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Post by guyontheinternet on Jun 17, 2022 16:58:17 GMT -8
I know gerbils are desert animals but mine seem especially effected by the heatwave currently going on in the UK? I've given them ice, frozen stones, frozen slabs, and frozen fruit but they seem to ignore half of it until they sleep and then end up sweating themselves soaked and/or sleeping on their wheel or randomly somewhere upside down in the middle of the cage? I've kept gerbils before but it's never been this hot and IDK what to do to cool them down some. I refill their water twice a day to keep it cold but they still seem overwhelmed. Is there anything else I could do to help them? I just feel bad they look so sweaty LOL. x
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 18, 2022 13:04:03 GMT -8
They do struggle with the heat. It's cooled down now but for the future, I put frozen cool packs/freezer blocks on top of my tanks to create a cooler area underneath. Make sure they always have the choice to get away from it if they want. Also make sure they have sand because they like to sand bathe more in hot weather. You can even chill the sand in the fridge first. I've found my gerbils have liked ceramic tiles, slabs etc in hot weather, but seem to prefer them unchilled. Perhaps it's just too cold for them if they're chilled. A large slab that they can stretch out on will probably be welcome.
Gerbils don't sweat but they will drool from the mouth when very hot, which can be an early sign of heat stroke. If this happens you should take steps to cool them down, so take them into the coolest room in the house, put cool packs/freezer blocks on and around part of the tank (if you're supervising you can wrap them in a towel and put them in the enclosure). Always leave part of the enclosure normal temperature so they can get away from the cold if they want. If they become lethargic, floppy and unresponsive, you could wrap them in a damp towel, or even hold them in front of an open freezer door. Don't do this for so long that they get hypothermia of course, but heat stroke is very dangerous.
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Post by betty on Jun 23, 2022 4:40:32 GMT -8
Other things to add here for future hot weather that have come up in conversations elsewhere - mainly not letting things get hot in the first place:
+ Where possible don't even let the sun in at all. Close all curtains, blinds or shutters on the east and south sides all day. To create an extra layer - or where you only have thin curtains - you can stand large sheets of card or chipboard up to totally block out the light.
+ If you can, be up early in the am before sunrise and temporarily open all the windows in the room and elsewhere to create a cool morning through-breeze - hopefully to blow out all the stale stuffy air that collected overnight before the heat builds up all over again. Make sure to close them all again before or at sunrise so you don't let all the new hot air waft in. During the day - ideally only have windows open on the side of the house which the sun hasn't heated already or it rises off the walls and sucks right in. *****Todays record-breaking heatwave proved actually that in extreme temperatures (36+) having the windows open AT ALL allowed all the heat from outside in as the air itself was super-heated (and each gust of wind felt like someone had opened an oven door!). Having all our windows closed (and blocked) today at home resulted in temperatures 10 degrees lower than the property 2 doors down who had all theirs open. Basically their insides were just 1 or 2 degrees cooler than outside.
+ Having doors open in your house in all the cool rooms and those north and west facing helps spread out the warm air rather than trapping it all in the gerbil room fi it is east or south-facing. If you can create a shaded route to a very tall room - like the stairwell - the hot air should rise up there nicely - especially if you have a window up there you can open in the evening.
+ If you have a well-sunned conservatory or porch that you can shut off totally all day - you can prevent all that heat from entering your home. Keep the doors closed for as long as you can so you aren't spreading all that warm heat back inside. If they are too hot to sit in closed off like this - this shows how much heat you AREN'T letting in your home today (!) - just open their outside doors instead and stuff a chilled tile on your own back for a while!!
Even with all these though - my gerbil room can still get to 25 degrees by evening - I dread to think what it could be otherwise!!! Actually I might check the temperature on the south-facing window sill right now to compare...
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Post by Markpd on Jun 25, 2022 3:13:52 GMT -8
Curious, my boys are 2yrs old now and the room temp went up to 28C around about the date of the op, they seemed just fine! Didn't even need to run the little slow speed fans I have on their cage. During the day - ideally only have windows open on the side of the house which the sun hasn't heated already or it rises off the walls and sucks right in.I would add to that, that if it stays cooler inside than out then don't open the windows at all if everyone's out (you'll be letting the heat in, it's not just about direct sunlight). Last year (or year before?) during one particular hot spell, I opened all the windows during the evening and left the smaller ones open through the night (I'm in an upstairs maisonette). I closed them and the south facing curtains (heavy blackout ones) when I got up for work. When I got back from work (~5.30pm), the lounge (south facing) where my boys stay was still 2-3C cooler than outside, which as I recall was in the low 30s. But that would only work if no one is in (as was the case with me), we put out heat too  , I had also shut off my PC which I would normally leave on do to do science-number crunching (Distributed computing). Maybe if just one person is in it would work too, but not if they had a telly on! LilyandDaisyAgreed that they don't sweat (water), but I seem to recall someone telling me that their fur can get matted when they get hot? I can't remember though if that's from high humidity &/or greater oil secretions onto their fur (the oils apparently have a slight evaporative cooling affect though). Btw, welcome to the forum guyontheinternet ! Oh and whilst they are desert animals, in the desert when it gets hot they would retreat to their very deep burrows (upto ~1.8m) to cool off, or just stay down there. |
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 25, 2022 7:28:02 GMT -8
Yes, they can get more greasy when it's hot. If they're wet around the mouth or neck they could be overheating.
Mine were ok in the recent hot weather too. It wasn't too humid which probably helps. Gerbils particularly hate humidity.
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Post by guyontheinternet on Jul 18, 2022 14:29:31 GMT -8
LilyandDaisy + Markpd (I hope this has tagged you, IDK how sorry haha) sorry for the late response but thank you for your advice!! I've used it and they love the cold rocks + are much more active in a dark room, using pretty much all of this through all this advice again in the new heatwave now. x
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Post by Markpd on Jul 19, 2022 11:48:46 GMT -8
Nope that didn't work , but the fact you replied to the thread highlighted a new reply in the 'participated' button top right. To tag someone you can either type @ followed by their username (found in their profile or by hovering the mouse pointer over their member name), username and member (display) name are not always the same (e.g LilyandDaisy's name). Also if you click on the 'reply' on the right (which will not post a reply strangely, don't ask me why it's called that! lol. It should be called 'advanced reply' like most other forums), this gives you many more editing and posting options, including tagging people by just searching for their member name. Glad your gerbils are doing better now  . Btw, in this exceptional heat we had, I'm pleased to report that shutting the curtains and windows during the day, and opening the windows at night resulted in room temps 6-7C cooler than outside during peak temps . But yea, that still meant it was ~30C in the lounge today!  (where my boys live). They're just fine though (I had ice packs sitting on tea towels on top of the cage too). |
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Post by betty on Jul 19, 2022 15:59:07 GMT -8
I have updated my original advice after this ridiculous heat today - where every ounce of sky was super-heated!
I will say though that although all of the rooms in my house reached 29 degrees by late evening, all our gerbils including to very young ones are all ok - and some are right now (still 28 degrees) chewing up the place and the odd one who I didn't end up taking their wheel out is currently running in it!!!
Hopefully all my efforts made a difference at least rather than creating a nuisance by keep putting stuff in and around their enclosures - and I am seriously considering getting a portable a/c unit going forward as I wasn't happy at all about the worry of today. Thank goodness it was a short heatwave this time - I can cope with 2 days faffing about with my massive herd - but if we get this again but for longer - I am going to be grateful I made the investment.
I'm just glad we were low on food on a Tuesday otherwise everything wouldn't have fitted in the fridge and freezer!
Anyway - storms tonight and tomorrow depending where you are in the UK - so let's hope that's the last one this year and we just get normal weather from now on...
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Post by Markpd on Jul 20, 2022 10:47:27 GMT -8
and the odd one who I didn't end up taking their wheel out is currently running in it!!!Gerbils are crazy! 
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Post by tanzanyte on Jul 21, 2022 4:23:44 GMT -8
Good to know that my gerbils aren't the only nutters out there. My boys were perhaps a little slower, but all of them were still doing their gerbily things despite the heatwave. They have definitely been more fluffed up though. Does anyone know if that's cooling as well as a heating up thing?
I didn't think it had cooled down that much but Mymble is currently outside her cage, in her enclosure, and in the single patch of sun (she's a slate gerbil) and has been sat there for ages. I keep nosing over to check on her and she's still there. I saw her do it the day after Little My died and panicked thinking a similar thing had happened, then when I tried to get her to check her out she raced off. She was fine when I finally managed to catch her out to check everything. I did wonder if it was because she's currently a lone gerbil and doesn't have the heat from her sibling so this probably feels comforting maybe?
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Post by Markpd on Jul 22, 2022 14:08:40 GMT -8
I've noticed my boys like sitting in the sun , on the rare occasions the sun hits the edge of their cage. I don't recall the temp's, other than it not being hot at the time. What peak temp's did you see outside and in? |
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Post by tanzanyte on Aug 8, 2022 12:40:54 GMT -8
Sorry I missed this. I'm not 100% sure but it's been about 27/28degrees inside at the hottest point. We're slightly below ground which keeps us cooler inside, although the gerbils are in the south facing room. Unfortunately I only have our main thermostat to go on as my son took the thermometer and we've not found it since. I'm not actually sure what it was reading outside though.
Mymble is definitely sunbathing, I've spotted her a few times now. Unfortunately the boys don't get as much sun on their enclosure, but I have seen Max sitting in the sun recently. I feel bad that they don't get much sun when they obviously like it.
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Post by Markpd on Aug 12, 2022 16:13:58 GMT -8
Yea it's a shame, I wish my boys could have the sun more too, but especially this time of year dealing with high temp's, sun on their cages would make things tricky! (and getting it to just light a small patch trickier still, lol).
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Post by tanzanyte on Aug 13, 2022 12:53:44 GMT -8
They only get the sunshine in the outer area so at least they can get away from it and not overheat in their cage. Not that Mymble seems to want to get away from it.
I do wonder how much time they'd spend out in the sunshine in the wild.
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, I had also shut off my PC which I would normally leave on do to do science-number crunching (Distributed computing). Maybe if just one person is in it would work too, but not if they had a telly on!
), late 70s
.
(where my boys live). They're just fine though 
