What do I do with my chinchillas if I lose power if hurricane Irma hits Florida?!?

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Jen Breen

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
10
Location
Florida
I have two chinchillas. I've had them for nine years and we live in South Florida (below Miami). So far in those 9 years we have not had hurricanes hit us, just tropical storms that have not caused any power outages. But as it stands now Hurricane Irma is suppose to hit us this weekend (sept 8-10 2017). If we lose power what can I do for my chinchillas to help them to survive should we lose power?

I have called my local vet to see if they would have ac with their generator and they said no they would not be running ac with their generator just their fridges so their meds don't go bad.

I searched online and it recommended frozen jars of ice or cool blocks to put in their cage, but with the heat here in Florida that would only last maybe an hour. Can anyone please help me with what to do!?!? I love my Chinchillas and don't want to lose them!
 
Is there any way you can pack them up and get them to someone who isn't in the hurricane's path? Even if they have to stay in a small cage, that's better than having them in high heat. Freezing stuff isn't going to work if your power is out for an extended period of time, and from what I've read, Irma may be cranking up to be worse than Harvey, so long periods without power are going to be a nightmare.

I don't really know what else to tell you other than find a hotel somewhere you can stay, take them to a friend's house, or plan on running your a/c in your car for as long as necessary. It's just a really bad situation any way you look at it. :(
 
No there is no one I can send them to. We ended up getting marble slats from Lowes (because I couldn't find any chinchilla cool blocks). We took them out of their cage and put them in their play pen which is a tarp with a play pen wire wall and a tarp on top. The floor tarp should keep them cooler and we have the marble slats for them to sit on, also once the pores goes out we are gonna put the marble slats in there. They are on the floor now instead of their tall cage. I am hoping this will be good for them and save their lives should we lose power. There are thousands without power all around us, but luckily we still have it.View attachment IMG_0900.jpg
 
Stone slabs (weather marble or granite like the chin chillers) are only good for additional cooling in an already cool room, like for the chin to cool off after running around. Also they need to be changed out every half an hour to an hour for cold ones depending on the room temp. The slats will also only do any good if the chins actually sit on them, or you have the entire floor covered in them so they have no choice. I guess it's better then nothing, but unlikely to do much if it gets above 75F in the room.

There really is no good way to say this, but chins in temps of 75F or above for more then a couple hours will have brain damage due to overheating, and could very likely die.
 
I wasn't thinking,
Edit to my previous post: You are also going to need to keep the humidity down, the 75F or under is assuming the humidity is below 50%, so really if the humidity is higher, which it would be during a hurricane, you need the temp to be much lower, below 70F at least if not 60F.
 
This is so sad. Are you ok? Did your Chin make it? When it comes to mother nature she can be mean. I am sorry if you lost your Chin because sounds like power is out and temps are high in FL. So SO SO sorry for what you had to go threw.
 
Thank God, We got power back Tuesday night.....just in time because we were losing our Chinchillas! They were starting heatstroke on me!! We had been doing all we could....We had marble slats in their play pen (which was just a tarp on the floor with a wire pen with a cover on top) and fans on them, and I had wrapped ice packs in towels and put in there for them to sit on. They had been managing okay until Tuesday evening. We had been cooking out from on the grill and I had come back inside to check on them and the house was 86°. I picked up their house they were in and They were not moving and breathing heavy, we were going to lose them that night, but by Gods grace He gave us power 10 minutes after that. :chin: :chin1: :chin2: :chin3: :chin5:
 
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