# Keeping Rats Cool



## saximus (Jan 13, 2017)

Hi everyone,
It's been a little while since I posted here but I wanted to share some photos of a little trick I came up with a couple of years ago which is probably even more relevant at the moment with the ridiculous temperatures we're seeing lately.

I breed my own rodents in the back shed but this obviously gets way too hot for them to survive and I can't afford to give them their own insulated, air conditioned room. So a while ago I thought of the idea of having their tubs in a water bath. I played around with a couple of different arrangements until I came up with the one in the attached pictures. They are simply lab rat/mouse tubs inside cement mixing tubs with just enough water that they float freely.

I'm not sure how well you can make it out on the picture of the thermometers but the one on the right shows the air temperature at about 43°C and the one on the left shows the temperature of the water baths at 29.9°C. That's a 13° difference and, with an old pedestal fan on a timer for airflow, it means the difference between life and death.

I dunno if my little rodent buddies get "seasick" from it but at least they are surviving.


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## pinefamily (Jan 13, 2017)

That's a great tip, Saximus. Thanks for sharing it.


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## pythoninfinite (Jan 14, 2017)

Great idea Saxi. I put mine under a low table on the floor, but the water is an excellent idea.

Jamie


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## Iguana (Jan 15, 2017)

Very cool idea, wouldn't have thought of that! But do the rats show any distress from (their tub) being placed in the water tubs? It's my understanding that rats hated water, or are they indifferent/not noticing?


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## pythoninfinite (Jan 15, 2017)

Unless they can see over the edge, they wouldn't know they were floating in another tub.

Jamie


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## saximus (Jan 15, 2017)

pythoninfinite said:


> Unless they can see over the edge, they wouldn't know they were floating in another tub.
> 
> Jamie


Thanks, Jamie that's exactly what I was going to say.

I don't notice any distress. They even seem to breed better even during times where the weather isn't up to fatal temperatures, maybe because it's just more stable. They actually seem to like flicking their bedding out of the way to lay in direct contact with the inner tub. I imagine it would be similar to lying on your kitchen floor when it's really hot


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## Iguana (Jan 15, 2017)

pythoninfinite said:


> Unless they can see over the edge, they wouldn't know they were floating in another tub.
> 
> Jamie



good point, I was just curious as a tub in the picture is semi-opaque.


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## Iguana (Jan 15, 2017)

saximus said:


> Thanks, Jamie that's exactly what I was going to say.
> 
> I don't notice any distress. They even seem to breed better even during times where the weather isn't up to fatal temperatures, maybe because it's just more stable. They actually seem to like flicking their bedding out of the way to lay in direct contact with the inner tub. I imagine it would be similar to lying on your kitchen floor when it's really hot



Yeah I guess they wouldn't really know, or particularly care as long as they were cool. Was just curious to see if they cared at all lol. But it's a good idea with what you came up with to cool them down, will try that when I begin breeding rodents.


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## icuucme2 (Feb 12, 2017)

I use frozen water bottles in there cages just a 600ml soft drink bottle frozen the rats will lie alongside of it has kept mine alive esp yesterday was 40.5 in the carport + hosed down roof of carport.


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## vampstorso (Mar 7, 2017)

Very clever solution, Dan!


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## disintegratus (Mar 12, 2017)

very nice setup!
I can vouch for the fact that rats do indeed get seasick. I took my first pet rat with me on a boat once on the ocean, i thought she was going to freaking die on me. She literally just lay limply in my handbag the entire time, then within 10 minutes of being back on dry land, she was back to her usual self again. I can't imagine that floating on a shallow tub of water would have quite the same effect though...


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