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[chinchinjas]

Trying to plan for a phenomenon that's becoming more commonplace in New York City -- last summer in Queens, before that all over the East Coast.

We live in an apartment, so we can't just up and install this solar powered AC system: SolCool.net...

Trying to come up with a backup survival plan for our 2 chins.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[Jo Ann]

This is definitely the time to start making plans!  Not only black-outs, but hurricane season will soon be here.

1) Chin-chillers are good for a short period of time.  (A chin chiller is a small slab of marble or granite that is kept in the refrigerator to help cool down our chins when needed.)  The thicker it is the longer it lasts.  Just place it in the cage and watch your little one set contently on or near it.

2)  A Mason jar filled with ice cubes and a metal lid on the jar can be placed inside the cage.  The ice will cool the air and the chins can lick the condensation off the outside of the jar.

3)  If you have a wire bottom cage with a slide out pan under the wire floor, ice or cooler chillers can be placed under the wire floor in the tray.  IF the tray is metal ... it could cause it to rust.  Clean trays are a must when doing this.

4)  A basement is usually the coolest place in the house.  Even a closet is usually cooler than a room exposed to the sun.

5)  A fan can be used to lower room temperature, if you place a pan/tray/bag of ice in front of a fan.  BUT Do NOT use a fan to blow air directly on a chinchilla.  Chinchillas do not perspire and a fan will not do them any good, it will only make them sick.

I'm sure there are other suggestions ... we need them all!

 
Jo Ann

[tinabeana]

Depending on the scope of the outage this may not work, but here we've designated my mother in law who lives about 30 minutes away as the chin sitter in case of a black/brown out. Also our vet was able to recommend a pet sitter service with a generator in case my mother in law isn't available, they charged about 14 a night for a single small animal with their own food, 19 for two or more animals in the same cage.

Last year when our A/C wasn't working as well as it should have we used refrigerated tiles during the warm part of the day too. The people at Home Depot were actually very helpful in selecting tiles. They said stone types such as marble and granite would hold the cooler temperature longer but hard ceramic tiles were cheaper and we could buy more for less and swap them out more frequently.

We also put the dust bath in the freezer for a while. This doesn't freeze the dust but made it cooler. I don't know if it helped much, but I think if I had a fur coat like that I might think it was nice.

I remember someone suggested this before... we also got a ceramic wine cooler. We'd chill that and it's about the size of a chube so when we put it in Maggie's cage she'd crawl into it.

We also invested in the blackout liners for our curtains and over our blinds because the windows at our place are old and not very insulated. It helped a lot more then I thought it would to keep out house darker and cooler.

[chinchillaboy4]

The basement for us is definately the best, its usually about 20 degrees cooler than upstairs. Luckily i live in seattle so the hottest it usually gets in the summer gets is 85-90

[Debbie.nl.ca]

There has been a scattered time it's gotten hot here, not often mind you.
I would put clay flower pots in the freezer, and it worked great for most, but one ate half her pot.
I couldn't believe she'd eat it or at least chewed it. Half of one side was gone.
I now stick to glazed flower pots, they don't chew the glaze.
I love the chilling the dust bath idea, I never thought of that, bet the chins would love that on a hot day/night.

[cashew]

Good to know about this.  I live in a hurricane area. 

How do I know when he is over heating?  What's the best room temp for Chins? 

[chinchillaboy4]

65-70 degrees

[Marie14625]

We had a blackout here last summer that lasted about 12 hours.  I had recently bought some flat terra cotta (clay) tiles, and had them in the fridge.  I put them in the bottom of Trixie's cage.  I also put some ice cubes in a small bowl in her cage, and Rick chopped some ice cubes into chips which I put into her water bottle.  This happened on a Sunday, but we planned that one of us would stay home from work on Monday if needed, to keep cool stuff in and around her cage.

[Jo Ann]

We also invested in the blackout liners for our curtains and over our blinds because the windows at our place are old and not very insulated. It helped a lot more then I thought it would to keep out house darker and cooler.

 Long ago (30+ years ago), when I lived in rental property that had drafty windows, we got a 3M product that was heavy plastic ... you put it up over the windows, then used a hair dryer to shrink it taunt.  That always kept the cold air out or the heat out ... depending on the season.  Of course, if it's spring or fall, you usually like a window open for fresh air, so it doesn't always work for some year-round.

We also put the dust bath in the freezer for a while.

What a wonderful idea!  I have never heard of that, but it sounds like a great idea ... they love their dust baths anyway ... it would be like taking a cool shower on a hot day, after mowing the lawn.

I would put clay flower pots in the freezer, and it worked great for most, but one ate half her pot. 

 
Glad you mentioned that!
If you've seen the clay flat dishes (often used as a cactus dish) you might want to get one that has been glazed and use it.

How do I know when he is over heating?  What's the best room temp for Chins?   

On the beige and/or pink white chins (having pink ears), over heating is easily seen ... they will become a darker pink and you can, many times, even see the veins in the ears.  (A chinchilla releases heat through the ears and feet ... much like humans do.)  This is a little harder to see in the dark ears, but is still visible, if you keep a close eye on them. 

Also keep an eye on their ears and their activity when playing ... they can become over heated due solely to their activity.

We keep our chin rooms between 62 and 68, never letting them get past 70 Fahrenheits.  75+ is the danger zone that can take your chin quickly, especially if the humidity level is high.  Humidity should stay around 40% to 50%.  A de-humidifier is good to use ... BUT ... if you use one, you can cause more problems by getting the humidity (moisture content in the air) below 35%.  A barometer is needed if you use a de-humidifier.  When a de-humidifier is used, dust baths should be cut to twice a week, as should be done in the winter.  Heating systems tend to dry the air in the winter months.

The normal "safe temperature" can be figured by adding the humidity + the temperature .... if the total equals below 150, your chin should be fairly safe ... but, their are always exceptions to every rule.   85 degrees Fahrenheit + 20% humidity is definitely under 150, so is 100% moisture and 40 degrees, but the safe/comfort zone for a chinchilla temperature-wise is 55 to 70 (with the best being between 62 and 68) and 45% humidity.  If at all possible, never let the temperature go below 45 or above 75 ... these are the extreams to try to stay within, or so I have been told, by many breeders and my vet.


 
Jo Ann

[Chins To Love]

The black covers for the windows was also a great suggestion, it is amazing how it brings the temperature down in the room.