Cooling hot ratties? UPDATE: Frozen bottle FAIL!

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rhapsody

rhapsody

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Messages
1,288
Location
California, U.S.
Holy crumbs, its been super hot where I live, and its not even summer yet! I keep a thermometer next to the cages, and its been reading 90F (32C) when I come home from work after dark. I don't really want to know how hot its been getting in the afternoons ...

Anyhoo, I've been rotating a bunch of ceramic toys from the freezer to keep them cool, but its probably not really helping when I'm away for the day. I've been trying to use electric fans, but they honestly don't help at all unless the breeze is blowing directly at you.

Would it be ok to aim the fan at a corner of the CN? They can move into the direct flow if they're hot, and move away when they've cooled down. Or is that a bad idea?
 
First of all, I'm going to send you a virtual smack for having hot weather. LOL

As long as they can get out of the breeze, it should be fine. The big concern is that running fans are not that safe, especially if there are moving parts (oscillation) or critters like cats or dogs that could potentially knock it over.
 
How about going further with the freezer thing, and freeze a block of ice (2 litre plastic bottle, fill 1/2 to 3/4 with water, lay on side and freeze) If it's in a plastic bottle, then when it thaws out it won't get things too wet, and as a block it will stay frozen for several hours.
Guess I'm just paranoid about leaving electrical appliances running when gone for the day...
 
Uh, sorry for my weather? :giggle: This summer does not promise to be fun heat-wise ...

But yeah, I'm not a huge fan (no pun intended) of running electrical stuff when no one is around either. The "fan" I'm hoping to use is our Honeywell Air Purifier that looks just like this. Although I do happen to have a bunch of 2-liter bottles waiting for recycling. Maybe I could reuse them for this ... *Ponders* Would the kiddos chew through the plastic though? One of the things I rather not come home to is the rattie version of Noah's Ark ...

HoneywellAirPurifier17000_thumb.jpg
 
you can also put ice in their water bottle or fill ti half way and freeze it then fill the rest of it with water and do it daily. also chinchillers I hear work well but a ceramic tile woudl work too, but ti sounds liek you do that already haha. you can also switch from fleece ot soemthing liek cottonthat is not as hot.
 
What about chiller pads? For our hamsters we used to put ice cubes in a glass jar w/lids that they could lay next to - would that work?
 
These are all good ideas. I do a an oscillating fan on my ratty boys when it gets too hot, and although it is not good to leave appliances running when out of the house, I make an exception when it comes to keeping my kiddos cool. And yes, a frozen water bottle is terrific, along with the damp towel/fan idea. All good stuff. Chilled ceramic bowls and granite slabs/tiles for them to lay on are terrific. I would do a combination of as many things as you can to help your babies. No one likes to be hot. :(
 
*SIGH* So I gave the frozen plastic bottle a try ... and came home to a drenched cage. And darn it, it would have totally worked minus the chewed up part - the little water remaining was still cold. Would it still be as effective if I rigged the bottle outside of the cage?

Anyhoo, it looks like I'll probably have to invest in some of those Ice Pods. *Starts scouring the interwebs*
 
rhapsody said:
*SIGH* So I gave the frozen plastic bottle a try ... and came home to a drenched cage. And darn it, it would have totally worked minus the chewed up part - the little water remaining was still cold. Would it still be as effective if I rigged the bottle outside of the cage?

Anyhoo, it looks like I'll probably have to invest in some of those Ice Pods. *Starts scouring the interwebs*
Click to expand...

MC will ship to you if you can't find it elsewhere. There just may be a cheaper option for you :)
 
@ TheRatQueen and Cinderwolf: I think I finally came up with a game plan for tomorrow thanks to you two! Leaving the air purifier on while I'm out has been really stressing me out with worry, so I need to have a non-electronic solution for peace of mind.

So I'm going to freeze some water overnight in a plastic cup, and tomorrow pop the ice into a glass pickle jar. Uh, it took me a while to reach this solution since I was stumped by the "how to make ice without an automatic icemaker" and "is it safe to freeze water in glass jars" questions - the heat must be frying my brain. Go figure.

In the meantime, I ordered some Ice Pods from across The Pond (thanks Victoria!) - it'll be a while before they arrive though.
 
Ice Pods won't produce a lot of condensation at least.

I find I have to shut off air purifiers in the summer, not sure if that's the same for all of them.
 
Pet supply stores have marble tiles for chins, but you can just get any marble/ceramic tile. If it's this hot already, they will not be enough in the summertime.
 

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