ooooh its getting hot.

well ive just checked the thermomemeter in my room and its 23C, far too hot for my salamandras. at the moment ive got them in the fridge at 15C, how ever ive also got a few larvae but im a bit hesitant about putting them in the fridge as they arnt so hardy as there elder counterparts. im wondering what other people do to get around the summer heat? unfortunately i havent got access to a basement so im a little stuck for ideas, and i dont think the fridge can hold out as a permenant solution for too long either.

any help would once again be much appreciated.

marco.

Hello Marco,

marco said:

unfortunately i havent got access to a basement so im a little stuck for ideas, and i dont think the fridge can hold out as a permenant solution for too long either.

Click to expand...

...I think, this is the main problem... - without access to a cool room, you don´t have many possibilities to keep your Salamandra in an appropriate way. In aquatic species you can deal with ventilators mounted on the tank, like shown here (though in German, there are lots of photos)
http://www.lotls-in-hamburg.de/html/lotls_in_hamburg_-_kuhlung.html
but without water this will not provide much cooling.
All other solutions are difficult and expensive (e.g. air conditioners) - if I had no cool room, I wouldn´t keep Salamandra.

Greetings,

Ingo

How about a conventional table fan, would that cool enough?

Or.. brainstorming here... put them into a container that sits in a larger container that is filled with ice/dry ice?

Any cooling solution related with ice means a lot of maintenance and is not doable if you have a big collection or a room that is hot a lot of the time. I've had some problems with the temperatures the last couple of days, and I am planning on buying a second hand airconditioner. they are not super-expensive and you can see it as an investment for the proper thriving of your animals.

Small portable air con units can be purchased new for less than £200 these days. The big problems with them are the cost of running them (~ 2.5kw per hour) and they require an exit for the hot exhaust. This means you either stick the exhaust hose through an open window, reducing the efficiency and risk burglary or you drill a whacking great hole in the wall.

My top tips for cooling without air con are:

• It’s cool in the morning and evening. Open doors and windows and let the cool air in. Close them before it heats up. However tempting it may seem leave windows and doors shut during the heat of the day.

• Close curtains. Sun streaming in through a window will heat the room up.

• If you have a loft hatch, leave it open to allow hot air to escape.

• Use ice blocks or frozen bottles of water to reduce temperatures in the tank (works in terrestrial tanks too). Rotate bottles so that you always have a supply. Change twice a day if necessary.

• Make a DIY evaporative cooler using a fan on a stand and some damp cloth. An old damp t-shirt attached to the front of the fan with safety pins will reduce the temperature in the room by a few degrees.

• Place tanks on the floor. It’s often a few degrees cooler at ground level.

• Buy a decent digital thermometer. It helps to know exactly what you’re up against.

**Thread moved to General Discussion. Keeping caudata cool is not species specific.**

These are helpful hints, Mark! I have some additions / comments:

• If you have shutters / louvered blinds, use them and keep them tightly closed during the day. They are more effective against heat and cold from the outside than curtains.
  
• Turn off every unnecessary electrical device (light, airpumps) since they produce additional heat. Do not turn off any filters but if possible, try to remove them from the room (possible with external filters - use longer pipes).
  
• A ventilator has pros and cons. On one hand it might reduce temperature the way Mark mentioned (evaporation). On the other hand it will circulate the air in the room, lowering the temperature differences between the upper and lower parts.
  
• Evaporation can be used in a passive way, too. Put some damp clothes on the sides of the tank.
  
• Do not forget to exchange the air in the room at night / in the morning. You have to get the humidity down for the evaporation effect to work. Use a ventilator to actively support air exchange between the inside and outside when it is cool enough.

<<<Close curtains. Sun streaming in through a window will heat the room up.>>>

This is very true. This is my first summer using the new herp room. It has three windows in it and even though the central air is set on 69 F the room has been heating up to the mid 70's. Particularly alarming is the fact that the outside temperatures have been somewhat unseasonably cool. I bought a window unit air conditioner the other day and plan on installing it this weekend.
Chip

the temperature was starting to get warm in my room where i keep my salamanders, its a garage that i partitioned off, stays a good few degrees cooler than the outside, but even so it was heating up.
I had an old electric fan which i fitted to the wall, which was dry lined, and have it on a timer.

It sucks the warm air from the room, have it come on every half hour or so, but this week i ordered a thermostat to put on it.

Will set it to 18-19 c and it will come on, i looked at central heating thermostats, but htey work the opposite way to what i needed, so i ordered a crossover stat, for about £30, 2 wires to connect it.

Will let you know how it works out

Ben

thanks for the replies guys, i decided to use ice packs and that worked quite well, been opening windows and doors in the night too.

next time it gets sunny ill just use ice packs again.