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Post by Markpd on Jul 17, 2022 5:44:19 GMT -8
With temperatures predicted to be in the high 30s C and maybe even low 40s on Monday and Tuesday here in Britain (much higher in Western Europe!), I wondered what everyone was doing to help keep them cool?
For those of you in hotter countries, most of us here don't have AC in our houses (although stand alone units are becoming more common. A friend of mine recently bought one). How do you guys keep them cool, or do you just rely on the AC?
I've seen the FAQ we have on it here (which needs expanding on) it's rather a short list, and seems to me that none of the frozen items would stay frozen for long (except maybe the jar, if it's a big one). I have 2 very slow speed PC case fans on top of the gerbils cage (one of which I need to move), but fans alone won't cut it in those temps! I've got 2 ice packs (in the freezer now) which I will place on the outside of their cage, but I'm not sure how long they'll last (they're 230g ea). I'm guessing not all day? This advert of similarly sized packs reckons 12+hrs in a cool bag, how long out of one? (I work from 8-5). In which case I could pop home from work during lunchtime and only put them in place then? Also, seeing as cold air sinks, I guess putting them on top of the cage would give the best cooling, but what about condensation? Wrap them in a tea towel??
Thoughts/ideas?
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Post by betty on Jul 17, 2022 8:44:29 GMT -8
I don't know about ac units yet - but I have certainly noticed in my gerbil room that the ground is the coolest place by a few degrees in the worst weather. Today, for example, my floor is 24, mid shelf 25.5 and top shelf 27.6!!!!
We cool the room early am with windows open before sunrise letting in the 'night air', (went from 24 down to 22 in just an hour) then block out as much of the sunlight in the morning (the room is east facing). It still heats up as above - but I would imagine not ventilating from last night would have possibly made it even worse in there today - and we all know that it is long-term heat stress that causes some of the worst health issues.
Leaving internal doors open (if all rooms are closed to sunlight can be better than closed off rooms. Obviously, close off your room if one room is heated/glass-fronted/southfacing etc, but when closed (and shaded) the north-facing room was 26 but doors open dropped to 24. I dread to think what our front room would be with its giant south-facing window if we didn't have well-fitted black-out curtains in there!
Saying that, several of them were still running in their wheels this morning...
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Post by Markpd on Jul 17, 2022 14:29:05 GMT -8
I forgot to say that I open up the windows at night (and have a fan blowing cool air in if no wind) and close them and the curtains in the morning. My boys are in the lounge which is south facing! But, because I set out to overnight guests their I bought some heavy blackout curtains, which certainly helps to keep it cooler. That said, through the day I find it's only 2-3C cooler than outside, better than nothing, but that alone won't be enough against high 30s temperatures. BBC forecast for here is saying it will be 31C by 11:00am! 34C @ 1pm, 36C from 3-6pm (god! It's still 30C by 9pm! ). Think I'll pop in at lunchtime and put the ice packs on top then, hopefully they'll at least last the afternoon. Hmm, I could do with more really (darn, I should've of asked my dad and step mum if they have spare ones I can borrow, was there earlier!) .....
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Post by betty on Jul 17, 2022 15:00:14 GMT -8
Yes, frightening for sure to be so hot so early in the morning - think it said 27 degrees here for 9am on tuesday - I mean that's bonkers hot.
Some people are saying hang up wet tea towels in the room a few feet in front of the fans - but I am not sure about the science behind that. Sounds like it should make the room cooler - but also will raise the humidity - but I suppose if you are blowing it around it might be better overall?
Hmm.
Apart from re-applying cold/chilled items several times a day, I can't see how to keep their enclosure 'feeling' cooler constantly - apart from buying a portable A/C unit - which going forward into the world where this might become more and more common might be the best plan for keeping any kind of contained pets?
I will also add that most special diets, medicines and particularly nuts and seeds should all really be stored below 25 degrees (otherwise they start to denature and could become less effective/useful) - so if you have any of those for the gerbils (or yourself) make sure that they stay as cool as possible - and if they are safe to refrigerate cram them all inside your fridges! Imagine the cells inside them being like chocolate - but only their insides melt. So if chocolate will melt in your house - your meds and foodstuffs could well be affected too.
Well, we survived today ok - so that's a start at least - but it says 7 degrees warmer tomorrow - so that means my gerbil room could get to 34 if I'm not on the ball here. I am chilling all my spare bowls overnight so I can put in chilled water first thing and then wash up and chill all the bowls again for lunch time to do the same.
Strangely, this morning I offered them all the choice of a slice of cucumber or a (fake) shreddie - and they ALL chose the shreddie!!! Huh.
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 17, 2022 15:25:32 GMT -8
I've hung blankets over the windows and will also keep the curtains closed until late evening. It's too late this time around but I think blackout curtains will be a good investment. My room faces south east and it gets so hot, and then takes ages to cool down.
I've moved some of the hamster cages to the floor where it's cooler. Astra and Twiglet's enclosure shouldn't get too hot where it is. Tilly and Wispa are in a small tank since they're newly introduced so I can move that if needed.
Lots of cool packs in the freezer to put on top of cages/tanks. Wrap them in kitchen roll or a thin towel to soak up condensation.
Astra is a wheel fanatic and will run on the wheel even when it's hot and then flop for a bit. I'm wondering if I should take the wheel out for a couple of days.
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Post by ps25 on Jul 18, 2022 9:20:41 GMT -8
If I cant keep the room cool, I try to keep the tanks cool by placing ice blocks around them. I also freeze bowls and dishes and then place those upside down in the tank (above their nest if possible) to make a cool cave that the gerbils could sit under.
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Post by betty on Jul 18, 2022 12:05:47 GMT -8
Even with all my efforts - the room temperature still got up to 28.5 in my room (top shelf). All higher enclosures are on the floor - and everyone has chilled bowls dotted around.
We have black out curtains already, but the ambient room temperature crept in from the other rooms. Might go back to shutting the doors again as the north-facing bedroom was noticably cooler today with the door closed all day.
And my phone is saying 'tomorrow is 6 degrees warmer than today'!!!!!!
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Post by Markpd on Jul 18, 2022 13:53:47 GMT -8
And my lounge peaked at 28.3C early evening, after I'd been there a little while. Prior to me turning up it was just over 27C (starting at just over 23C in the morning), so I was actually pleased it 'only' got to those temps! About 6-7 C below outside temps , going by BBCs weather app (I need to get a thermometer for outside). Anyway, at that temp my gerbils were fine. But I'm worried about tomorrow now, it apparently dropped to 15C last night, but tonight it's predicted to drop to only 21C! So it'll be much warmer in here in the morning.... Oh btw, the 2 ice packs I have were thawed out by ~5.30pm, but were still slightly cool. Might need to borrow more tomorrow.
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Post by catnut on Jul 18, 2022 14:16:13 GMT -8
Sorry to hear about that horrible heat you are getting, hope you can find ways to keep your gerbils cool enough, we had a heat dome for a week last June, it was horrible and my cat was finding it hard to deal, she sat on the downstairs just to not be too hot and she never has done that before, we had to wipe her with a wet cloth and try to get her to stay downstairs and gave her ice in her water. I have a basement and it saved me and the three gerbils i had last year( i have one gerbil now and he's older, supposed to get warm here soon but 25-30 degrees) and had a fan. i'd use ice packs and change as often as you can.
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Post by Markpd on Jul 18, 2022 22:33:06 GMT -8
The lounge only dropped to 25.5C overnight! And it's apparently 25C already outside (by 8am).
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 19, 2022 6:27:00 GMT -8
My room got up to 33 degrees today! I was able to move some of the more portable enclosures to a cooler room at the back of the house but the bigger ones had to stay.
I didn't remove Astra's wheel in the end and she was still running during the hottest part of the day! It doesn't seem to do her any harm at least. She is very small and I think bigger gerbils seem to suffer more. Tilly is looking very fed up. She's quite "well-insulated", and dark in colour so she probably absorbs a lot of heat.
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Post by Markpd on Jul 19, 2022 11:31:35 GMT -8
Yea it was real toasty out there today, I think it peaked at about 37C around here. Seems my lounge fared slightly better than your room did, it peaked at just under 30C early this evening (I think humidity was about 40-45%). My boys seemed just fine, didn't see them run on the wheel, but they don't normally anyway until late in the evening. The ice packs lasted until about 7pm, certainly at 5.30 their was still ice in them. I tried to measure the temp under them later on (when Blake was out, about 6.30 I think), it was a couple of degrees cooler even at that late stage. Amazing that Astra was running on her wheel then! I guess the heat didn't real bother her!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 19, 2022 11:43:40 GMT -8
I only realised recently that the temperatures on the weather forecast are in the shade. I measured the temperature outside in full sun and it was 43C.
Now that it's raining it's turned so humid!
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Post by Markpd on Jul 19, 2022 11:54:07 GMT -8
Yea the trouble is with measuring temps in sunlight is that your also measuring some direct heat output of the sun in the thermometer, it's not an accurate indicator of air temp, but it does give you a better idea of what it feels like in sunlight. We've had a smattering of rain, and I see humidity is now up to ~50%, don't fancy that! lol.
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 19, 2022 12:19:49 GMT -8
I could actually smell the rain before I saw or heard it. Tilly and Wispa have been standing around with their noses in their air sniffing something. I wonder if they can smell it too?
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