In a corner and AC questions

[Devi Xiao]

So my original plan of having chinchillas in my room isn't going to work because of some crazy logistics and whatnot. The only room that I can place them is in the den of my house where there is really no foot traffic (and I mean none). Obviously, I'd take care of them and still do my best to interact with the chinchillas every day for an extended period of time, but I was wondering how well they fair with getting no attention for an entire day.

Also, the den is open so there is no door to close it off. Would anyone have any ideas as to how to cool just the den without turning on the central air for the whole house? I feel like the lack of a door makes a window or portable AC unit completely ineffective. Moving them to another room is also not an option.

Thank for your replies!

 

[EternallyCynical]

My chin is on the lower level of my house (we call it the basement, but its really just at ground level). There really isnt any foot traffic down there but my single chin does all right. He can see people going in and out of the door (he can see the front door from where his cage is) and I go down to give him some attention every day. He doesn't seem depressed or upset, and he still has plenty of days where he doesn't care at all when I come down and will be fickle and ignore me. As for cooling, that isn't a problem I really have.... we keep our house fairly cool and the lower floor where the chin is always stays a degree or two cooler (part of the reason we have him down there, aside from the fact that the cage won't fit anywhere else), but if you don't think a portable AC or open window would be effective, maybe look at direct in-cage cooling? Chilled tiles or frozen water bottles in a sock or fleece cover or something? I don't know if there's any way to cool off only the air in the room w/o a door, but a portable AC could still make a difference, if you had it going mainly at their cage or something. May not be SUPER effective, but I don't think it would do nothing, either....

 

[akane]

A window or portable ac unit would probably be enough. We've used one just to cool the bedroom when our ac went out and the door is often open. Whether it would save you enough to buy and run one all the time instead of the house ac is another question. The portable ac unit we borrowed was $300 bought new.

 

[chinchillachris]

I think your chinchillas should be fine in the den if you interact with them at night (they are nocturnal anyway, so the really don't need much attention during the day since they're asleep). Maybe, you can try to make it a habit to interact with them for some time before you go to bed every night? I've also heard that some people like to leave a radio or tv on near the chin's cage, "to keep them company" when their chinchilla is left alone. The voices on the radio are supposed simulate the presence of humans.