Temperature issues.

[ninjitten]

I apologize if this isn't urgent enough, but it's certainly an issue for me that I've been stressing about the past few days.

There is a little back story though:
A friend of mine that is attending university is not allowed to take her chin with her. Her sister was originally going to take her, but she moved to an apartment with a strict no animals policy. Her parents cannot take her either. I agreed to adopt her, then without warning the air conditioning in our house broke... and it would take waaay more money then we have right now to fix it. Really convenient timing. >__>

So I'm in a bit of a predicament. It's really hard to get our house below 80 degrees. I've been doing everything I can to make it cooler; I bought an in-the-window AC today, and have managed to make it significantly cooler in one corner of the house, but you can't put the chin's cage right in front of the AC vent. My friend agreed to get me some granite tablets to help, but I'm still insanely worried about it.

I don't have the chinchilla yet, my friend is coming by Thursday morning with her. My sister thinks it'll be fine, but I'm so, so, so concerned with it being too hot. I have seriously worked myself up so much over this, and I need absolutely any remedies or solutions you all might have as to make it a safe temperature for my future chinchilla.

Under normal circumstances, I would simply ask my friend to keep the chinchilla longer until we could get a more stable situation sorted out... but she's leaving for university very soon and is unable to do so. So can you all see my issue? It's a terribly messy situation and I've just been distraught over it.

Thank you all for any help you might have. u__u

 

[becky12883]

The in the window ac units are meant to cool one room. If you put the ac in a bedroom or den that you can close the door to, you should be able to keep the temperature regulated and keep the chin in that room. As far as not keeping the cage right in front of the ac, you can put it next to it, or far enough away that there isn't a breeze in the cage. (Although my boys love the fan blowing right on them, they will sit in front of it during playtime, and even try to sit on top of the vent on the ac.) My cage is on one side of the room and the ac is straight across in the window. I can stand in front of the cage and not feel the cold air blowing.
It sounds like you already have, but check out the FAQ's for new owners. You have found a great resource for all your questions and concerns in this forum. Good luck with your new addition!
P.S. There is a search button in the bar at the top of each page, it's very handy and took me quite a while to find it.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

Do not knowingly bring a chin into an unsafe environment. Your environment in not safe at this time. Is the air conditioner large enough to keep the temperature steady and low enough in a small room? If so can you move the air conditioner to that room?

Even though you promised your friend you would take the chin you may not be able to do it. Sometimes things happen that prevent us from keeping promises that are beyond our control. This is one of those times. I know you care about the chin or you wouldn't be concerned about the situation. So do what is best for the chin and tell your friend that she will need to find somewhere else to house the chin. You would never forgive yourself if the chin suffered heat stroke and died.

 

[ninjitten]

Thank you all. Right now the AC is in our den, and has cooled the corner to about 76 degrees, which is a tad warm for my tastes, so I think I'm going to see about moving the window ac into my room (since it's fairly tiny and would cool down rather quickly), it's just the project of actually getting it into my window.

My first thought was to ask her if she had someone else who could take her, but she said she spent all afternoon calling places and no one would. And we don't exactly have any chin rescues in Georgia. However, I believe moving the AC would work, so I'll see if I can do that. Thankfully I have another day or so to get this sorted out.

Thank you guys again, there's tons of great information here. I spent all last night browsing through the forums, haha.