Ground pods · In partnership with ReHabitat
The pods are already there.
After a bushfire, small mammals need shelter immediately. Not in three weeks. Pre-funded ground pods held with ReHabitat are ready the day fire is reported.
The problem
Three weeks is too long.
The standard emergency response after a bushfire works like this: fire occurs, someone places an order, pods are manufactured, pods are shipped. That's a minimum of two to three weeks. By then, the bandicoots, antechinus, and pygmy possums that needed cover are already exposed - to predators, to weather, to stress. The window for meaningful shelter has closed.
Pre-funded pods don't wait for a fire to happen. They're already made, already packed, already held with ReHabitat. When fire is reported, they ship immediately.
How it works without pre-funding
Fire occurs
Day 0. Animals are displaced and exposed.
Order is placed
Someone has to find the money and make the call.
Manufactured and shipped
2–6 weeks. That's the realistic lead time.
Pods arrive
The critical window has passed.
What is a ground pod
Shelter for the ground level.
ReHabitat pods are flat-packed cardboard structures that assemble in the field. They're designed to be deployed in large clusters - fifty at a time - to create dense ground cover that mimics knee-height vegetation. Predators like cats and foxes struggle to hunt efficiently through them. Small mammals shelter inside.
As native vegetation regenerates - typically twelve months post-fire - the pods biodegrade. No removal required. They leave behind mulch that attracts invertebrates, which in turn feeds the insectivores already moving back in.
Made in Melbourne. Strong enough to hold 80kg. They disappear without trace.
Made from
Corrugated cardboard with a virgin outer layer for weather resistance. The internal corrugation is recycled. Flat-packed and field-assembled with no tools.
Deploy in clusters of 50
Smaller numbers don't work - predators adjust. A cluster of 50 creates a genuine obstacle course. Parks Victoria deployed this scale after the Grampians fires.
Biodegrades in ~12 months
In temperate woodland conditions. Faster in salt or wet environments. Slower in dry, arid conditions. Leave them. They become part of the recovery.
Target species
Who uses them.
Eastern pygmy possum
Enters pods readily in field trials. Highly vulnerable in the post-fire period.
Antechinus
Small carnivorous marsupial. Ground-level cover is critical for survival after fire clears understorey.
Bandicoot
Uses pods for shelter. Benefits from the invertebrate bloom as pods begin to break down.
Reptiles
Bask on the outer surface (pods run warmer than ambient). Move into crevices as cardboard de-laminates.
The Wild Houses model
Fund them now. Deploy when needed.
Your pledge pre-funds a stock of pods held with ReHabitat. They're manufactured, packed, and sitting in a warehouse ready to move. When fire is reported in a suitable location, they ship that day. No emergency procurement. No delay.
Based on your project volume. Reconciled at end of financial year, same as a nest box pledge.
ReHabitat manufactures and holds your stock. Ready to move at 24 hours notice.
Pods are deployed to verified sites by conservation volunteers and land managers on the ground.
Pledge options
Three ways to pledge.
Pods work at volume. Below are starting points - we can build something custom around your pipeline.
Pledge a number of pods proportional to your project volume. Works the same way as a nest box pledge - estimate at the start of the year, reconcile at EOFY.
Best for businesses with a large, consistent project flow who want a simple per-unit commitment.
Minimum 50 pods recommended for first deployment.
50 pods - the minimum effective deployment size. Held with ReHabitat until the next fire. One cluster provides cover across a meaningful area and creates the predator-deterrent effect that makes pods work.
A clean, single annual commitment for businesses delivering work at volume.
50 pods plus a camera trap monitoring setup. After deployment, a motion-triggered camera runs for 2-3 months. You receive a digest of footage - the species using your funded shelter, verified on the ground.
Good for businesses wanting something tangible for sustainability reporting or stakeholder communications.
Camera costs and logistics subject to site access and deployment location.
Ground pods and nest boxes
Different species. Different crisis. Both real.
Ground pods and nest boxes are not the same thing. A nest box replaces a tree hollow - a structure that takes up to 200 years to form and cannot be rebuilt. That's the gap nest boxes address: long-term, year-round habitat for hollow-dependent birds.
A ground pod addresses a different crisis entirely: the immediate post-fire window when ground-level mammals have no cover. The problem isn't permanence - it's timing. The vegetation grows back. The pod degrades. The intervention is temporary by design.
Some businesses pledge both. One addresses the canopy. One addresses the ground.
Nest boxes
Hollow-dependent birds. Long-term habitat. Installed by conservation groups at verified sites. Year-round occupation.
Ground pods
Ground-dwelling mammals. Emergency post-fire shelter. Degrades as vegetation recovers. Immediate response.
Ready to pledge
Let's work out what fits.
A pod pledge can be shaped around how your business works - your project count, your reporting needs, your budget. A short conversation is usually enough to work it out.
