Avoid Heat Stroke for Your Chinchilla

[Jo Ann]

Hi All ...
   

Summer and hurricane season is upon us!
 This is a time for caution for us and for our chinchillas ...
Be Prepaired!
Let's make our homes safe for our chins!

We can start with the one who inspired this thread: Chinchilla Grl 06
With this post:

chinchillagrl06
I about had a heart attack yesterday. I went to my apartment for lunch @ about 11 am. I had lunch until 12 pm and went back to work. Within an hour my b/f called and told me that the A/C had stopped working. I couldn't believe it. He said it wasn't too hot in the house yet and he brought out a fan and put it near the chins. So I told him to start freezing bottles and make sure all the chinchillers were in the fridge cooling off. I made it home in record time and we covered the windows to keep any extra sun out. It helped a little bit. I put a huge bag of ice in front of the fan for the chins and kept a close eye on everyone and the temp. Thank god we were only without air for about 1 1/2 hours. I was ready to start the cars and drive chins around to keep them cool. Turns out our filter needed changing and the A/C was overworking, they said it happens a lot and the pipes get frozen and have to defrost to start working again, the maintenace man changed the filter and everything is good as new. I went into full panic attack mode there for a while though. 

 
Jo Ann [/i]

[Jo Ann]

     Glad to hear your A/C was up and running again fairly quickly.  Had someone not been home, you could have lost them.  It's never bad to have someone check on them during the day, if possible.

     
      Chinchillas do not perspire/sweat, so blowing a fan directly on them does not help them, as a matter of fact, it can make them sick.  Never put your chin where they get a direct flow of air from a fan, or a heat or airconditioning vent/duct.   

      Covering the windows to keep out extra heat/light is very good.

     As far as the ice bag in front of the fan ... good idea ... IF you make sure the fan is blowing on the bag/container of ice, to cool the whole room or section of room the chin is in, but do not let the fan blow the air directly on the chinchillas.   

      Yep, this is the time of the year we have to watch the airconditioners extra close.  If you normally change your filters once a month, change them twice a month ... the airconditioners are under a strain and need to be helped in any way you can do it.  Freely moving/not restricted, air flow is a must ... it can also keep the motor from burning out and blowing the whole unit.

      For new chinchilla owners ... check your filters often ... chinchilla fur is very fine and will clog the air conditioning filters.  Chinchilla dust in the air will clog the filters.  When you have chins, there are many more cautions to take ... for their safety and yours!

    Fill Mason jars 2/3 full of water and freeze them and/or fill the jars with ice ... make sure the lid is tight before you put it in the cage ... this will help keep them cool as well as giving them water from the condensation that forms on the outside of the jar.

    Marble squares chilled in the refrigerator, then placed in the cage will help cool your chin.  You should be able to find these in the flooring section of most hardware stores.

    If you have a cage that has a wire bottom and has a tray under it (with space between the wire and the tray), you can place a tray of ice cubes or a pan of frozen water you have prepaired a head of time, in the tray, below the wire ... watch your little ones find the nice cool spot of cage wire to sit on. 
   

     Please, add a comment and/or add any ideas you might have!   We are going to have a hot summer and hurricane season is also here ... be prepaired for your chinchillas as well as your family (2 and 4 legged members alike!). 

     
Jo Ann

PS Jamie, should this have gone in health?    Nice time for me to think of that, huh?

[chinchillagrl06]

If no one is home during the day, maybe try to stop in at your lunch break to make sure everything is running like it should. 
Even then there is risk, I did go home for lunch and less than an hour later than a/c stopped. I don't even want to think about what I could have come home to if my boyfriend wouldn't have been home.  It is amazing just how quickly a room can heat up We just watched the temp go up and up and up.

And another quick cool down tip I actually just read about today on another chin forum is "Freezer Time". When someone's A/C froze, they were waiting for it to defrost, and their chin was getting hot, so they took everything out of their freezer and let their chin spend a couple of minutes in the cold to cool down. It is important to remember to NEVER SHUT YOUR CHIN IN THE FRIDGE OR FREEZER. This is for emergency cool downs with the fridge door open and you standing right there supervising. This can possibly save your chin's life in an emergency.

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Don't let them run or at least not for very long when it's on the warmer side.
It's amazing how quickly over heating can happen.
As I've said I did with Dakota, a cool damp cloth applied are the ears and head, and a cooler area. Even standing in front of the freezer with the door open is good.Waving it for a quick cool. I used this for asthma attacks as well.
I know we should not get a chin wet, but if it's life or death do what you must. Just remember not to soak them just a cool damp cloth.
I find mine chins stress less if I have them up, so I used a real cool piece of cotton sheet, to help keep my body heat from getting to Dakota, and not cuddling him just holding him.

[Jo Ann]

Jamie, Thanks for moving it to where it belongs, it hit me just as I finished posting that it needed to be here and not in Breeding 101, but ... guess I figured I'd let you clean up my mess    Thanks, Jamie!

We've got it going good ... lets hear some more good ideas how to keep your chins cool in an emergency.

How about keeping you chin cool while transporting it?

What could you take with you as a precaution, just in case you were to break down or get in an accident?

 
Jo Ann

[FluffBall]

I keep mine in my dining room but if something were to happen I would put them in my basement
that is always a cool place for them and if you electric goes out you can always buy bags of ice and put them around the cage to keep the air aroung them cooler in a real crisis

[Misskitz]

Jo Ann this should be a "sticky" topic. Its very important.