Whats with all the fleece?

[Euphoric]

First ,I live in arizona, quite hot over here. My house in the summer is usually 76-77 degrees. I do have fans on all my animial cages plus the little marble stones/cooled for the chinchilla.

What I am not getting is this fleece thing!
doesn't it make them hot?
And won't they chew on it?

I only heard of using it for ferrets and sugar gliders.

 

[Euphoric]

Aww sorry guys I found the other thread about this...My bad...but its about liners... i guess I mean more toys and hides

 

[Chinnies]

Fleece is soft for their feet and is basically the only material they can't injest (generally speaking; there are chins who will eat fleece if given the opportunity). Other fabric they could rip apart and eat fibers of. So, it's considered "chin-safe" and they love it.

 

[gella]

I think you need more than fans for chins at those temps, any spikes and it could be dangerous - do you have A/C in your house?

If they are hot they'll usually move if it is a house/tube. And like Chinnies said it is the only fabric that is chin safe as far as not coming apart.

 

[Chinnies]

Fans will just blow around the warm arm. It doesn't really do much for cooling off a thick furred animal, like chins. However, there is a type of fan that comes with a type of ice block, if I remember correctly. That one actually blows out cold air...

I don't remember where it was though. I live in Michigan, so it's Arctic out there anyway.

 

[alli713]

Yeah, chins can't sweat so moving around the air does nothing to cool them down.
Just putting tiles in their cage is not going to cool them down. You need a/c if you don't have it. Getting up above 70 is going to be getting too hot for chins with their thick fur, they can easily overheat.

As far as fleece, it's hard for them to destroy it since it doesn't come apart in strings. So even if they do try to nibble it, no strings come off for them to eat.

 

[Ashley]

I agree with what everyone else has said about the a/c. Fleece is a "safe" material as long as your chin doesn't chew it. Most chins don't, but it's one of those things you just have to keep an eye on.

 

[Diva Chins]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who paused when I read the temperature the house stays at and that the fans are focused on the animals...I thought maybe I was being an odd ball.
My chin room stays 60-65 degrees at all times. When it gets near 70 I start flipping out and turning the A/C on. At first I was very uncomfortable with such low temperatures, but now I start to break a sweat when it gets in the high 70s.
Anyways, back on subject.
My chins LOVE fleece. Each one of them has a fleece hammock and I'm in the process of getting fleece tubes for them. They love laying on it, and Doof even loves toating around a square of fleece and playing mommy to it by balling it up and curling up around it. Some chins don't like fleece but the majority do. Yeah, I imagine in temperatures as high as yours that the fleece would make them hotter, but in the temperatures they should be in, fleece is fine.

 

[Sandi]

What I am not getting is this fleece thing!

Because its chin-safe and members here make VERY CUTE fleece things! :thumbsup:

 

[Essentia]

Because its chin-safe and members here make VERY CUTE fleece things! :thumbsup:

Exactly.

As for the tempature in your home I have to agree with everyone else. I live in Florida so I also understand heat and how much electric bills run in the summer (even winter here). It's something you have to deal with to own chins. You have to keep it below 74ish (below 70 is ideal since at 70 even my chins can get overheated during playtime) to make sure the chins do not overheat. Fans do absolutely nothing, and can actually do more harm than good since the constant air flow on them can cause respiratory problems. You may want to look into a window air conditioner for the room they are in. I keep my chin's room (my bedroom) 65-70 and the rest of the house at 75-78 depending on my mood.

 

[Euphoric]

Well of course I have a/c, but it can be 112 over here.
The fans I have for my small animals do blow cold air, and I have a temp gauge in my room so I am not worried about MY chin specifically. The fan I got is actually sold for chisn so Idk...and since the temp drops a bunch in the night (Desert) I only have the fan on afternoon.
Essentia, there is no way I could keep just my room one specific temp, and there is no way I can afford that electric bill. Here in AZ our electricity is run MUCH differently due to the Salt water project (SRP) and my bill currently runs in the 100's.

 

[Diva Chins]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...
But don't chins start to run the risk of heat stroke if it gets up to 75 degrees?

 

[InkedupTara]

I think they do Diva. I freak when we hit 71 here. I keep it 67 in here, that seems to work for everyone.

Do you have a website for the fan you have for the chins. That would be nice to see.

I know here, we have a small apartment so we only need the one large window unit and I pay about 100+ in the summer for electric to run it as well, but that is what I do to keep my animals happy.

I know when it gets too stinkin hot out, we put up fleece in the livingroom to cover the doorway so the room where the chins are stay the happiest

Now, to the topic that was asked. My chins love fleece, when they all came here none of them I think really had fleece, but they never chewed it beyond trying to figure out what it was, and there are so many talented people who make things from fleece.

I have all my chins on fleece liners and love it!

 

[CerLynn]

I personally wouldn't trust even a cooling fan to keep the chins cool enough, but that's just me. I realize electricity is expensive, but our central air runs up our bill to no end (hundreds a month, and I'm a low-income graduate student), and we knew we'd have to absorb the extra cost in the summers when we decided to get chins. That's a decision and a commitment you make as a pet owner. *steps down from soap box* Sorry, I just get irritated when I hear the phrase "I can't afford..." when it comes to the health of pets...

 

[iayla]

I'm in Michigan and our winter electric bill is well over $100 - you dont even wanna know what our summer bill runs. We have central air because even tho we dont get the immense high temps other folks get in summer, we're surrounded by lakes and we need A/C to help control the humidity levels.

One of the first questions I ask potentail customers is if they have A/C set up in any part of their home, and make it clear that a chin can overheat at temps as low as 73 if they arent used to it, and will most definately have issues when temps hit 75-80+
I've personally had a power outage when it was about 80, and lost my boy Hostess to heat stroke at 75F in our home. That was with cooled tiles and frozen water bottles near him, it just wasnt enough.

To the topic at hand, fleece is easy to clean, has no loose threads to cause entangled limbs (or internal organs if they happen to try a nibble), easily washable, and comes in a million & one wonderful designs. For the most part, if chins get too warm from snuggling inside a fleece item, they'll know enough to move too a cooler spot.
~Barb~

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

Well of course I have a/c, but it can be 112 over here.
The fans I have for my small animals do blow cold air, and I have a temp gauge in my room so I am not worried about MY chin specifically. The fan I got is actually sold for chisn so Idk...and since the temp drops a bunch in the night (Desert) I only have the fan on afternoon.
Essentia, there is no way I could keep just my room one specific temp, and there is no way I can afford that electric bill. Here in AZ our electricity is run MUCH differently due to the Salt water project (SRP) and my bill currently runs in the 100's.

The fans can and will make your chins sick. A big no no-their respiratory systems are not made for air to be blowing on them like that...either way I would like to see one of those fans because I'd like one for my livingroom:wave3:

Keeping your chin room temp at one temperature is as easy as setting the numbers on the a/c you said you have. And I worry that you say you have and use the a/c but then say that "and there is no way I can afford that electric bill" -which to me says you don't use the a/c...If I'm wrong please explain.


It just worries me. The hottest I let me room (and I know many others that have this as their number too) is 72. End of story. Otherwise they run the risk of overheating and then *poof* you have a dead chin

 

[Diva Chins]

I've personally had a power outage when it was about 80, and lost my boy Hostess to heat stroke at 75F in our home. That was with cooled tiles and frozen water bottles near him, it just wasnt enough.

Yeah, I freaked out about that and have a window unit on back up. It's old, but it gets cold real fast and my dad has a back up generator that I can hook up to it in case the power goes out in summer.
I also have pet carriers for all my chins and my grandma lives up the road, she has a different electric carrier so when our electricity is out, hers is still on and she's welcomed me and the kids at any time.

I'm sorry you lost your baby to that though =[ I'm always scared it'll happen to me and try to have at least a plan A, B, and C.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

I always say that chins make the perfect pet for "women of a certain age", because we're hot all the time and like it to be COLD!!! Anywhere from below 60-68 for me.

Summer is the worst for me, because my small (750 sq. ft.) condo faces west and bakes in the sun, so my electric bills are the worst. In the winter, though, I love it to be cool/cold and save money because my heat doesn't have to kick in very often. The chins are in the living room with a vaulted ceiling, so it is always hotter/cooler than the rest of the condo.

 

[Classic Chinchillas]

Chins can chew fleece, if they were to injest it, it would not be safe. There really is no "safe" material or "safe" chin product, it's all in how your chin interacts with it. I have probably one or two chins that would not chew hammocks so I don't use them or any fleece things.

What I think a lot of people do not realize is she said she's in AZ, I have not been there but think its pretty dry so with less humidity the temps are not a problem. Back in the day, chins used to be kept in open sided buildings out west. At 80 I would get worried, but chins do become accustom to different temps just like humans. If you've ever moved between drastic climates I'm sure you've experienced this, I am cold at much higher temperatures since moving south.

 

[CerLynn]

Yes, it is true that fleece can still be dangerous if ingested, but it does help that the fabric cannot fray into lots of fibers... and it seems that for the majority of chins, they would rather just lay on it. I'm sure most of us would remove the fleece if chewing became an issue.

As far as the temp, I still believe that is a bit too close to being dangerous. Just because they did something "back in the day" does not mean it was safe. It is true that the humidity won't have as much of an effect, but those temps are still potentially dangerous. And chins are not like humans - yes, they can adjust comfort ranges to some extent, but when it gets hot enough that their body literally cannot cool off quickly enough (as they cannot sweat to get rid of excess heat), they can die. People can die in high-heat conditions as well... our limits are just higher.