It’s getting hot! Are you ready? 🥵

Gadzy said:
Isit me or is the slight breeze just deceptions? It feels cooler, but surely it’s gonna slowly warm the room up? I may have to get chatGPT on this one.

If outside is in high 30s even with a slight breeze isit better to still close windows and block them with sheets etc
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A through breeze can be helpful, going in through and out of the room if you are lucky enough to have that option. Keeping the sunshine out of the room is the best if you can.
 
Yesterday was a nightmare. My bedroom was 30 last night. Toffee spent the evening in the kitchen which was 2 degrees less than the rest of the flat but still far too hot. He's back in his cage in the piggy room this morning but the temp is gradually creeping up. I was up at 5:30am with all the windows open but it doesn't stay cool for long.
 
Pigs managed to stay outside until about 10, then outdoor temps were the same as indoors. I don't know about everyone else but my house seems to hold the heat, you can't touch the bricks even after the sun's gone down as they'll burn you. 28°C is the coolest I could get the downstairs last night Vs the cool 23 that appeared during the early ours outside. I would've left the door to the garden open all night to get cool air in but my one dog doesn't like the hedgehogs that routinely visit our garden.
 
Engel said:
Pigs managed to stay outside until about 10, then outdoor temps were the same as indoors. I don't know about everyone else but my house seems to hold the heat, you can't touch the bricks even after the sun's gone down as they'll burn you. 28°C is the coolest I could get the downstairs last night Vs the cool 23 that appeared during the early ours outside. I would've left the door to the garden open all night to get cool air in but my one dog doesn't like the hedgehogs that routinely visit our garden.
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I agree, once the bricks start heating up it’s just game over! We still have a bit of breeze so unsure whether to open the window slightly

P.s I love hedgehogs! They remind of of Guniea pigs 🤣
 
Yes, unfortunately in the present circumstances, our houses are designed to trap heat. I think that's why the AC is struggling; it's not just the temperature outside, it's the fact that the walls have absorbed heat, and the nights are so hot that it doesn't even dissipate during the night.

After work, I'll go move a few things around in the basement in case we need to get the girls down after all. We're almost certainly going to get thunderstorms tomorrow if not tonight, and if we have to turn off the AC or there's a power outage, the temperature is likely to climb very fast.

... It's not that I enjoy snow and iced sidewalks, mind you, but I very much miss winter today. ⛄❄️
 
Gadzy said:
I agree, once the bricks start heating up it’s just game over! We still have a bit of breeze so unsure whether to open the window slightly

P.s I love hedgehogs! They remind of of Guniea pigs 🤣
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It's difficult to know what to do for the best isn't it. I have a few windows open on the side of the house that the sun isn't on. Lots of fans going. Every so often I lift the loft hatch to let more heat rise as that's apparently meant to help upstairs temps.

My pigs are 5 so I'm keeping an eye on them. Damp towels on their cage to help and insulation foil at the windows to block the sun.
 
34 where I am in London today again. 26/27 in the piggies cage/room, I know it's still high. I'm still using that evaporative cooling technique with the wet towels and ran to B&M yesterday (despite saying I wouldn't leave the house lol) and got large dog size cooling mats. Shaped like an Ice cream because that's all they had left lol but done absolute wonders. Thankfully they seem to be doing okay!
The breeze is definitely helping where I am since I am high up it's blasting throughthe windows, which are now open since the sun has passed the pig room and not melting us, it's dropping the temp very slowly.

I'm so buying a portable AC when somewhere has one in stock that isn't now twice the flippin price!
 
With this heat, I had to move my guinea pigs from their usual cage in the lounge to the hallway, as it’s the only room in the flat without windows. I’ve been monitoring the temperature constantly with two thermometers—one in the cage and one in the flat. The flat has been sitting around 27.5–28°C.
One thing I’d recommend to anyone struggling to keep their pigs cool is freezing as many plastic water bottles as you can. I bought 24 cheap bottles of water from Asda, froze them all, and have been rotating them every 2.5–3 hours. I keep two frozen bottles in each pig house, and it’s brought the temperature inside their houses down to around 22–24°C. It’s given them some much-needed relief—and me some peace of mind too.
They don’t seem to like having the frozen bottles taking up space in their houses or beds, but I’d much rather they be slightly inconvenienced than overheating.
I’ve also been getting up every three hours through the night to swap the bottles over. I genuinely can’t wait for this heatwave to be over!
Another thing that’s worked really well is using slate table mats in the cage. They stay cool for much longer and seem to hold the cooling effect from the frozen bottles, giving the pigs another cool place to lie.
Wishing everyone the best of luck keeping their pigs comfortable in this horrible heat. Stay safe, everyone and don’t forget to keep yourselves cool too! ❤️ Stan and Albs
 

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GeoC said:
With this heat, I had to move my guinea pigs from their usual cage in the lounge to the hallway, as it’s the only room in the flat without windows. I’ve been monitoring the temperature constantly with two thermometers—one in the cage and one in the flat. The flat has been sitting around 27.5–28°C.
One thing I’d recommend to anyone struggling to keep their pigs cool is freezing as many plastic water bottles as you can. I bought 24 cheap bottles of water from Asda, froze them all, and have been rotating them every 2.5–3 hours. I keep two frozen bottles in each pig house, and it’s brought the temperature inside their houses down to around 22–24°C. It’s given them some much-needed relief—and me some peace of mind too.
They don’t seem to like having the frozen bottles taking up space in their houses or beds, but I’d much rather they be slightly inconvenienced than overheating.
I’ve also been getting up every three hours through the night to swap the bottles over. I genuinely can’t wait for this heatwave to be over!
Another thing that’s worked really well is using slate table mats in the cage. They stay cool for much longer and seem to hold the cooling effect from the frozen bottles, giving the pigs another cool place to lie.
Wishing everyone the best of luck keeping their pigs comfortable in this horrible heat. Stay safe, everyone and don’t forget to keep yourselves cool too! ❤️ Stan and Albs
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Thank you, great ideas. Lovely piggies. Yes, stay safe. Hopefully this will be over soon 🙏❤️
 
BossHogg said:
All this talk of heat warnings, when I was a kid, it was simply called summer. 👍
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Where did you grow up? We had highs of 25°C in our Western Canadian summer, not particularly humid either. As for the years in Scotland... Tho in two of the four years we lived there, the summers were fairly summery. There was even a hosepipe ban for a while.
 
I remember when we used to just call it summer and it was nice then! It’s not so nice now. Call me a whimp but anything above 25-27 is too much for me! esp with humidity of 75 which we have today in London 🥵
 

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Helen C said:
The heat is pretty brutal...

The AC unit is struggling to maintain 26°C and the humidity is rising as well. I put the girls as far away from the unit as I could, but I might have to get them closer, at least tomorrow (which is supposed to be the worst day; we might hit 40°C). The problem is, when the unit is blasting cold air, you can feel the draft in the whole room, even with the vent pointed upwards or directed in the opposite direction.

AC units are out of stock pretty much everywhere in the area, unsurprisingly. I walk to the office and I often get hit in the face with hot air coming from an exhaust hose these days.

The heat is really affecting me this time around and my anxiety is through the roof. :yikes:

Hope everyone is managing. At this point, a dry, windy 30°C would almost feel nice.
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Same issues here.
piggieminder said:
They are forecasting thunderstorms here tonight. I really dislike lightening but for once in my life I wish it would hurry up and arrive. Fingers crossed it rains as well this time to bring the temperature down.
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The problem is that the rains are not coming until the coolest hours, so no chance to flush the house after a tropical 20 C night. Tomorrow is pretty much a repeat of today, only with a hot indoors and a very sticky outside. In my expectation it is going to be the worst day of the heatwave. :(

I've really struggled today already. The piggy lounge is 26 C but as we have worked up to it gradually, the piggies are thankfully hanging in there. At the moment, I am additionally using two fans although one will have to come to the kitchen with me where I am camping overnight on an inflatable mattress. My bedroom is too hot to sleep in (coming up to 30 C) on a night where there is no relief whatsoever.
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
Where did you grow up? We had highs of 25°C in our Western Canadian summer, not particularly humid either. As for the years in Scotland... Tho in two of the four years we lived there, the summers were fairly summery. There was even a hosepipe ban for a while.
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I grew up in Liverpool, I'm old enough to remember the summer of 1976 when all mains water was switched off to preserve water and we were rationed via water bowsers in the street.
 
BossHogg said:
I grew up in Liverpool, I'm old enough to remember the summer of 1976 when all mains water was switched off to preserve water and we were rationed via water bowsers in the street.
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We weren't in the UK in 1976 and I was too young to notice and remember any snippets from rellies' letters about that drought, tho I do remember the summer of '75 being fairly warm and sunny by Scottish standards. '83 or '84 there were actual hosepipe bans in our area of Scotland. I remember one of the neighbours tut-tutting about the other neighbour carrying full watering cans after watering cans down the road to his vegetable garden.
No water bowsers in the streets though!

Super important question: What does Madam in her sleek black coat think of the current weather?
 
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