Beating the Heat

[adreabri]

We are having an usually early HOT HOT summer right now. Its 93 outside today and its supposed to be in the 90's all day next week and its only early JUNE!!

Right now I have my ratters in my bedroom which has a box fan in the window so it stays relatively cool in there. Plus it stays dark(ish) in there all day. I have a small personal fan blowing on the top half of their cage and the rattums seem to enjoy it just wondering if this is ok. The fan is on low and well out of reach of little curious fingers.

What do you guys do to beat the heat?

 

[Beautiful_Insanity]

I've been having a similar problem with the heat. So far we haven't had too many very hot days, but the few we have had were pretty intense. My rat boys were definitely not enjoying it. I ended up filling up the bath tub with about and inch or two of cool water (on the deeper end- the shallow end was dry) and let the guys out to play for a while. None of them are real fans of the water, but it did seem to cool them off- which was the intention, of course
I am interested to see what other people suggest for keeping ratlets cool on those hot days. But, thought I would post my solution. Good luck!

 

[rat.charmer]

I give mine ice cubes. Sure it gets a little wet and messy but it's just water and evaporates. Plus it's hilarious watching them try to hoard it, lick it and push it around the cage.

 

[jorats]

Before we had central air, I would put a wet (wet) face cloth in the cage as well as keeping a bowl of cold water in it too.

 

[henry's_mum]

I use water bottles, fill then with water, and freeze them!
The rats quite often can be found snuggled right up to a frozen bottle buddy!
Come July, the a/c unit will go in, if it warms up at all....

 

[adreabri]

The fan is ok though right?

 

[SQ]

a fan is ok as long as it isn't blowing on them.

ideas:
1. water frozen in bottles and placed wrapped in the cage on on the outside of the cage
2. floor tiles cooled in the fridge, wrapped in cloth or fleece or under cage linners, that they can lie on or lie close to
3. fishing for peas - shallow container in cage with luke warm water and unthawed frozen peas in the water for rats to fish out. Rats may cool off in the water, etc
4. mushy lab blocks cool or frozen
5. ice cubes or ice cubes made from baby food
6. I use a window fan to blow out hot air during the day and to bring in cooler air overnight


** important - have several sources of water in the cage
Every summer, rats die when they run out of water or when their water bottles become clogged

 

[zenia wulfe]

I'd give them HUGE ice pieces in a bucket.

 

[victoria]

We have central air so if it gets really hot I turn it on for a few hours at a time. Right now, we keep the blinds closed when the sun is bright and hot outside (in the morning that's on the bedroom side of the apartment, the afternoon is the living room) and open the windows at night let cool air in.

I always have more than one water bottle in each cage and if it's really hot outside I will leave a cooled ceramic dish with very cold water and sometimes frozen veggies in it. When they finish the veggies, some of my rats even like to go in for a little bath.

I try to leave more available floor space this time of year so that if anyone wants to pancake, they can.

The frozen water bottle (or a Scratch and Newton Ice Pod) are a really good idea. Luckily I have always lived in apartments/houses that were cool or could be kept cool in the summer so I haven't had to try it. I'm definitely on the lookout for a few tiles this year to pop under the liners for my pancakers though.