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Too hot?
Jul 13, 2020 23:47:16 GMT
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Post by medusa on Jul 13, 2020 23:47:16 GMT
Hi, I’m considering adopting either degus or chinchillas, and I’ve seen some conflicting information as to what temperatures they can handle. My room stays around 72°F/22°C... would they be able to acclimate to this, or would it definitely be too hot? My basement stays around 64°F/18°C. Would this be good or potentially too cold? I’d rather keep them in my room if possible, but I can keep them downstairs if needed. Also, I’m undecided as to which species I’m getting, so if anyone can help compare them or has any advice, that’d be great!
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Post by winic1 on Jul 14, 2020 14:14:54 GMT
I had my degus up in our family room, where we kept the temperature at about 71 degrees all winter. In the summer we wouldn't turn on the AC until it was over 75 degrees. They did fine. No complaints. At night we'd only turn it down to about 68 degrees. When it's warmer they may sleep on top of their huts instead of inside them, and when it's cooler they tend to go deep and huddle up together, even within the limited temperature range we had. But they can adjust to normal house temperatures easily.
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Post by bouncy on Jul 14, 2020 18:03:18 GMT
My lot live in the kitchen, where the temperature can be anything from 16°-30°. The kitchen is the warmest room in the house, but I do use the a/c if it gets too warm.
Both groups have a permanent heat pad and plenty of terracotta and similar surfaces to cool off on. Even though it's currently 25° in there, two are still sat on a heat pad. It's not until it hits 30° that mine spat themselves on the tiled kitchen floor during running.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2020 20:14:38 GMT
Hi there !
We are currently seriously thinking about taking in two rescue degu, but after reading a lot of information on the internet, I still have some uncertainties about the living conditions for those cute babes.
I live in France and in summer the temperature is quite high sometimes. During heatwaves, temperature in my appartment is around 27°C during the day, and doesn't drop much un 24-25°C in the night.
Would this temperature be dangerous for the degus, as it can last for several days ?
Thanks in advance for your help !
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 2, 2020 21:44:40 GMT
Hello, Elo!
That is certainly in the upper temerature range for them, and they would need means to cool down. If you have a refrigerator that is large enough that you could place stone tiles inside the fridge, or even ceramic tiles, so that you could then put the cooled tiles in the cage with the degus, that would help. Also, making sure, during hot day and nights, they are in a shaded area and are not sitting in direct sunlight. Degus DO NOT swim (they drown), so having water they can lay/swim in is not helpful, though you do want to have lots of fresh water on hand to help them stay hydrated.
I'm not sure what more to suggest. Hopefully others will offer some ideas as well.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 7:34:15 GMT
Hello Deguconvert and many thanks for your answer That is an idea I could use yes, but I don't know if this would last enough (for example, if I do so in the morning before going to work, will it last all day ?) I was thinking about putting fans or mini air conditionner on the outter on the cage next to the air grids, but maybe it would be too ventilated for them ?
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 3, 2020 18:23:30 GMT
You are right, they would not last the day. Probably would work well for through the evening and night though, if you were to have two or more so that they could be swapped when one is no longer cool.
It may work to use a mini air conditioner, but you have to be a bit careful. Degus have very sensitive respiratory systems and can develop an infection if there is dust or other contaminants being propelled through the air. If there is a bit of a buffer between the cage and the air conditioner that might be a very big help to them. I understand that you are saying it is small, so in order to be effective it would probably need to be fairly close.
So . . . thinking . . . what room would you be keeping the degus in, and how big is it? Can it be closed so that the mini air conditioner would cool the whole room?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 20:11:58 GMT
We plan on building our own cage, with wood and glass + mesh on the sides for ventilation (thanks to nightwishraven and his site !). For the dimensions we were considering something like 80(l)*60(w)*120(h) with 3 full shelves + bottom one for litter. Maybe we can try to at least cool down one shelf or two so they can choose the place where they are more comfy ? Is anyone there having some heat issues and a miracle solution ?
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 3, 2020 20:20:15 GMT
LOL! That is a good question!! Our household no longer has degus. (My Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and would be spending lots of time in our house because her treatments were in our city at the time.) BUT while we had them, we were required to get a new heating system and we added air conditioning to the package when it was installed. The degus DEFINITELY appreciated the cooler air in summer!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 20:34:25 GMT
I'm sorry for your mom Yeah full air conditionning in our appartment would be the best, unfortunately for the degus it won't happen because of the co-ownership rules (but that's a good point for environnement lol) I think we will try with some cooled stones, maybe several stones will do the job, or with tiles as you previously recommended
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 3, 2020 21:02:47 GMT
Once we weren't worried about over heating degus, our usage of the air conditioning was greatly reduced. As it is . . . we wait for the indoor temperature to go above 25 Celsius before employing it. I prefer to open the windows and get the cross winds working in our favor.
They do a good job! If you use a real stone, it will hold the cool longer than will ceramic. You could also try reusable ice packs placed in a tub or a bowl with the tile/rocks placed over top (to seal the tub or bowl) and benefit from the ice beneath. The hope here is that it would keep the tile/rocks cool for longer.
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 3, 2020 21:03:13 GMT
Oh . . . and thank you, on behalf of my Mom. She passed away a year ago today.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 21:21:55 GMT
I'm so sorry for your loss I think stones and ice packs will do the job if we put some throughout the cage. Anyway we will check on them to see if everything is fine !
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 3, 2020 21:27:55 GMT
Thank you, Elo! Grief is not an easy path, but it is one we will all experience.
You don't want the degus to come in direct contact with the ice packs . . . which you probably already knew . . . because they WILL chew them!! So not only will you lose the use of an ice pack, but the contents could be damaging to the degus.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 21:55:51 GMT
Yes, and I think that it's not becoming easy the more you grow up Yes I figured the ice pack would not last long lol I'll figure out a secure way of cooling down the cage !
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Post by savvy on Aug 3, 2020 22:21:16 GMT
Welcome to the forum, apologies for being a bit late to this.
If you are building your own cage, would be practical to incorporate a slot/shelve beneath the cage, where the degus can't reach it as it's outside the cage, but where an ice pack put safely be put?
They will naturally gravitate towards the bottom of the cage if they're hot as the air is cooler down there.
Just a thought.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 22:30:50 GMT
Hi Savvy and thank you for your message !
Thank you for this idea, I will try to add it to the cage plan ti see how it goes and make some tests with ice packs and wood.
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 3, 2020 22:46:58 GMT
You could consider making the surface above the ice pack slot/shelf out of glass as well . . . so no getting through, but the cool would be effectively felt?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2020 7:02:01 GMT
That's a good idea !
This cage building is becoming more of a challenge hahaha
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 4, 2020 9:32:26 GMT
Cage length should be 100cm if at all possible. 120cm is even better and fits with the sizes that wood sheets come in.
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