Cooling

Kippo · 05-10-2007, 11:09 AM

Hi All!

Just wondering, what are some good ways to cool down your chinny if it gets really hot? Yesterday it was 27 Degrees Celsius here and I was getting worried 'bout ma lil' Kuki so I put ice cubes in her water, put some marble plates in the freezer, gave her a bowl of ice cubes in a dish, put my fan in my room (but no breeze directly at her cage) for air circulation, what else could I do though I'm afraid that's not enough. I am going to keep some treats in the freezer for those types of days and maybe cool some sort of metal dishes or pans to put in the botton of her cage to try and keep it cool. Any other unique ideas?

Kippo

11krage · 05-10-2007, 12:50 PM

Metal heats up fast, so cooling down that wouldn't last very long. Marble, grantite slabs and terrocotta pots and bowls can be placed in the freezer and then given to the chins (after wiping the ice off them first). Its good to rotate them so that they always have a cold one with them on hot days. And on moderate days they can be kept in the cage without cooling them and will still help a little with cooling them down. (its also a good warning sign, as a chin lying a lot on the marble slabs is trying to cool itself down so is getting much too hot.

Its good to place a temperature and humidity measurer thing in the room where the chins are as they are the things that can kill them if they get too high.

Ice cubes are a great idea, and freezing a raisin inside of one gives the chin an extra incentive to cool itself down. Fans don't really do much except move the air around, it makes us feel cooler but doesn't really do that much for chins.

If the place where you are gets hot a lot, it might be worth investing in a portable air conditioner/dehumidifier. Other than that, i can't really think of anything else right now.

Candycane · 05-11-2007, 12:26 AM

This thread has some great tips.

http://www.pets-on-the-net.com/forum...ead.php?t=7064

RainKiss · 10-18-2007, 08:27 PM

i was wondering if the temperature is too cold like... in the summer i turn on the air conditioning pretty high, and in the winter the heater is on pretty high too (but i can always open the window) ... if it is too cold, a bit above room temperature (room temperature that i can stand, but with long sleeve and long pants), will it cause harm for my chinchilla?

suzoo · 10-18-2007, 08:38 PM

You have to worry about the heat, not the cold. They have extremely dense fur & are used to cool temps.

RainKiss · 10-18-2007, 09:10 PM

oh okay... yea its pretty cold in my room 247 because i don't really like the heat eihter..
i am getting a 8 weeks old chinchilla in 2 days... i was wondering if there is anything special i need to prepare for him? like baby bottle feeding or etc...?

Kippo · 10-18-2007, 09:14 PM

8 weeks? seems young. hmmm im not sure though no experience in that department sorry

i got my chin and she wasn't fully grown, oh wait i think she was 8 weeks too! (2 months they told me) and i didn't have to do anything special.

the only thing i'd suggest is to make sure your room and cage are CHINPROOFED the point of paranoia, i know that seems extreme but with playtime they will get into places you will be SHOCKED lol and also my chin broke her leg in her cage :| took like 3 months to fully heal and a few thousand bucks to fix....make sure there aren't any wide openings/holes etc. that she/he can get their foot stuck in (like, those ferret cages that have an edge on the side of the ledges for attaching ladders that come with them...what i had and what caused the leg break eventually

)

hope that helps

Kippo · 10-18-2007, 09:17 PM

oh! WRT to temp just thought i might share:

i live in canada so temp gets really cold/hot too....and noticed something!

i always wondered why my chin stopped cuddling with me as much in the summer, and its cause shes hot! now that winter rolled around and chins handle heat exchange throughtheir paws (they dont sweat or anything) they LOVES to cuddle and i sometimes feel her feet are colder than normal. shell snuggle for like 20 minutes until she's happy or i'm bored lol! sometimes she don't wanna stop

it CAN get too cold i think. i sometimes get paranoid when it gets too cold, and im generally very woried about a power outage (lack of heater) in climates like canada

RainKiss · 10-18-2007, 09:17 PM

omg>< wow this is starting to scare me... hrm... i don't even know how big an 8 week chin will be XD i'm not planning to build the cage that high yet because it is still a baby and it doesn't know much, maybe when it starts to get older i will add floors to it...

Kippo · 10-18-2007, 09:23 PM

They're not TINY lol don't freak out sorry I don't mean to scare you

It's just that they can LOOK bigger than they actually are, so you might have a hole leading behind a dresser or something you think "oh she'll never fit in there" so don't block it and BAM next thin kyou know she's in there squeeking "how do i get out?!" lol. it's cause their fur is so thick and long that it's deceiving.