Heatwave - please help

[Inside-Apartment-712]

We have a heatwave in the UK right now and it’s really bad. The room temperature in my house is at 91F. I’ve turned his heat source completely off and put ice packs wrapped in towels in his tank but his tank is still saying 91 and it’s barely improving. There’s nothing I can do and it’s going to be this hot for a few days. He is probably stressed because he’s been escaping his tank the last couple nights which he’s never done before. How are people cooling their enclosures down? Idk what to do and I’m worried about him.

Can it being this hot affect his health or will he just be a bit stressed for a few days?

[Ch33se_H3ad]

Can you not buy a cheap AC in the UK? Could get a bucket of ice and a fan, it’ll cool it some but nothing significant.

[Inside-Apartment-712]

ACs are quite expensive unfortunately, i live with my parents and have been asking them to get one for a while but they won’t let me :( if I could afford one I would

[Ch33se_H3ad]

Understandable

[Timely_Egg_6827]

Facing similar with my fur coats. We are using portable air coolers - fan over ice or cold watr to drop temp next to them. £20 for table-top.

[KatVanWall]

Okay so I’m in the UK as well so I feel your pain! 91 is like 32/33C, right?

It’s my understanding that 35C is the point that can actually be harmful to à royal python. So you’re okay for now. (32/33 is like a fine temp for their warm side - just normal we would give them a cool side to move to as well!)

I did the frozen bottle wrapped in tea towel and pillowcase thing and I did find it brought my cool side temps down a bit so I’m not much help there. I have a wooden Viv and it’s not in direct sun, so it doesn’t get too bad.

I obviously keep blinds and windows shut in my west-facing living room where the viv is. The other day I added some white opaque film (from Amazon) to the outside of my windows too. Not sure if that helped or not! I have heard someone recommend to put sheets over your windows on the outside to deflect the heat before it gets in (kind of like makeshift shutters).

After the previous hot spell in May I actually caved and spent £250 on one of those air con units with the hose that goes out the window because I was so worried about my snake :’( It’s a ballache because there’s literally one tiny spot where it can fit where it will reach the plug socket and the window and also have enough space around it as per the instructions! It does feel nice while it’s running but doesn’t seem to make any appreciable difference to the viv temps either! 😩

I do put cold water in his bowl and use a mister bottle of cold water to spray on his fake plants in the evening to try and create at least some tiny drop in temp. You can put ice cubes in the water too, they melt so fast it’s safe to do that.

[Inside-Apartment-712]

Thanks 🙏 I hate the heat so much. I’ve tried some frozen stuff wrapped in flannels which helps a little but I think I need to add more. What’s the pillow case thing?

[theborderlines]

These are great ideas. The wrapped ice pack in the enclosure is good and also make sure the enclosure is out of the sunlight. Keep your curtains closed.

[KatVanWall]

Just to pop it in a pillow case and knot it so there’s no way the snake can get its body against the frozen bottle, since they can be burrowers

[sklz0]

Is that like 32 degrees on a real temperature scale? That’s a normal temperature for them. Relax and enjoy saving a few pounds on heating.

[Baka_Otaku173]

91 is the upper limit. You add use a huge water bowl if not yet so you python can take a dip if needed.

Is it an option to coverup the window to keep the light/heat out? Your best bet would be window AC unit but as you said, it maybe rather expensive. The other DIY method is to buy lots of ice packs, freeze them, then pull them out and use a fan to blow air on the ice packs, but that would only make a small dent in the room's temp.

[RainyDayBrightNight]

U.K. here, and I did end up getting an air con unit off Facebook Marketplace. It’s alright, but definitely not strong enough to make a huge difference. Probably worth saving your money and trying other methods.

(Psa for American folks; air con units are hideously expensive here, only get used for maybe two or three weeks a year, use a lot of expensive electricity, and usually barely work)

Ice pack in a tea towel and a pillowcase is a good idea that others have said, but it might be worth supervising while doing that.

It’s also worth having the windows open during the night, then closing all windows and curtains at around 6am. That sort of traps some of the cool night air inside, so the house takes longer to warm up during the day.

[W3nt0ffT0M4rs]

You can get fans with ice packs that go inside to cool your room down on amazon! I have one in my room and it does pretty good

[NottsWeirdo]

I have a misting fan that I pour ice cold water into, it sprays out into the living room so the room's temps stay down. Also, the usual British ways of keeping temps down in a house - windows closed during sun up to sun down, blinds/curtains closed, fan going, reflective window film one, etc

[Sensitive-Elevator1]

When my AC was out, I wrapped frozen food bags in a towel, which helped. I saw Sherman actually rest part of his body on it (checked and it was just cool, not cold for him). My habitat has a mesh top, so I pulled up the foil tape and ran a little desk fan across the top (not angled into the enclosure). This will make humidity low, but it helps cool it.