Heat wave and thunderstorm

[SmallFluffyBears]

As some of you know, we had a heatwave two days ago followed by a very intense thunderstorm that evening which lasted until morning. It had affected all of my hamsters. Belle decided to sleep in her sand bath due to how hot it was (see photo), Daisy decided to stay underneath her new wooden house because the loud bangs were too much for her and May decided to constantly run on her flying saucer as though she drank 8 liters of coca-cola.

How did the heatwave and thunderstorm affect your hamsters? I'd love to know!

[Pebbles82]

Charlie looked very drained and sad last night. The thunder didn't seem to affect him, but the heat did. He also sat in his sand bath all night, which is ceramic so probably felt a lot cooler than being in his house. No sand in it lol - he kicked that out ages ago and filled it with Fitch! I spent a couple of hours helping keep him cool, popping his sand bath and stone in the fridge while he was out of the cage, and having a bag of frozen peas near him. I even had him sitting near the open fridge door at one point! He seemed a lot happier and perkier after cooling down. It is a worry isn't it.

[RachK]

The heat affected mine too. I gave them all ceramic cups to sit in which helped a lot. Although Misty proceeded to fill hers with her food. lol

[Fluffagrams]

You have a hamster called May too!

Technically mine is called Lady May but I usually only ever call her May.

Anyway, back to the topic, my house is quite a cool house thankfully but just lately May has been sleeping underneath her sand bath and has been spending a fair amount of time sat in it when she's awake. She's also got an old mug that I've put in her cage for her to hide in. We only had a couple of rumbles of thunder but May decided she wasn't going to sit in her sand bath with all these funny noises and went to hide in her mug.

[Leila0420]

I love the picture of Belle asleep in her sandbath, I wouldn't think sleeping in sand would be appealing but that looks very comfortable!!

My hamsters don't seem too affected... Pumpkin is in the coolest room in the house and has been bustling and zooming around as normal although drinking a fair bit more than usual. I went and sat out with her during the thunderstorm but she didn't seem bothered haha My dwarf Dina has been digging a lot more than normal, I think maybe because the plastic base of her zoozone could be quite cool compared to the rest of the cage? She has been looking a wee bit more disheveled than normal but has also been uncharacteristically friendly this week. My other dwarf Haneen seems to be the only one obviously suffering. She's been sleeping in her clay plant pot, completely uncovered, on the evenings so I've been putting it in the fridge before she usually gets up for a while each day (been doing this with Dina's plant pot too but she's not overtly interested...)

[BluerayDarkes]

We're still having a heat wave and its going to be 36 degrees c tomorrow, they're all sleeping in places where they can be cool. I put some bottles of water in the freezer yesterday, since I'm doing the big clean out today I'm hoping the water has frozen so I can put those in for them.

[Mweekie]

Not had a thunderstorm here yet, but the heat has been really intense. Lily seems to be OK, although she is in her house a lot more than normal, although she does come out if I call her name. But she seems to be OK and normal apart from being in the house a lot more.

Mweekie xx

[BluerayDarkes]

I need smaller bottles if I intend to use them in the dwarves cages, the bottles I got right now are good for Yummy she has two cages so it doesn't take up space. At least they all got sand baths, and all of them except Lunar has a silver lined tobacco tube which Cindy has taken to sleeping in hers. Guess it stays cooler?

[cypher]

Could you just put the bottles up against the side of the dwarfs cages Blueray? It would still create a nice cool area for them.

Mine have never been bothered by thunder but we didn't get any this time just horrible humid heat, Mickle seems quieter than usual but is still sleeping in her house & not the one with the granite roof silly girl! Flynt has moved from his Lief cabin into his Rodipet labyrinth house which is probably in a cooler spot. I think Zephyr is trying to make a whole new ventilation system underground or something, all the substrate under her shelves is coming out & getting piled up in mountains against the sides of the cage, all that digging must be hot work though!

[Mweekie]

We had the thunderstorm about 2am. I immediately checked on all my pets and poor Lily was pretty much terrified bless her and kept running round in her cage and was making little panicked squeaks. So it looks as though Lily has a phobia of thunderstorms just like I do .

Mweekie xx