I do think all the excess moisture (and therefore mould growth) is from the bunnies breathing and bringing in water via soggy footprints rather than a pre existing shed problem. The ikea pegboard has swollen and warped, there's mould trying to grow on the underside of their hideyhole, the kitchen roll i keep in the shed for cleanups has felt damp ever since the weather got colder, I have noticed condensation droplets of water on the roof a couple of times, oh and the dehydrated banana treats have gone soft :roll:

I had another thought today, I have some wood and mesh left over, I wonder if I could make a barn/aviary type door. Otherwise I think I'll be putting multiple vents on every side
 
I have a 13 yr old playhouse with no mould, only a bit under the lino. My big shed is 11 years old now and it gets very damp but no mould. I noticed from your photo you hadn't raised it off the ground, maybe this is why you are having all these problems. Who assembled the shed for you?
 
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