Playtime during hot weather

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Marie5656

Chinchilla slave
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Messages
561
Location
Rochester, NY
Well, those of us in the North East US know we have not had much of a summer, temp wise, but we have had some warm stretches. In our house, Trixie is set up in the living room, where we have a window A/C and sometimes a fan going. In her playroom, there is no AC. But I keep the window open when I have her there...and will usually open the door of the room for about an hour before bringing her in, just to cool off the room. Normally I will bring her out for play time every night, or every other night--for two or 3 hours. During the hot weather, I really prefer not to bring her out to play as often..maybe every 3rd or 4th day. I try to have her out for less time, but when she gets going, it is hard to corral her back in. Do you think bringing her out just a couple times a week, for the two or 3 weeks of hot weather is enough exercise? She has her wheel, and lots of shelves to hop around on. I just do not want her to over do in the heat. I monitor her ears and behavior when she is out, and will try to catch her if she won't go into her carrier. I usually have her whee she will go into her carrier with one or two commands of "Home". But she has those stubborn nights when she just will not.
 
My girls haven't gotten many playtimes at all this summer so far. We haven't had to turn on the a/c much, but the bathroom where I give them playtime is upstairs and so it gets warmer up there. The girls live in the basement where it's nice and cool.
So since it's warmer upstairs, I just opt to not give them playtime. They probably so far have gotten one or two a month for this summer.

Trust me, your chin will survive without playtime. Sure, they enjoy it, but when it gets warm, it's just safer and easier to not give them playtime if it's going to be warm in the room they'll be in.

With a wheel and plenty of toys, they'll be fine.
 
Ditto what Allison said. If the room you have playtime in can't be air conditioned, skip the playtime. It would take very little time for your chin to overheat and be in danger, especially if you're experiencing any of the high heat that parts of the country have.

Speaking of the weather, for a week we'll be 70 degrees, then there are two 100+ days, then a week of 70 days, etc. What a weird, weird summer.
 
Marie, I don't playtime during the summer very often at all, and I remove their wheel when it's warm as well. They know when they are hot, but they still run on the wheel, AND snuggle in the fleece! crazy chins. So I remove the hot stuff for them, except fleece stuff LOL. If we happen to catch a colder rainy day then everyone will get some time out for play, otherwise summer is a lazing around doing nothing season.
 
Trixie seems to be doing fine with limited play time. I do make sure to spend extra time visiting with her at her cage, to make up for no play. She will sit forever to get her chin scritched. She loves it.
 
When I take Sidney Crosby out, I alwayz put her chin-chiller in the freezer so its very cold when she comes back. My dad keeps our house at 68 all summer (i wear a hoody and sweat pants in the house) so its nice and cool for her to run around but she still gets pink ears when shes done playing if i don't put the chin-chiller down. I would say don't take her out if all you have is open windows b/c if my baby is hot in the 68 degree house, just imagine how your little girl is feeling....keep giving the lovin and im sure she won't miss it that much!
 
I just set up playtime where my cages are and get creative with the play gates to keep them in a good sized area, away from cords and other cages. Is that a possibility?
 
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