Woma & summer extreme heat

[benjamind2010]

I believe the temperatures in my home can reach well into the 40s on a hot summer day. My uncle lives 2 doors down from me and his home is similar to mine but a bit bigger. He said last year the temperature hit 47 degrees, his thermometer records to lowest and highest temperatures. In winter I'm not concerned about it as the heat mat will take care of the temperature gradient.

But in summer I am concerned that it may get too hot for a woma. I know they're desert species but I would assume excessive heat can stress or even kill them.

I thought of a good solution: I have a split system airconditioner with built in timer, so

Set the air conditioning for cooling, set it on a timer between 10.30am to 4.30pm, set temp at 32 degrees so it doesn't run constantly.

My aim would be to keep the reptiles from overheating and that is definitely one of my main concerns.

If anyone has any input they would like to add, that would be very much appreciated.

Ben

 

[driftoz]

i am also worried about the heat as my bedroom has gotten to 38*c before i now have a portable aircon but it has to have a hose running out my bedroom window so it cant stay on all the time if no one is home.

 

[Fantazmic]

i am so surprised nobody has thought of a way to build a cold mat....just as you have a heat mat for snakes that you could ahve a cooler mat for them to lie on.....surely they would be smart enough to seek out somewhere cooler.

Elizabeth

 

[solar 17]

I am more surprised people/keepers don't consider these conditions before they purchase a reptile, surely you people must know about summer heat conditions....you purchase a reptile and then get on the internet and start carrying on about what you can or cant do about the summer heat maybe just maybe you should have done a bit of research about you reptile before you purchased it.....solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Waterrat]

Ditto.

You read similar every day. "I bought this snake, how should I look after it?"

 

[Kristy_07]

I understand where you're coming from, Baden and Michael, but would you seriously jump to the conclusion that this person is an uninformed, irresponsible reptile owner because they're having some heating issues in the middle of summer? I don't like reading the newbie-type threads entitled, "I've just bought this cool scaley complex creature, now what?" either, but reptiles live a long time, and people move houses. I'm encountering a similar problem in the house we moved into this year - the temps inside the house skyrocket during the middle of the day when everyone's at work and the windows are shut, and I had to quickly find a way around this. It had nothing to do with me not knowing what my herps needed or not doing the research before I got them.

My point is, cut him some slack and stop being cranky old farts I don't think this is the same as some kid starting a thread that they've bought a bluey and don't know what to feed it. And most of us don't have cool pro set-ups like yours

 

[Waterrat]

Common Kristy, we aren't cranky old farts, nor we have pro set-ups. Speaking for myself, everything I've got I've made myself, cages, incubators, the lot.
Not everyone is lucky to live in Vietnam - sure you don't need heating there.

 

[Lovemydragons]

Yeah, I've heard of frozen bottles wrapped in a towel put in enclosures or portible air con units or fans. I actually have a small floor tile at the cool end of my click clack for my younger bredli boy. He loves it when it's hot, I have a cave over it so he can hide in it and keep cool. He's still using it every now and then even though its generally cooling down. I think there's a few posts already floating around regarding 'how do I cool my snakes' etc.

 

[Kristy_07]

Sorry, Michael. I was really just having a dig And you're right, I've not seen your set-ups, it was really just an assumption that they're pro because your website's so cool! You're right - no heating required in Vietnam! But also difficult to source herps that aren't wild caught, and therefore supports illegal wildlife trade if you buy them So I'm still trying to sort that out. But I did buy a hampster! His name is Rex, he likes air-con

Anyway, Ben, air-con on a timer is what I have to do in summer as well, just to keep the house at normal summer temps in the middle of the day. Try to make sure you've got a good temp gradient as well. Good thinking

 

[sweetangel]

I believe the temperatures in my home can reach well into the 40s on a hot summer day. My uncle lives 2 doors down from me and his home is similar to mine but a bit bigger. He said last year the temperature hit 47 degrees, his thermometer records to lowest and highest temperatures. In winter I'm not concerned about it as the heat mat will take care of the temperature gradient.

But in summer I am concerned that it may get too hot for a woma. I know they're desert species but I would assume excessive heat can stress or even kill them.

I thought of a good solution: I have a split system airconditioner with built in timer, so

Set the air conditioning for cooling, set it on a timer between 10.30am to 4.30pm, set temp at 32 degrees so it doesn't run constantly.

My aim would be to keep the reptiles from overheating and that is definitely one of my main concerns.

If anyone has any input they would like to add, that would be very much appreciated.

Ben

I'll actually try to answer you question.

Yes heat can be a big problem. But your aircon idea sounds like a good one but it will also cost alot of money. have you considered putting in large water bowls big enough for them to get in, and then you can freeze some big bottles of water to cool the water during the day. i did this with my fish tank to stop it over heating.
another thing that i did for my diamonds was build a small coolgardie safe. what is this you ask, well it was what they used before they had refrigerators back in the day. basically if you build a coolgardie safe and then wire in a few computer fans you should have enough airflow (whichh i think is the main concern) and a cool place for them to hide. if you check out this website and look at the pot in pot section it seems very easy and effective but i have yet to try this on Keeping your cool, Replacing the Humble Refigerator- By Nev Sweeney
anyways hope that helps

 

[Cheyne_Jones]

Would be a very difficult task I'd day. Heating is very easy to create using resistance to create heat. To create cold you have to use evaporation etc. The cost to create a something like this would be huge and they would be very inefficient IMO. Way cheaper to have an aircon running during the warm hours.

i am so surprised nobody has thought of a way to build a cold mat....just as you have a heat mat for snakes that you could ahve a cooler mat for them to lie on.....surely they would be smart enough to seek out somewhere cooler.

Elizabeth

 

[Chris1]

considering theres only really a handful of days that get that hot the aircon sounds like a good idea on those days, wont get too exy since it wont happen every day.

i lived in a weatherboard house the summer before last and days that were 43 outside were 45 inside, i used a mesh cage on the bathroom tiles for my diamond since that was my most heat sensitive animal.
for the rest I just didnt provide heat and generally got them all out of the lawn when i got home from work to hose them down with cold water.

if ur house in on a concrete slab put ur enclosures directly on the floor to keep the floor area a bit cooler,...

 

[driftoz]

i was just thinking about thoes water bowls for pets which u can add a bottle onto it which when the water gets lower it gets refilled by the upside bottle which is screwed into it, instead u have a frozen or half frozen bottle of water and maybe have a towel wrapped around it as well so they then have cold water to drink and either wrap around the bowl or bottle. havent seen them for a while but hopefully there for sale still.

 

[Fantazmic]

Yeah, I've heard of frozen bottles wrapped in a towel put in enclosures or portible air con units or fans. I actually have a small floor tile at the cool end of my click clack for my younger bredli boy. He loves it when it's hot, I have a cave over it so he can hide in it and keep cool. He's still using it every now and then even though its generally cooling down. I think there's a few posts already floating around regarding 'how do I cool my snakes' etc.

Why didnt I think of the frizen water bottle in a towel idea??????We do it all the time in summer for the dogs when we go to dog shows...they love them...actually something a friend of mine did was to buy soil water holding crystals you water and they swell up and she made a cooling mat for the dogs to lie on. it was lovely and cool as it was filled with water....i wonder if something like that would work...inside a towel so the snake isnt actually lieing in the dampness.

elizabeth

 

[Chris1]

Why didnt I think of the frizen water bottle in a towel idea??????We do it all the time in summer for the dogs when we go to dog shows...they love them...actually something a friend of mine did was to buy soil water holding crystals you water and they swell up and she made a cooling mat for the dogs to lie on. it was lovely and cool as it was filled with water....i wonder if something like that would work...inside a towel so the snake isnt actually lieing in the dampness.

elizabeth

actually, there are those dog cooling mats, i bought one for my diamond but then the weather cooled down before i had a chance to try it,...

 

[benjamind2010]

I've got an idea:

I will buy a decent amount of those water holding crystals. Get some water, boil it, then put it in the fridge. Put the sterilized water in to the crystals and wait until they expand. Then put the crystals in a large hot water bottle. I can re-use it that way and can replace the crystals once a month. Put it in some thick pillowcase and leave in the enclosure in the morning when I go to work and return it to the freezer when I come home.

Of course, this only works for the "out at work/shopping for the day blah blah blah".

It does NOT work if you are NOT at home for a few days. So...here we go.

I believe my air conditioner has an "AUTO RESTART" feature. Why is this important you say? Pretty simple, when the power gets knocked out during one of those notorious afternoon/evening thunderstorms, your airconditioner will REMEMBER to turn itself back on. Why would that be important? I think a 10 year old child could understand the concept, so I am only going to explain this once.

Let's say you are visiting relatives for 3-4 days and you won't be home - you leave your airconditioner on for the duration of your absence, cooling mode, 32 degrees. You are away from home for 4 days. Left home on Friday morning, returned Monday midday. Saturday night there is a nasty thunderstorm. The power gets knocked out, and the air conditioner turns off at the mains like everything else in your house. The power comes back on in 5-10 minutes. If your airconditioner does not have an AUTO RESTART feature, guess what it does? IT STAYS OFF. Sunday is a really hot day. Like 40 degrees hot. Your airconditioner is NOT ON, so what is going to happen to animals (ANY ANIMAL NOT JUST A REPTILE, HUMANS INCLUDED) inside a house that can get 5-10 degrees hotter than outside temperatures? Can your snakes withstand 45 to 50 degrees? Could YOU withstand 45-50 degree heat for 4-6 hours? How much money do you want to bet that YOU (as well as your ANIMALS) would not kark it in such brutal temperatures? What about Monday? What if it's another stinker like Sunday. You're up ***** creek.

If your airconditioner has an AUTO RESTART feature and it is ACTIVATED like it SHOULD be, then your airconditioner will come back on, and continue to offer cooling to 32 degrees, so when Sunday and Monday get brutally hot, your snakes have at least a chance of being protected from 45-50 degree heat.

32 degrees on cooling mode is not comfortable in human terms, but it WILL stop your animals from getting COOKED. At 32 degrees, it has a lot of leeway in terms of when it will be operating, so that it will not be terribly expensive to run. It will only operate on a hot day and considering it's only set to 32 degrees will not require nearly as much energy as it if was set to 26 degrees.

Later on in the year I will contact an airconditioning service and have them activate this feature (if it isn't already so). How they do it, I don't know, but the airconditioner manufacturer states this can be done. In fact I'd be disgustingly surprised if they DIDN'T activate this. In fact, really quite pissed off, to put it mildly (like I want to swear my brains out at them kind of pissed off) and I do remember who installed my A/C system too.

Ben