did anyone lose reptiles to the sydney heat

[daveyg1]

i have been in queensland for the last week
and left my father to look after my reptiles for me.
on new years day when it was 45 degrrees all my
hatchies died except for 1. i also lost a male blonde mac.
there were no lights on them and they all had water bowls.

i am absolutely devastated i cant believe it, all my spare
time this year has gone into my herps.and now this happens,
its a real kick in the guts

did anyone else lose any animals?

 

[salebrosus]

Was that your whole collection daveyg1? Sending you lots of hugs cos' it that would be a very crushing feeling. I had to go to the coast that day so i left a sprinkler on for the outdoor enclosures and everything indoors came into a family room that is the coolest room in the house. That only got up to 32. But moving that many animals around was a pain at least i know now it was worth it.

Sorry for your loss.

Simone.

 

[peterescue]

yes davey, we lost a rescue shingleback and a carpet. Both in poor condition.
We also lost Scatty the Plains Mouse so Rainbow is now a widow.
The temp inside our house exceded 45c.

 

[da_donkey]

Thats a tough break daveyg1, that sux hardcore.

my girlfriend was looking after her moms pets and 5 out of 8 died (including 1 leaf tailed gecko) that day while she was at work.

Daveyg1 ive got some eggs cooking at the moment, that days heat has dehydrated them when/if they hatch your more than welcome to have one if you want.

cheers

 

[TrueBlue]

Yes the heat can do very nasty things to herps. One thing to remeber is NOT to feed any thing during those hot spells as the food can go off before the animal can digest it, buy the time they throw it back up it is more often than not to late and there is a good chance the animal will die. Thats Another reason I would not feed off any heat killed rats or mice, if its hot enough to kill them it is normally hot enough to cuase this problem. Ive noticed a few people on this site have done this but personally I would not, there is too fine a line for some thing to go wrong IMO.

 

[redline]

Sorry 2 hear about ur loss pets. I no if it happen 2 me i will die

 

[jungleboy]

I lost heaps of chickens. It was devastating. All my herps did well though.

 

[beknluke]

Sorry for your losses guys
I was fortunate - I only lost coral, no herps, or their insects for that matter.
Our house got to 37 inside, 46 outside on NYE, but I stayed home with the animals to make sure that they all made it through.
I had 3 clutches in the incubator that day and used a method of cooling the incubator that True Blue and a few others recommended - ice blocks and a fan. It worked well enough, but I was running to the herp toom ever few mins to make sure that the temps weren't going too crazy. They fluctuated between 26 and 35 - not sure if all 3 clutches of eggs will hatch, but the first one has started too... Fingers crossed.
Condolences all round guys

 

[NoOne]

I lost 3 hatchling painted dragons poor little guys just couldn't handle it. Had frozen water bottles with everything else.

 

[glacey]

No ones mentioned using air conditioning - was there electricity restrictions???

 

[beknluke]

I can only speak for myself in saying that we don't have an air conditioner.
Why? Coz when the really hot days hit, we don't have the money. So we umm and ahh about using the credit card (and having no way to pay it off) for a bit, and by the time we decide to get one, it's cool again lol.
This is also the first time that I have had an incubator running on a 40+ degree day.
You're welcome to buy us one glacey
Bex

 

[congo_python]

Condolences Daveyg on your lost pets !!

 

[Rennie]

Man thats harsh, I don't know how you must feel :cry: I was lucky my parents had the air-con on all day cos I had to work. My rodents live in the garage though, which gets pretty hot, they were all soaked in sweat still when I got home at 8pm, but I only lost a few fuzzy mice. Last year though we had 1 hot day when I lost 3 adult mice and 2 adult rats.

 

[daveyg1]

hi everyone thanx for your condolences
its terrible that all those poor animals died.

i still cant believe it not getting any easier to deal with.
they were my pride and joy.

to trueblue the male blonde mac that died had not eaten for 2 weeks
and only 2 of the hatchies had eaten that week.

 

[serpenttongue]

I didnt loose any animals but i think i came close. It got to about 45 degrees and even the water in their water bowls was hot!! I had to keep replacing it with cold water and i also supplied tubs of water for them to soak in. I had BHP's submerged under water for ages!! I had Lace Monitors that were panting like dogs, they got ice packs to sit on. All my outdoor herps seemed okay. Temps inside my incubator rose to 35 degrees, but so far the eggs seem fine.

Finally when the southerly winds came in the afternoon i opened all their enclosures and let the wind come blowing through, which cooled them down quite quickly.

 

[Liccy]

i feel so stupid! I was away up the coast, and my dad rang up to tell me my rats were all ok, and should he be keeping an eye on my snake and my reply was "no, dont worry dad...i have all his heat turned off and snakes are pretty hardy" the next phone call was the all the rats had died, including my mum and her 6 fuzzies and the dad! with only one baby from the last batch alive... he checked them at 5pm and they were alive, but dead the next morning.... so, off tomorrow to get another female and get her breeding again...

sorry about ur losses.... i think i will be more careful next time the weather heats up!

 

[lutzd]

That's tough news indeed. I was lucky, in that I was on holidays from work, so could look after them.

I always keep a few large soft drink bottles of water in the freezer for this situation over the summer months. Wrap them in a towel so they don't touch the frozen surface directly (and stick to it! :shock: ) and put that at the "cool" end of the enclosure. Replace the bottle when it thaws (should take several hours). Works for me, anyway.

 

[stiffler]

In Adelaide the day before Sydney had a hot one it got to 43 here. Lost no snakes but wiped out half my Rats and all my mice. I had an evap water cooler on them and all. Poor little buggers. Freezer is full now.
Sorry for those who lost reptiles, it must suck big time.

 

[Glimmerman]

I lost 2 yearling jungles. I even had esky ice paks rapped in a tea towel in each cage. I also lost 62 mice and 45 rats. Rodents were upseting but the JCP really hurt. :cry: The rest of the collection is ok.

I'm more curious now after reading True Blue's post about heat rot cause I fed them as a New Years Eve present. (Enter the new year on a feed). My diamond and mac regurgitated theirs. hhhmmmmmm

 

[instar]

Sorry to hear that Daveyg1 and everyone else who lost animals! It was 47c here outside on nyd, had all our animals in the loungeroom with the aircon going full boar all day n night, still temps inside didnt drop below about 26c. we were fortunate, never seen such a hotday in years that i can remember, must have been a nightmare for firefighters recently too with winds blowing hot air.
had to keep adding frozen bottles to turtles and seahorse tanks constantly every half hour!