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.