Heatwave warning for the UK - How to combine lots of little measures to save lives.

I don't know what the exact temperature inside is here, but my flat is ancient with massive single-glazed window on two corners of the living room where my piggies are so it's feeling very warm! I'm fairly certain it's not quite as warm as it was a couple of weeks ago, and definitely not as hot as it got during the 2022 heatwave but I'm still worried. I have frozen water bottles, a cold snugglesafe and cooling tiles in their cage and Gloria is sticking herself to the tiles. During previous hot spells they've completely ignored anything I tried to give them so the fact that she's using the tile has me concerned that she's a bit too warm. Fortunately she's still pottering about and eating hay and flakes and not acting too differently. I'm just out of ideas to cool the room/cage down anymore! No AC obviously - I have a desktop fan but not sure how to make best use of it :hmm: I thought about throwing a wet tea towel over it to try and cool the air a bit but it's so humid I'm not sure it's making a difference! The breeze feels nice to me, but not sure if it's a good idea to have it blowing directly on the pigs.
 
ratatellie said:
I don't know what the exact temperature inside is here, but my flat is ancient with massive single-glazed window on two corners of the living room where my piggies are so it's feeling very warm! I'm fairly certain it's not quite as warm as it was a couple of weeks ago, and definitely not as hot as it got during the 2022 heatwave but I'm still worried. I have frozen water bottles, a cold snugglesafe and cooling tiles in their cage and Gloria is sticking herself to the tiles. During previous hot spells they've completely ignored anything I tried to give them so the fact that she's using the tile has me concerned that she's a bit too warm. Fortunately she's still pottering about and eating hay and flakes and not acting too differently. I'm just out of ideas to cool the room/cage down anymore! No AC obviously - I have a desktop fan but not sure how to make best use of it :hmm: I thought about throwing a wet tea towel over it to try and cool the air a bit but it's so humid I'm not sure it's making a difference! The breeze feels nice to me, but not sure if it's a good idea to have it blowing directly on the pigs.
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Hi

The tiles are the mildest of the heat-sucking options in your cage so Gloria isn't yet desperate. Could you make sure that there is no direct sunlight on the cage? How hot is your bathroom or kitchen as a refuge for the hottest hours, especially if you can flush the surface with some cold water before putting them there?

This as a measure once they start plastering to the frozen bottle. They will hopefully continue to adapt to the greater warmth to a good degree as long as it is not sudden. It is generally the older and frail who struggle to deal with sudden changes and extremes.
 
Thanks for your reply! Their cage is at least tucked into the shadiest corner of the room so hopefully that's helping. The kitchen is tiny and hot so probably not an option. The bathroom is also tiny but probably the coolest room in the house so I could move them there tomorrow if need be (I'd just have to hop over them to use the loo! :lol:). Gloria is getting on a bit (as is Astrid, but she's more sprightly in general) which is why I'm worrying she's started to struggle to adapt. Fingers crossed there's only a day or two left at this high temperature!
 
Big hugs London Lady..

Luckily I moved away from London recently and a bit cooler than the ‘heat island’

I’m just moving them to coolest room overnight in their pet carriers with some lettuce and plenty of hay. . Not ideal but I cannot set up another cage area I move them back early in the morning. I tried the frozen water bottles for days in a sock and mine completely ignore them . Won’t go near them. won't even sit near them . I just end up with soggy socks covered in hay . Lovely..

Only answer is air con I fear . I don’t mind dealing with other health issues and had two poor pigs put down this year but if it was heatstroke I would feel terrible .

Maybe cooler early next week ..
 
Mon59 said:
Big hugs London Lady..

Luckily I moved away from London recently and a bit cooler than the ‘heat island’

I’m just moving them to coolest room overnight in their pet carriers with some lettuce and plenty of hay. Not ideal but I cannot set up another cage area I move them back early in the morning. I tried the frozen water bottles for days in a sock and mine completely ignore them . Won’t go near them. won't even sit near them . I just end up with soggy socks covered in hay . Lovely..

Only answer is air con I fear . I don’t mind dealing with other health issues and had two poor pigs put down this year but if it was heatstroke I would feel terrible .

Maybe cooler early next week ..
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Hi

If your piggies are not going near your frozen water bottles, they are not feeling overheated and you are doing well. :tu:

As I keep saying - and what @LondonLady has experienced in previous years -, piggies can and will adapt to some degree to hotter conditions as long as they have several days to do so and are not in way of extreme heat from open windows/a sun-heated blast furnace breeze/full sun. The cooler you can keep one room in your accommodation, the better for yourself as well.

Short heat spikes are often deadlier for guinea pigs in our experience as their body cannot adapt that fast and preparations by owners/knowledge of what to do is often not there.
 
eileen said:
My piggie room temp is 29 degrees centigrade.ive got wet towel,sheets at the windows ,fans,etc going.piggies are not using the ice pods.
I will not be getting anymore cavies when my numbers go down.
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Hope everything went well
 
AidaB said:
Thinking cool thoughts, hope everyone & everypig is ok today & for the rest of the week.

I am enjoying a rare mid week day at home.
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I have to get all my cages and the house ready for my sister coming over from Switzerland later in the week, so I am absolutely not happy...

Anyway, all my sheets are dampened and up in front of the windows as it is heating up quickly now that the sun is starting to disperse the cloud. We had a small early morning shower, just to dampen the surface and make everything really muggy here. I sincerely hope temps are going to stop at 32 C here today! The piggy lounge should hopefully stop at 25/26 C by tonight. :(
 
It is very worrying. My fan blew, so I have a Chillmax unit beside the cages. Now I have to sorry about whether it's safe. Hopefully this is the last heat wave this year. I need to save up for a bigger unit. I want to try reflective tin foil in the windows as well, or a car windscreen cover.
 
Hope your piggies are keeping cool today! Here's my piggies Dobby and Kreacher chillin by their ice pods and the second photo Kreacher cooling his balls on the cool hardwood floor during floor time 🤣🤣🤣
 

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Truffolo said:
It is very worrying. My fan blew, so I have a Chillmax unit beside the cages. Now I have to sorry about whether it's safe. Hopefully this is the last heat wave this year. I need to save up for a bigger unit. I want to try reflective tin foil in the windows as well, or a car windscreen cover.
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I have reflective foil that we use for the radiators. They work brilliantly! I have not really felt the need for aircon tbh. Although i have one in case it gets to a certain temperature inside the house. My advice is if you will use it, stick it outside, not inside, as if it's inside the heat had already gone thru and it will make your window really hot, whereas if it's outside it wont enter at all.

The only downside is everyone in our street now thinks we are growing weed inside the house 🤣🤣🤣
 
The reflective foil is brilliant (I've been told) on shed roofs, it really helps to keep the heat out. Your neighbours think you're building a space ship or something but if it does the job who cares.
Not so hot here today yet, we have cool breeze and mist, it spotted a little bit with rain just now. I think it will get hot later when the sun burns the mist off but at the moment we are having a lovely reprieve.
 
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dyonataly said:
I have reflective foil that we use for the radiators. They work brilliantly! I have not really felt the need for aircon tbh. Although i have one in case it gets to a certain temperature inside the house. My advice is if you will use it, stick it outside, not inside, as if it's inside the heat had already gone thru and it will make your window really hot, whereas if it's outside it wont enter at all.

The only downside is everyone in our street now thinks we are growing weed inside the house 🤣🤣🤣
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Excellent advice🙏🪴 How else can we afford to keep guinea pigs 😄
 
Truffolo said:
Excellent advice🙏🪴 How else can we afford to keep guinea pigs 😄
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And i have tested it myself. We covered 1 window on a really hot day and the windows were really hot to touch. After 20 mins (really) the covered window was really cool to touch whereas the other windows stayed hot to touch.

So yeah i'd go for it if i were you x
 
dyonataly said:
And i have tested it myself. We covered 1 window on a really hot day and the windows were really hot to touch. After 20 mins (really) the covered window was really cool to touch whereas the other windows stayed hot to touch.

So yeah i'd go for it if i were you x
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Brilliant, Thanks 👍
 
That's why I use dampened old bed sheets in front of our large windows and start early in the morning before the sun can heat up the glass. The evaporating water is cool and creates a great layer of insulation. You do not have to use the hosepipe; you can dampen a sheet in your sink with comparatively little water or use a refillable large pressure spray can that you can pump up (the kind that is used for pesticides on graves etc.)

I've been doing it for quite a number of years now and am able to keep the temperature rise in our dual aspect lounge that has the sun on both sides all day long to about on average 2-3 C even on the hottest days without using any energy and less water than a shower even with repeated dampening. For the smaller windows we use heat reflecting foil. The combination is making a difference throughout the whole house. During prolonged heatwaves the inside of the house gets warmer from day to day as the bricks of the walls take the heat more and more and don't cool down as much during the night but 1 C more per day allows the piggies and my own body to adapt as well.

You can see the pictures in our hot weather guide, which has the largest collection of tips. Usually a combination of methods works best. But as we all have different accommodations, settings and conditions - some of us are at home all day while others work for long hours. Inner city flats are a different kind of kettle to house in the countryside etc., we all have to find what works.
Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike

Energy and water are precious and increasingly limited and expensive resources. My own aim is to use as little as possible of either but we have to all work with what is possible for each of us in order to keep our piggies (and ourselves) from needing to plaster themselves to a source of coldness in the first place or panting for energy intensive air con.
 
Wiebke said:
That's why I use dampened old bed sheets in front of our large windows and start early in the morning before the sun can heat up the glass. The evaporating water is cool and creates a great layer of insulation.
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Good idea for my own windows!💡 Just for me, no piggies atm, but this place gets really hot. My previous place didn't for various reasons.
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
Good idea for my own windows!💡 Just for me, no piggies atm, but this place gets really hot. My previous place didn't for various reasons.
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Yesterday, when we were promised 32 C the double-glazed lounge went from 21 C to 24 C by the evening and today the lounge went from 22 C to 24 C as the forecast of 31 C fell short by a couple of degrees. I did get up early to air the house as much as possible before it started warming up again. But no iced bottles, fans or air con needed...
Before any measures, the room temperature would be on average 4 C lower than the outside temperature; now it is 8-10 C at the temperature maximum.

Heat reflecting foils do work from the inside as well in places where you cannot necessarily get to the window from the outside. But I agree that keeping the sun off the glass is the most effective measure. I do miss my Continental shutters! ;)

Just give it a try and then tweak it.
 
Wiebke said:
I do miss my Continental shutters!
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Not all buildings here have those unfortunately. I used to have wooden Klappläden, which tend to be 'tossed' when buildings are renovated. Then there are the Rollladen, which my present landlord installed in the two flats below mine but not in mine "because there's hardly any sun anyway" :roll: Welcome to climate change, even on the outskirts of the Black Forest.
 
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