Todays Heat Wave

[Samee]

Oh that's really sad that would suck in fernvale yesterday it was 42

 

[Chris1]

so sorry for your loss, what a horrible thing to come home to.

i used to sit at work panicking on hot days when i lived in a house where temps would easily reach over 40C inside, fortunately i got the hell out of there before i lost any animals.
(main criteria for the next place was somethign that stays cool to cold.)

hope ur eggies survive,....

 

[SteveNT]

Wow those temps are about normal here except with 98% humidity. Good job our snakes are locals. I assume everyone gives them a big bowl of water to hang out in.

HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTICED THE LAST WORD OF THE FIRST LINE AUTOMATICALLY REPEATS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND LINE? BEEN HAPPENING FOR A WHILE NOW!

 

[Grogshla]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss mate.

 

[kitten_pheonix]

Can't swear but "f" me that's hot!! We got 39c
Slightly O/T, but does anyone know if there is an a/c that can be freestanding?

You can get portable A/C all you need is a window for the tube that blows the hot air out and your set, my mate has one works a treat u can get them at the good guys etc. just block off the remainder orf the open window.

And sorry for your loss, Id be devistated if any of my babies went

 

[Helikaon]

Its not uncommon in Melbourne to get a few days over 40 degrees in the summer. Surely it was forecast to be hot? I don't understand why you wouldn't have left the aircon on?

Sorry for your loss i am sure your rag doll will forgive you.

Over New Years in Melbourne we had 37, 40 and 39 degree days all in a row. I live in an old victorian terrace house that is like an oven in summer. The bricks heat up and stay like a hot plate, radiatingheat for days. I spent all week tracking down 2 portable aircon units. One for the rodent shed and one for the lounge when i am home and the laundry for when i am out and the dog has to be shut away. In my un insulated shed i did not loose one rat, mouse or rabbit. It was still warm in there but the heat did not reach dangerous levels. I turned off all heating in the snake room too.

It is a horrible thing, but we just need to make sure we are all prepared.

well thats the thing, i have lived in this area for most of my life and mid to high 30's are not uncommon through most of the summer, but i have not yet had to put the aircon on in the reptile flat once. to be honest i dont even know if they still work. Plus the fact that my shift was supposed to finish and have me back home early arvo, just cant walk out of there with emergency's so ended up being an all day and at 6am it was quite nice and cool. The fact is that all three snakes were in the same rack system so i assume the thermostat failed. Unfortunately the rats are in a different shed they only have fans up high to suck the hot air out, and it is shaded morning and afternoon midday temps must have turned it into an oven.
wasnt expecting it thats for sure and i dont watch much news these days. i will get one of those thermostats wokka mentioned i think and give those aircons a good clean out.

 

[smeejason]

well thats the thing, i have lived in this area for most of my life and mid to high 30's are not uncommon through most of the summer, but i have not yet had to put the aircon on in the reptile flat once. to be honest i dont even know if they still work. Plus the fact that my shift was supposed to finish and have me back home early arvo, just cant walk out of there with emergency's so ended up being an all day and at 6am it was quite nice and cool. The fact is that all three snakes were in the same rack system so i assume the thermostat failed. Unfortunately the rats are in a different shed they only have fans up high to suck the hot air out, and it is shaded morning and afternoon midday temps must have turned it into an oven.
wasnt expecting it thats for sure and i dont watch much news these days. i will get one of those thermostats wokka mentioned i think and give those aircons a good clean out.

You just have to be carefull with cooling thermostats with aircons as they are not rated to control that much wattage. It is and easy fix by just have the controler operating a contactor that is rated high enough to whack an air con on and off.. the other problem is that most are very good at keeping the temp at say 31 and will turn the air con on for 5 min and off for 2 and on again etc and it is hard on the air con. i have a timer in the circuit so they stay off for a minimum of 5 min. if you pm i can go into more deatil and even give you a schematic to get one made up by a LICENCED electrician ...
my air con is a bit small for my garage and was struggling yesterday to keep at 31. outside was 40. but snakes were all happy and most were laying on their hot spots getting hotter..

 

[wokka]

Most air-conditioning thermostats have a temperature "lag" of about 4C, between off and on to stop cycling. In my incubator room miy Air Cond turns on at 29C and off at 24C. They are only about $100 at electrical suppliers and can control a 20 wat air-conditioner.

 

[Helikaon]

Cheers Warwick I'll go have a look on my day off

 

[Bel03]

It was shocking yesterday, not much better today......but about to get hotter still over the next few days! This was something i worried a bit about, as our aircon is at the other end of the house to where my reps are........temps today are 36degrees in the room where they are, yesterday was 38, i have turned off their heat. They are both now getting their basking time first thing in the morning for a while, & that is it.

So sorry for your loss, i would be devastated if it were mine! All the best getting the temps right for the remainder of our heat wave!

 

[JungleManSam]

It is a hot day where I am too and the worst thing is there is no breeze flowing through like there normally is at my house so it is hot and muggy. I have bought my herps down onto the tiled floor and have 2 fans set up and i think that has put the temp down a few degrees for them, and me

 

[Red-Ink]

Im not sure if anyone else had any problems with the heat today, but i came home to a not so good surprise.
Worst thing about working in the veterinary industry is that we work all day helping other peoples animals and not a home looking after our own. left this morn 6:30am got home 8:45pm made sure i turned on the fans in the reptile room and made sure the windows were open but unfortunately it got hot enough inside to kill 3 of my juvenile snakes (2 murrays and a yearling wa stimo) and about 40 of my rat colony. Even my poor rag doll was going into heat stroke. he will never trust me again after the cold bath to cool him down. been here 4 yrs now and have never had it get so hot before. Sucks thats for sure. Wish id turned the air con on for them now, hind sight would have been good.

Sorry to hear bout your critters mate...

Kinda made me a bit paranoid now as my rep room gets quite hot as well in summer.

 

[Mr.James]

Just had an a/c installed. Bloody brilliant!

 

[traceylee]

What a horrible thing to come home to
I'm sorry for your loss

 

[12-08-67]

must have been hear breaking to come home to

 

[sutto75]

I only have 7 rats as i just sold my colony so i have put them in one tub and have them on the floor in the family room.
The little buggers are all huddles together as the do when there cold.
My cat thinks it xmas again....... 40 yesterday 36 today and 40 tomorrow its like the old weather has come back to us.
I think i liked it better at 30-32 all the time

 

[Sydney]

Sorry to hear that i am a newbie and so happy i have been home to watch her temp have had her heat light off( mostly) for the last two days

 

[ChaosPythons]

I only have 7 rats as i just sold my colony so i have put them in one tub and have them on the floor in the family room.
The little buggers are all huddles together as the do when there cold.
My cat thinks it xmas again....... 40 yesterday 36 today and 40 tomorrow its like the old weather has come back to us.
I think i liked it better at 30-32 all the time

Sutto me and adam got that colony off you and we actually lost about 20 rats all up because of the heat wave . . . we were both at work and came home to find them. Sad thing was the majority of those we lost were mothers but we managed to seperate the pups that we had between the mothers we still had left and they all seem to be hanging in there.

We went straight out after that and got two pedastal fans and have them and either end . . . seems to be doing the job, also i read somewhere the other day that if you stick tiles in the freezer and then pop them in the tubs at the start of the day it gives the rats something to keep themselves cool on. Not sure if it is true but we are going to give it a go cause i figure it cant hurt them anymore than this heat.

Would be interested in hearing what anyone else has done to combat this heat for rats besides aircons as we are in a rental property and can not install an air con in the garage

 

[Wild~Touch]

Drape wet towels over the rat cages
Frozen 2 litre cordial bottles in with rattties

 

[Bel03]

Drape wet towels over the rat cages

I done this with the bird cages also, it works well, they were much happier!