A/C or fan?

[starshme]

Without going into a long, drawn out explanation of how bad the electricity is here and why, I'll just say, the electricity is bad here.

Is it worse to have TeeTee in A/C at the times we have it than to leave her with only a fan in the room? I mean, does anyone know if frequent temperature changes could make her more susceptible to illness? She's not in a draft and she doesn't seem uncomfortable - she bundles up in her house when the A/C is on and pushes her substrate out when it's off.

I have been told that the weather is cooling off but as I see no evidence to support this claim, I'm just wondering.

[ianpallen]

Not too sure as hams usually regulate their own temperature. Pushing substrate out to cool off and snuggling up when too cold is the way they do it. They have the fur to protect them from harsh coldness. I have read somewhere that if it gets too cold, a hamster will hibernate. I am unsure if pet ones will hibernate as they are in a house where it rarely goes below zero degrees c.

[Skeever]

Zero Celsius is an option here. Happens once or three times a winter usually.....and if the electric goes? and the generator isn't running, it's literally dangerously cold. Fortunately that's rare.

My building doesn't have a generator, which normally is okay, since I'm in the center of the city almost. Three hours a day power cuts are the norm, and they are on a schedule, and never after dark. In theory.

Last couple weeks its been on and off, day and night , as much as 12 hours with no plan.....long story....

So for summer heat, a fan is fine for my hams, since I don't have A/C and can be quite comfortable in a studio with a fan. The temps haven't let up so much, as I think the humidity dropped...its gone from 95 ish to 87 ish in degrees this week.....humidity can just make either one horrible though....

I'd opt for the A/C....in other words, do what I would do for myself to keep comfortable in this weather. A corrupt, ancient, inept and greedy electric company just happens to be making things a bit more irregular and annoying this August...

Hams sleep a lot...out in the open. When they demand play time, it hasn't stopped them from running and climbing. Long hair and all...

Either A/C or fans should be fine, the hams seem to adjust to temps, and the temps round Aleppo, Syria in the desert are probably scorching to frigid in a 24 hour period at times.....

If heat really really got to them, I have a razor, so I can just shave them bald?

j/k.......

[NiceCrocs]

I think hamsters deal with temperature changes pretty well; being desert animals, they adapted to drastic temperature changes from day to nighttime.

I'd say keep the AC on when you can, and use things like ceramic dishes or kitchen tiles or ice in the water bottle to give her options to cool down if the temperature rises

[starshme]

Oh 3 hours a day... the halcyon days of yore. yore, is that right? Why am I trying to be fancy pants - I don't think I've seen 18 hours of electricity since we moved here.

12 hour outages are the norm in my area so we have to rely on a generator a lot of the time, which means limiting the number of ac's running. I'm going to tell my children tales of a day when you could call the electric company and tell them the power was out and they actually cared and men in orange hats came to fix the problem and hot water all the time and your clothes didn't freeze in the winter because you couldn't dry them in the dryer and that shiny thing in the kitchen that washes dishes was actually useful and 19 layers of clothing in the house weren't necessary and, and, and...

She seems ok, so I guess I'll keep this up. Someone got me wondering today when they told me to stop going in and out of the ac or I'd get sick. In 43 years it hasn't been an issue but apparently I have one foot in the grave according to the village lore.

NiceCrocs - I put a lunchbox freeze block in a jar and put it in her cage. She doesn't really seem to care that it's there but it makes me feel better. lol

Skeever, you better not shave Ziggy's luxurious locks!! now I'm picturing a bald hamster. I have to go google that.

[starshme]

http://http://s1.hubimg.com/u/7080704_f260.jpg

Bald hamsters, now I've seen it all.

[Skeever]

Picture not available....

I've occaisonally gotten a headache when going thru extreme outdoor temps to a A/C chill, but yeah, I doubt it's anything life threatening. Apart from your extreme age I mean...



Also, its not like hams are going from the street into AC, into the street, into a car, all day....

On the whole, I think they're healthier than us as a species, lol

[starshme]

If this doesn't work, it's worth googling. I also saw a hairless bear on another site - nowhere near as cute as a bald hamster, actually quite terrifying. But you know, at my age, many things are.

12 Surprisingly Hairless Pets

[Skeever]

Good for them! Humans made it on the list...