weather altering behaviour

[Sunshinemeg]

As those in the Uk will know, the weather at the moment is unusually hot. I want to share with you the behaviour it has caused in my degus, and see if anyone else has noticed anything odd.

The day is generally too hot for any of them to do anything, I have a fan playing on the cage from 9am till 5pm, and try not to let too much sun get on them.

As a result they spend most of the day stretched out on different surfaces, just sleeping and resting. when it gets cooler however, its more interesting. One of my younger degus, Houdini, has taken to jumping. he stands in the corner of the bottom level, and jumps straight up, at the top of his jump he turns to face downwards for the return to the ground. He then repeats it four or five times before pausing to look around.

I wonder if the heat has done something to his brain?

[Aimeelou]

I have to say aswell that mine have been very submissive since the warmer weather has come, and they only seem to want to do anything in the evening aswell.

[Sunshinemeg]

Yes, my guys have become far more nocternal. dopey all day, and getting far more active from about 9 or 10pm, much to the delight of my fiance when they are just through an open door from the living room!

But they are less tolerant of each other, and bicker at each other through the day.

[sarah]

We had four really hot days (over 95 degrees) which is very unusual for Seattle. I've read that degus can die if the temperature gets above 90, so we had a frantic few days trying to keep them cool. We had two fans blowing on them and as soon as the temp went above 80 we put bowls of frozen water and ice in their cage. We also have marble tiles for them to sit on.

They seemed sluggish during those days, but they were still eating and begging for treats so we knew they were OK.

[jessxx]

Im in Belgium (for my dads work) and my degus really dont seem to mind the heat at all! it is usually very cold here so i dont know...I mean maybe it was because the place i got them from was quite hot! The only thing strange thing is I have a smaal blankey in there that thay cuddle up to when they sleep and one of them hides underneath and the other jumps on him from a log! LmaO its really funny && cutE!!!