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Heat and Rats...a learning experience

The "plastic fumes" idea is an interesting idea. I am no chemist, but I think once the plastic has been around for a while, the fumes subside with time. And if we are talking about 90 - 100F temps or so, that might not be enough "cooking" to release substantially more fumes than at 80F, although my guess is that it could contribute some to the problem, especially for new containers.

I use metal troughs for my rats and plastic kitty litter trays for my mice, and a very large plastic tote for a holding cage. But I have been using the same containers for several years, so they have probably been mostly "off gassed" by now. And they are low compared to the surface area, so have fairly good ventilation. Of course, whether you are worried about heat build up, or fumes, better ventilation would help. I definitely would HATE to have to lug around heavy, breakable glass aquariums for rodents!

If there are any people here with more of a chemistry background, maybe they could post more scientific info on the fume theory?
 
I am fortunante enough to be able to run a swamp cooler most days in the summer, so damn dry and hot..

I have never had the ratties or mice try and chew through a plastic bottle that was frozen, until I personally see it happen with our colonies I will continue to use the plastic bottles.. However in the event of no forzen water bottles ice cubes can be had very easilt, and a few cubes in the corner of a colony does not result in a lot of bedding to be replaced.. I am concerned about electrolyte loss too, and I am going to use a an animal version of gatorade this year when it gets really warm and see if that helps them out.. Breeding production slows down in the summer for us, as the heat tends to slow them down, and well I can't pull my house temps much below 80 during the day with a swamp cooler here so.. I do have a back up AC unit in case for some reason we hit a strech of high humidity, but that does not happen often in the desert in the summer.. I lost a fair amount of a coloney a couple years back because the swamp cooler died on a Sat and well no one seemed intrested in fixing it for me, until I found the repair parts.. Thats the same day I decided to get a back up plan, whether for the eggies or for the rodents.. I might feed off the majority of the rodents, but there is no reason why I can't give them a little comfort along the way..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
your colony

Sorry to hear about that It must be devistating. Future reference though I useto breed various rodents. I have put frozen waterbottles along the sides of the cages which seems to help and if they are in sun put something over part of the cage for shade do bear in mind that if they can get to and chew the bottles you will have lots of water all over but its a chance to take. Rodents can be strange when it comes to the heat. If they are dehydraded unlike us they tend not to drink. anyways hope the future goes well for your colony of rats. Great to have ac but watch for drafts.
 
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