I live in southern California~ we are high 70s to low 80s daytime right now~ not sure of night temps~ hasn't killed my tomato plant yet so can't be into frost zone! Rats do great in the winter in the garage here. Summer time is MUCH too hot. We get well over a hundred for all of the summer. Rats won't breed if it's too hot~ over 90 or 95~ they die if it gets much hotter than that. I had them in the house in 03~ but that became unacceptable~ smelled too much~ and the ducts would pic up the smell from the spare room and distribute it throughout the house!!



I am lucky~ I have a litte out door room ~ it's nicer than a storage shed~ but only in looks~ it had no insulation~ and electrical costs to run AC in in CA were a big concern. After a lot of debate~ I went ahead and insulated the roof in the room (would like to insulate the walls~ but whoever built it put up dry wall with NO insulation!! So that will be a major project)





So~ during the summer I'm using a small portable swamp cooler (check home depot in the spring) and a couple fans. It's a pain the neck~ I have to fill the cooler with water every morning (and I drop blocks of blue ice in the water on really hot days) but it does seem to work~ is much cheaper than actual AC~ The nature of a swamp cooler leaves it desirable to leave an exterior window open which is nice for getting the smell out~ and moving them between that room and the garage each season keeps either one from getting too funky in smell!
-----
Cheryl Marchek

AKA JM

Check out my website at:

The Red Dragons Den

[ Show Entire Thread ]