Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our AC unit finally died. For the past couple years, when we wanted to turn it on, we had to turn it on, then go outside and poke it with a stick(literaly, poke it with a stick). I live in Northen Virginia and it gets in the 90's during the day, we try to keep the house cool, but can't do much. Any ideas as to how I could keep my cresteds cool(inexpensively)? If I really, really have to, my neighbors might let me keep them at their house, but that's a big favor to ask of them. I just have a 30 gallon tank with three geckos, with the stand, and two(soon to be four) eggs that will be hatching this summer.
All ideas are appriciated!!!
Thanks,
T-spoon
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www.freewebs.com/snakesandstuff
"Let us step out into the night and pursue that mighty temptress, adventure." (Albus Dumbledore)

My menagerie
2.1 Ball Pythons 1.1 Amazon Tree Boa 1.0 Corn Snake 1.0 Dumeril's Boa 2.1.10 Bearded Dragons 2.1 Crested Geckos (and 2 eggs!) 1.1.4 Eastern Box Turtles 1.0 Northern Mockingbird 0.3 Chickens 2.0 Cats 1.1 Ferrets plus lots of mice, goldfish, and feeder insects

Well its a tough situation...Keep them cooler by keepeing humidity lower than it should be, or keeping them hotter than they should be with the proper humidity. I say keep the air circulating in the room and around the tank (not in it, will dry them out too fast). Watch them closely, mist them immediately if they are looking lethargic or sickly on hot days. No direct sunlight etc... Might be worth it to buy a cheap window unit, your geckos would appreciate it I'm sure, anyways good luck.
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12.5.15 Crested Geckos
0.1 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Tomato Frog
1.1 Ball Python
0.0.2 Poison Dart frog
www.geckoharmony.com

If you have a basement, just keep them in there..most basements are 10 degrees cooler than the main floor.

If the nights still get cool, one thing you can do is open windows at night to let in cool air, close all blinds during the day when the sun is hitting that side of the house. Solar heating through large windows can heat up the inside of the house substantially, just keeping the blinds or curtains closed, will make a difference at how hot the interior of the house gets.

Another thing you can do, especially if you don't have any basement, is keep your gecko cages on the floor. The temperature a foot or two from the floor can also be quite a bit different than temperatures 4' or higher above the floor (heat rises). A room with south/north facing windows (especially at either end) can have good air flow and not as likely to be heated up by sun shinning in through the windows.

If you have a small room with a window, sometimes it is more convenient to cool that room only, with a lower BTU AC unit.

Sometimes if you have an older style central AC unit, you can get a big discount by buying a new model that is more energy efficient....not sure if it is so in the US but Canada does give a tax credit when swapping out less energy efficient appliances for more efficient ones....

This is the time of year AC units are on sale....look for used one too...especially apartment sized...to cool your gecko room...instead of the entire house..may only cost you $50-$100 for a window mounted newer model AC of around 5000 btu.

Remember, all those College students will be going back home...and they often sell off things like AC units etc....
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PHLdyPayne

you could also put ice packs on TOP of the cages.
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4.1 snakes, 5.6.1 crested geckos, 0.2 gargoyle geckos, 0.0.2 red-eyed tree frogs, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta, 0.1 sun conure, 1.0 peachfaced lovebird, 2.0 lineolated parakeets

Thanks to everybody for responding so fast. I can't control the humidy either, its about 100% today. (I'm hating it more than the geckos are) The temp in my house is 80 right now. We've been opening the windows at night and turning on a lot of fans, than closing all the windows early in the morning, the rest of this weekend is supposed to be 96 degrees. We have a basement, but my brother lives in it, and he dosn't quite... appriciate... all my animals.Its pretty dark and natsy in my bassement anyway. If it gets too hot for them, I'll move their cage to the floor and put ice packs on top, cool air sinks, so that should work.
Thanks,
T-spoon
-----
www.freewebs.com/snakesandstuff
"Let us step out into the night and pursue that mighty temptress, adventure." (Albus Dumbledore)

My menagerie
2.1 Ball Pythons 1.1 Amazon Tree Boa 1.0 Corn Snake 1.0 Dumeril's Boa 2.1.10 Bearded Dragons 2.1 Crested Geckos (and 2 eggs!) 1.1.4 Eastern Box Turtles 1.0 Northern Mockingbird 0.3 Chickens 2.0 Cats 1.1 Ferrets plus lots of mice, goldfish, and feeder insects

put them in your basement if you have one. it worked great during that blackout 2 or 3 summers ago. its usually cooler there.

you should read ALL the posts before you reply
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4.1 snakes, 5.6.1 crested geckos, 0.2 gargoyle geckos, 0.0.2 red-eyed tree frogs, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta, 0.1 sun conure, 1.0 peachfaced lovebird, 2.0 lineolated parakeets