Help...geckos overheating!!

[qzumaki]

Hi guys. I'm panicking. I have no air conditioning in my apartment and limited ventilation. It is 98.4 degrees in here. All of my fans are pointed at the cresties save for one, and that one is trying to get hot air out of the apartment (it's hotter in here than it is outside, but only by a few degrees). I put ice cubes on top of each tank, and most of my cresties are just acting cranky at this point, but my youngest one, Sprocket, is having a hard time. She's breathing heavily and is only giving me minimal responses to touch and cool water misting. I don't want to stress her out by poking her too much, but how can I help her? She was roughly 13g when I weighed her last week. I want to weigh her again to make sure she isn't dropping, but once again, I don't want to freak her out while she's trying to cope with the heat. What can I do for her? We're having a record-breaking heat wave here on the Massachusetts coast, and there is no place with A/C nearby where I could take her for the afternoon/evening. The humidity is oppressive and we honestly have no place to hide from the heat. I'm stressing out...I don't want to lose any of my babies today.

I would love to hear advice asap...

Thanks,
-Q

[Dragontown]

Oh crap.... if you can put kritter keepers into a cooler. Get ice, and make sure the containers will not flood during the meltdown. Cold water saunas.... the reverse of what you would do with a reg sauna. Deli cups, paper towels soaked in cool water. Cool spray mist.

You really need an AC as the weather will not break till the end of the week

[qzumaki]

I don't have a cooler either. ](*,) Has anyone done this with the fridge? I know we were talking about cooling females in the fridge...but is it safe for overheating emergencies?

[Hannibal]

Can you put them in the bathroom with a fan and run the shower on cold? Or put a cold towel infront of the dan to try and blow cooler air on them. It might help drop the temps down for them. If they have substrate in bottom of enclosure, maybe mixing in cold water with the dirt and fluff up with your hands so they can dig down into the cooler dirt.

[Dragontown]

If they have substrate in bottom of enclosure, maybe mixing in cold water with the dirt and fluff up with your hands so they can dig down into the cooler dirt.

Also a good idea. I'm not sure about the fridge.... you don't want a temp shock going from too hot to too cold. If you can make it gradual.

Even cooking bowls... anything that will keep ice. Pots with cold water...

[qzumaki]

Can you put them in the bathroom with a fan and run the shower on cold? Or put a cold towel infront of the dan to try and blow cooler air on them. It might help drop the temps down for them. If they have substrate in bottom of enclosure, maybe mixing in cold water with the dirt and fluff up with your hands so they can dig down into the cooler dirt.

GOOD IDEA with the shower & towels. They are on paper towels for the summer but I can see them trying to hide underneath. I'm gonna move them into the bathroom for now!

[qzumaki]

Also a good idea. I'm not sure about the fridge.... you don't want a temp shock going from too hot to too cold. If you can make it gradual.

Even cooking bowls... anything that will keep ice. Pots with cold water...

Thanks Mike...will try ice after slowly cooling them in the bathroom!

[MoonriseGeckos]

You could probably even float the kk's in the tub in a few inches of water with ice cubes in it...Good luck!!!

[aliguori]

Take whatever containers you can, fill them with water and freeze them in your freezer. Once frozen, put the frozen block of ice in front of a fan. A decent sized block of ice will last for quite a few hours doing this.

In my old apartment, my AC broke down in the summer (this is Texas so 100F+ is normal in the summer). I did hooked up a small fan and fill a bowl with ice and it's the only thing I found that kept me cool and actually worked.

I don't know about Boston, but in the summer time here in our apartment, we didn't get very cold water coming from the tap.

[qzumaki]

Take whatever containers you can, fill them with water and freeze them in your freezer. Once frozen, put the frozen block of ice in front of a fan. A decent sized block of ice will last for quite a few hours doing this.

In my old apartment, my AC broke down in the summer (this is Texas so 100F+ is normal in the summer). I did hooked up a small fan and fill a bowl with ice and it's the only thing I found that kept me cool and actually worked.

I don't know about Boston, but in the summer time here in our apartment, we didn't get very cold water coming from the tap.

Duly noted. I just filled my biggest bowls with water and put them in the freezer as a precaution. The coldest water that comes out of the taps in summer is probably close to 65F. I would ideally like some nice frigid 50F water right now, but I can't press my luck. I put one of my spray bottles in the fridge so that I have some colder misting spray if I need it.

I have six bewildered cresties in kritter keepers right now, in the tub, with cold water and the handful of ice cubes I still had on hand. Temps in the air are 93F and dropping...the water is probably in the low 60s at this point. I am freaking out a little less but I am still on the verge of running out an getting cigarettes (BAD me...I quit a few months ago). It's been a pretty awful day, with a 5a shift preceded by no sleep. I don't know what I'd be doing right now without you folks. At least you have shown me that there is a precious little something I can do for my geckos.

Sprocket is still breathing heavily but I'm keeping a close eye on her.

[MaddoxDobes]

I hope they all pull through for you!!!

[Spyral]

Do you have the fans on in the bathroom? that might help circulate the cool air. Bathtubs/shower stalls are usually the coolest places in the house during the summer.

Good luck with your guys!!!!

[qzumaki]

UPDATE: Sprocket is breathing normally now! Will keep them all in the tub for a few more minutes. They seem to be acting like themselves again. Note to self: GET AN AC.

[Dagan]

Oh no, Q! I hope it gets better. What a terrible emergency! AC's are WELL worth saving up the money. Even if you have to sell something in order to get one... I have seen them at Walmart for maybe 100 bucks.

Keep in mind that upstairs rooms are usually hotter than downstairs rooms. Don't know if that helps.

I hope everyone is okay. Sounds like you are doing a good job.

[Syn]

I had to go and buy an AC at walmart the other day. They have a 98 dollar one without electric controls and is via nob, and one with electric controls and a remote for 125. I got the 125 dollar one - it's 115 outside.

INVEST IN A SWAMP COOLER if you live in a dry area.

[qzumaki]

I had to go and buy an AC at walmart the other day. They have a 98 dollar one without electric controls and is via nob, and one with electric controls and a remote for 125. I got the 125 dollar one - it's 115 outside.

INVEST IN A SWAMP COOLER if you live in a dry area.

Oh god, New England is really soupy save for a few weeks in the fall. We're good on humidity for now. But thanks for the AC suggestions!! :)

Dagan, my apartment is on the 2nd floor of my building. The ceilings are really high on both floors, though, so I'm roughly at the altitude of a 3rd floor!! Seriously. My bedroom window is at the same height as the 3rd floor apartment across the street. Yech...it doesn't help the heat at all! High ceilings are nice, but...

[Hannibal]

Glad to hear Sprocket is doing better. If you can't get a window a/c tonight or tomorrow am, you might wan't to hit the store and buy a couple bags of ice to keep in the tub to keep things cooler in there for your critters. Hope your heat wave passes soon.

[rhatfield]

Good luck to you and yours! Very good of you to take such quick action. They could have died. Please keep us posted and sending lots of good luck and cool weather your way by thought

[qzumaki]

Thank you!!

[Syn]

If you were in my area I'd offer a window unit to you - but you'd have to help me reinstall it into the window - that's sure a pain!

Best of luck. Hope everything goes well.

[Midland]

Best of luck and I hope all goes well. Could you let us know which solutions you tried and how much they cooled the temperature by? Many people have this problem and having some numbers to see how well these ideas work would be helpful to many people.

[brandieb]

I hope everyone is doing well Q! The east coast heat has been CRAZY the past month.

Maybe hit walmart or the dollar store for some ice packs. They are small and you can pack a good amount in the freezer.

Good luck :)

[RaeaTheGreat]

We just had a similar situation. All day yesterday it was from 95-105 degrees outside (I live in connecticut...since when does the weather get that hot here???) but anyways at around 4 oclock when it's still over 100 degrees outside, all of the power in my street goes out (bye bye AC!) The power didn't come back on until about 4ish in the morning i would say. Heres the thing though, while we were all boiling hot somehow EVERY reptile tank in my room stayed at it's regular temp, tha snakes and leos were in the higher range of 80's and the cresties stayed at 70 (it's usually about 72 or higher).

[qzumaki]

We just had a similar situation. All day yesterday it was from 95-105 degrees outside (I live in connecticut...since when does the weather get that hot here???) but anyways at around 4 oclock when it's still over 100 degrees outside, all of the power in my street goes out (bye bye AC!) The power didn't come back on until about 4ish in the morning i would say. Heres the thing though, while we were all boiling hot somehow EVERY reptile tank in my room stayed at it's regular temp, tha snakes and leos were in the higher range of 80's and the cresties stayed at 70 (it's usually about 72 or higher).

Wow!! What luck...

Sorry I couldn't post yesterday. Tomorrow it's supposed to be wicked hot again, so I'm betting I'll have to repeat my experiment from Tuesday. I will post more detailed results!

[Lunar Gecko]

I'm in sort of the same situation as you but only not on the same floor. It was 96 yesterday and I was able to keep the room down at 77f by keeping the lights off and 3 fans going all day (what a difference being on the ground floor makes). I do have a swamp cooler that I can use if I must. Does the room get am or pm sun coming in the windows? Remember the hottest part of the day is normally 3-5pm. Good luck!

[qzumaki]

I'm in sort of the same situation as you but only not on the same floor. It was 96 yesterday and I was able to keep the room down at 77f by keeping the lights off and 3 fans going all day (what a difference being on the ground floor makes). I do have a swamp cooler that I can use if I must. Does the room get am or pm sun coming in the windows? Remember the hottest part of the day is normally 3-5pm. Good luck!

Thanks! The reptile room actually has ZERO windows. Great in theory, but in reality, PM sun pours into the bedroom windows from 3-sunset and just bakes all of the air in the apartment. Fans are helping, and opening the doors to the outside is helping (it's the only ventilation we can get). It's incredible how hot the apartment gets from the bedroom windows alone...and the bedrooms are unbearable!!

[Holly]

We got a new 9000btu AC off of craigslist a couple days ago and it was so hot yesterday it couldn't keep it under 84 in here. The side of the apartment with all the windows gets sun all day and makes it like an oven in here even if it's only 75 outside!

[Spyral]

Try shading those exposed windows. If you can't get some kind of shades, you can always put tinfoil on them to reflect the rays back.

[Cid67]

The shower idea works well I've done this many times

[GeckosAfterNightfall]

i'm facing this issue too but of course i'm on the west coast in wa state. not as extreme as the east coast though but i'm considering spending half a grand for a better air conditioner. 930 ft sq house with a 5,000btu conditioner on one side in a bedroom and another one in the living room on the other side of the house. definitely not enough juice since the tanks and cage for my cresties are 81ish or so. when i get home today i'm sticking ice cubes in there for them. don't got the money for a better conditioner unfortunately:( so far they're all okay but definitely will take them all out for a few after work. maybe a photoshoot of my breeding group i have.

[Cid67]

For those of you with a house & a basement which is partially under ground you know obviously it keeps pretty cool down there..What I did was turn the gas off to the furnace & put a window a/c in and shut the doors so it gets really chilly down there then I crank up the furnace all the nice cool air from the basement comes thru your heating ducts like central air..

In the winter i just need to ignite the furnace gas which isnt hard @ all..

just thought I'd throw that out there if anyone wants to give it a whirl...Oh also your cold air intake into the furnace must be in the basement for it to work.. :)