Cooling Methods?

[wolfy2449]

Let me start off by saying that when I got Elsa in September, my mother said that she understood about chinchillas having to stay cool and agreed to be careful about the temperature in the house. Well it's been getting warmer here in southern IN, but not consistantly warm enough for my parents to turn on the AC and my room (yes, Elsa's cage is in my bedroom) is upstairs which makes the heat issue worse. Does anyone have any tips for keeping her cage cool? I've kept my door shut since my room iss right by the stairs, kept the room dark, and my window open since it was cooler outside and my room still got up to 72 today.

I mentioned the idea to my mom about getting a portable AC for my room before summer since I remember last summer my room probably got up to around 80 degrees (I'm not poitive since I didn't have a thermometer at the time). Let's just say that she didn't like the idea and she started compaining about how the electric bill gets so high in the summer. I mentioned me paying her for some of the bill, but she still isn't fond of the idea. I'm going to keep pushing her about it because it is necessary and any tips on how to convince her would be very much appreciated.

 

[Amethyst]

The only option that will work for any length of time is an ac, but you can try opening a window during the night when it's cooler and have it closed with the shade or curtain drawn during the day to block out any sunlight. A window fan could help pull cool air into the room, but since chins don't sweat, unless it brings the room temp down it wont help the chin.
The cooler temps are not negotiable, just like if you had a lizard you need a heat lamp, if you have a chin you need an ac if you live anywhere that gets hot (above 75F). It's a good idea to get a thermometer for the room though, one that has a humidity reading on it too is best as you don't want the humidity to get too high either.

Temporary fixes, like for a day, would be frozen water bottles near the cage, metal pans of ice under the cage, chin chiller stones (put in the fridge, or freezer for max cooling), or taking the chin on a drive in a car with ac.

You could try to explain that the ac wouldn't even need to be on all day, just the hot part of the day, and most new ac units have temperature settings on them so they automatically shut off if it gets too cool or once it reaches the right temp. The window unit and the portable unit I use you just set the temperature on it and it turns on or off as needed, it even has an energy saver setting. Also new ac units really are a lot better on electricity then they were even 10 years ago, we use less electricity in the summer, with 2 ac units running all the time then we do in the winter with heaters going (though I do live in northern Alberta, lol). A small window unit uses roughly 500 watts per hour for example, if you look at this site http://energyusecalculator.com/electricity_airconditioner.htm you can input the number of hours a day, how many watts of power the unit uses, and how much you pay per kWh and get how much the ac unit cost to run. Maybe with a calculation of cost your mom might come around to see how cheap the ac is, especially compared to an emergency vet visit for a heat sick chin.

 

[tunes]

There's a blizzard headed your way tomorrow, so I don't think the coolness is going to be an issue anymore; however, do you have a basement? If so, I would move her to the basement if it gets warm again before air conditioning season is here. I don't blame your mom, I wouldn't want to run one either right now with the weather fluctuating. It is still winter. If you move her to a cooler area of the house though, she should be able to ride it out.

 

[wolfy2449]

Thank you both very much and unfortunately I don't have a basement to move her to. I completely agree and understand that an ac is necessary before summer. I'm not concerned as much about the emergency vet visit cost as I am about Elsa's health. That calculator will be very handy Amethyst and I think I found something that should cost less than $25/month. I'll try bringing it up again tonight, show her what I'm loking at and the estimated cost, and hopefully it will go well!