Keep cool without AC?

[pinkpiggy1989]

So its only April, and its ALREADY getting hot! I live in Maryland, so not only is it hot, its very humid! I recently moved back into my parents, and I have the entire upstairs. My chins are kept up here with me. The past few days has been hotter than blazes upstairs. I know if I'm sweating, my chins have to be roasting.

My step-mother is being a real witch is wont let me put the AC in the window yet. I told her heat can kill them, and she doesn't seem to care. Last night it was so hot I had to move them down to the basement in their little travel cages. They were cramped, but cool.

I have several ceramic tiles in each cage, and I pop them in the freezer and rotate them in and out. I have a fan in the widow to circulate the air through out the room. I also change their water bottles every few hours, so they always have something cold to drink.

I'm planning on moving their large cages into the basement where its cooler, but that wont be until at least the weekend so I can clean everything out down there and make room. Is there anything else I can do to get through the next week?

 

[Megan]

There is nothing you can do. My a/c actually stays in the window all winter, and has been on, on and off for the past two weeks.. You'll have to figure out a way to get it into the window and turned on. A week, IMO is too long to go without the proper a/c. I, personally, will not mess around with the heat and my chinchillas.

Heck My a/c was keeping cool enough and I was at walmart last night shopping for a new one. (I average about a new a/c every 1.5 years).

 

[Stackie]

I agree with Megan. They need an a/c or a cooler place to stay, now. The granite tiles will do nothing to keep them cool enough at all. The fan does nothing to cool them off as they do not sweat.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

There is nothing you can do. My a/c actually stays in the window all winter, and has been on, on and off for the past two weeks.. You'll have to figure out a way to get it into the window and turned on. A week, IMO is too long to go without the proper a/c. I, personally, will not mess around with the heat and my chinchillas.

Heck My a/c was keeping cool enough and I was at walmart last night shopping for a new one. (I average about a new a/c every 1.5 years).

Mine staying in the window all year as well.

Is there away to keep dust and hair out of one? I'm ready to buy my chinnies a new one this year as well.

 

[Airyn]

I'm in Pennsylvania and have had the AC on for the past 5 days. There's no way I'd allow my chins to even attempt to deal with this heat. Can you just put the AC in and offer her money for the difference in the electric bill? What if you printed up their temperature requirements from a few different websites so you have supporting documentation?

 

[pinkpiggy1989]

I'm in Pennsylvania and have had the AC on for the past 5 days. There's no way I'd allow my chins to even attempt to deal with this heat. Can you just put the AC in and offer her money for the difference in the electric bill? What if you printed up their temperature requirements from a few different websites so you have supporting documentation?

I've offered $50 a month, and said I wouldn't run it 24/7 only when needed, and that I would seal the room so the cool air would stay in. But they still refuse.

I guess I'll just have to house them in their temp cages in the basement until I can get the big cages down there. Its not terribly small. They're large guinea pig cages, definitely not large enough for a chinchilla, but they're gonna have to be good enough until the weekend. I'll just make sure to let them out of their cage more and give plenty of chews and sticks to occupy their time!

 

[Megan]

Honestly we take the front off and clean it weekly, trying our best to get dust and fur out of the vents... We also take it apart at the end of the season and power wash it...but it prolongs the life to about 1.5 years for us.. I've tried taping "filters" on the front of the a/c to try and stop it from getting filled up, and that does help slightly but not much... I also wash the filters every few days and let them dry out ( I have a spare).

I wish I could find a way to keep the a/cs a bit longer.

 

[Liddiah]

Hi there! I'm new but perhaps I can help with the life of the ac issue. In Mika's room (my chin) we have the ac and a air purifier running. We keep the filters clean on the air purifier, located close to Mika's cage, and it picks up the dust and air. We do this because I'm allergic to dust but it also helps the ac filters stay clean (or at least its my theory as to why they are never packed with dust and other things).