How to cool a viv?

We live in Phoenix and after 7 years of $500+ electric bills every summer we decided to purchase a mobile AC unit just for the bedroom so that we can sleep in the cool but we don't have to cool the rest of the house, which is an open concept, doors only going to the bedrooms. Scarlett's viv is in the livingroom and I have even turned her heater off, it is 85 on the hot side without it on, but so is the cool side.

Is there any suggestion as to how to cool a viv? We can bring her into our room for the summer, but we turn that portable unit off when we aren't home. I thought about extra waterbowls (she does NOT like soaking) with ice cubes in them that would melt quickly to give off a cooling effect, would that work?

"Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things."

Have you tried a fan in the room she is in. Aimmed at the viv?

How about filling a bottle with cool (not cold) water and laying it in her tank?

I don't think ice cubes would be a good idea, it's to big of a temperature difference.

The problem with using a fan in Arizona is drying out the viv too much - likely to get bad sheds as a result. I'd create a "cooling" pad by putting some ice cubes in a hot water bottle (one of the old style squishy ones) along with cool tap water; place that under the cool side, making sure there is direct contact with the glass, and that should drop the temps. Replace water/ice mix as needed. You might also get a piece of marble to put on the cool side - it tends to stay fairly cool relative to ambient temps.

How hot does it get?

I would move her viv to the coolest room, and place it as close to the floor as possible. And keep the room cool with sun-blocking curtains or whatever.

You could get reuseable cold packs and just put one in her viv every morning. You could put them in oven mitts or something to prevent condensation. Then she'd have a cool thing to go to if she felt like it.

How about a Chin-Chiller? It's a marble tile that can be refrigerated. We have a couple for our chinchillas to keep them cool during the summer. Any marble tile will do...hardware stores sometimes have mis-matched tiles you can get for cheap. Just refrigerate and swap out as necessary.

You might be able to get a laptop cooling pad that would work if it gets that hot. I'm not entirely sure how cool they get (since they're made for dissipating high temperatures), but it may be something to look into since you wouldn't have to keep replacing it.

Topazfyre said:

You might be able to get a laptop cooling pad that would work if it gets that hot. I'm not entirely sure how cool they get (since they're made for dissipating high temperatures), but it may be something to look into since you wouldn't have to keep replacing it.

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Not a bad idea, but most of these just have fans to increase airflow, which helps cool a hot object like a computer but won't do much for refrigeration below ambient temperature, I fear...

toxiclight said:

How about a Chin-Chiller? It's a marble tile that can be refrigerated. We have a couple for our chinchillas to keep them cool during the summer. Any marble tile will do...hardware stores sometimes have mis-matched tiles you can get for cheap. Just refrigerate and swap out as necessary.

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Love me some chinchillas, but I haven't kept them since college. I lost them to a power outage in Boston during the summer - my pair heat stressed and didn't survive...:crying:

AWESOME ideas. I am going to move her to our bedroom, it is cool 75% of the time (I work nights, husband days so it is on more often than not.

If that doesn't cool her down I like the cold packs; we have several of them, and can refreeze them as necessary and wrap them in towels under the viv on the cool side. The cool water bottles are good too, I like those ideas.

Guru, you are right, I thought of a fan but it is already so frickin' dry here and she has had a couple of bad sheds that I don't want to dry her out any more.

Thanks for the ideas, I will tell you what works best!

Wow, I put a flat frozen pack under the cool side and the middle immediately went from 88 to 76! I had to pull most of the pack (about 8x12") out because it was getting too cold too quick and the temps evened out.

She was SO agitated when I took her out before I posted the question, I know she just couldn't find a happy place!

I may add more substrate so she can choose how close to the bottom she wants to be, that should make her more comfortable and secure.

Guru, I just looked at your signature, I did not mean to copy your "patient spouse" line! I thought I was being clever when I wrote that, looks like you beat me to it. And thank goodness for those that put up with our hobbies!

Since it gets over 100F pretty much every day in the summer in Phoenix, sometimes to 115 or more, I am not sure how the snake could survive without a/c, or at least an evaporative cooler. You can buy room sized coolers. Or you could sort of make your own by buying some of the cooler pad material and finding a way to drip water through it (either by a pump or a big bucket with a few small holes, and a way to catch the mess) and a fan blowing through it. You might also achieve significant cooling in a large cage by putting a huge bowl of water in it (maybe something even as big as a kitty litter tub) with a small fan on top of the screen lid, pointing towards the water. The air movement should evaporate some of the water, cooling the cage. You would have to try it and check the temps to see if it is enough to keep your snake comfortable. Those methods will also raise the humidity as well as provide some cooling effect.

I can tell you that once temps are above about 90F or so, corns are more likely to regurge and stress out. Back when I kept them in Florida without a/c (typical high temps outside were around 95F, but not quite that high in the room), I would feed very small meals and avoid any stress possible during the hottest times.

smigon said:

Guru, I just looked at your signature, I did not mean to copy your "patient spouse" line! I thought I was being clever when I wrote that, looks like you beat me to it. And thank goodness for those that put up with our hobbies!

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No worries - it's entirely possible I picked it up from someone else myself. Definitely true, regardless of source!

<i>Since it gets over 100F pretty much every day in the summer in Phoenix, sometimes to 115 or more, I am not sure how the snake could survive without a/c, or at least an evaporative cooler. You can buy room sized coolers. </i>

I said in the original post that we have a portable room AC in our room and could move her in there.

<i>Or you could sort of make your own by buying some of the cooler pad material and finding a way to drip water through it (either by a pump or a big bucket with a few small holes, and a way to catch the mess) and a fan blowing through it. You might also achieve significant cooling in a large cage by putting a huge bowl of water in it (maybe something even as big as a kitty litter tub) with a small fan on top of the screen lid, pointing towards the water. The air movement should evaporate some of the water, cooling the cage. You would have to try it and check the temps to see if it is enough to keep your snake comfortable. Those methods will also raise the humidity as well as provide some cooling effect. </i>

It is too dry here to put a fan on a snake, she has already had two bad sheds, drying her out more with a fan would make it worse, even though it would be blowing through water. I just don't want to chance any fan on her.

I think the solution with the frozen pads under the viv on the cool side is working perfectly, the warm side is still 85 and the cool side is around 65, the middle is 75, just like it was during the winter. She is also hiding under her waterbowl on the cool side, so she is definitely liking the cooler temps already!

Thanks for the suggestions though, they are much appreciated.

I guess my italics didn't work!

The frozen pads will probably work great as long as you don't mind continuing it all summer. It would drive me crazy though!

If you do have to move your snake to the room with the portable a/c, of course the a/c removes moisture from air as it cools, unlike the evaporative cooler that adds moisture to the air as it cools. You could always use a bigger water bowl to counter that dryness (in the room with the a/c). But as long as you are there often enough to change the frozen packs, it sounds like your problem is solved. You can always use more of them as the temp rises in the summer.

Hope it all works out!

You could always use a liquid cooling system for a PC / CPU... [ Link ]

Becca58 said:

You could always use a liquid cooling system for a PC / CPU... [ Link ]

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That's an intriguing idea, but I don't think it would work here as there isn't enough of a heat difference to work with. Those liquid systems are really just accelerating heat transfer from very hot parts (CPU in particular) to room temperatures - you could cool the hot side of the tank with one of these, but that sort of defeats the purpose...

While we're all throwing out ideas I guess I'll throw one out... A DIY humidifier with ice cubes in the water? Win win, with increasing humidity (assuming Phoenix is pretty dry) and offering a cool breeze?

Aquarium air pump (10-20 or a 60 gallon size, up to you)
Some aquarium hose
An airstone of whatever size will fit in bottle
Empty plastic bottle (Gatorade works well, but something slightly bigger might work better?)
Google how to assemble.

Just whip it up, run it to the cool side, turn it on or plug it into a timer!