Hot weather warning for the UK - Member questions and heatwave feedback

DoragonHinansho said:
Honestly I haven’t been coping at all in this weather this time around - it’s insane, last time I was out working in it! Still worried about my oldest, but to be frank I’m shocked she coped in the last one. She’s well over 7 now, doing everything I can. She’s still running abojt and munching!

I’m on cold shower number 5, ran out of cold milk to drink, ran out of ice cream but the thought of washing my hair is too much to cope with right now 😂
Click to expand...
It doesn't cool you down if you take a cold shower or drink cold drinks/eat ice cream. It feels cool in the minute, but it can actually make you feel hotter than before.
It's better to go for moderate temperatures, cool not cold. Of course a bit of ice cream can never be wrong. ;)
 
Viennese Furbabies said:
It doesn't cool you down if you take a cold shower or drink cold drinks/eat ice cream. It feels cool in the minute, but it can actually make you feel hotter than before.
It's better to go for moderate temperatures, cool not cold. Of course a bit of ice cream can never be wrong. ;)
Click to expand...

Definitely true!

If you have a cold shower your body then works to warm you back up thus making you feel hotter.
If you have a slightly warmer shower, then your body works much better at cooling you down
 
Viennese Furbabies said:
It doesn't cool you down if you take a cold shower or drink cold drinks/eat ice cream. It feels cool in the minute, but it can actually make you feel hotter than before.
It's better to go for moderate temperatures, cool not cold. Of course a bit of ice cream can never be wrong. ;)
Click to expand...

If you shower, please take a quick lukewarm shower not too far below your own body temperature that doesn't trigger your inner heating system and just lowers your body temperature a little; the refreshing effect lasts actually much longer.
Or put your feet or hands/wrists in a basin with cold water or a soaked towel around your neck (all places where the larger veins run closer to the surface) - again, you are lowering your body temperature just a little but not so much that your body feels the need to warm up itself again.
Please never jump into a pool of water after lying in the sun or in the two hours are after a full meal; the temperature shock can trigger cardiac arrest if you do not cool down first and ease into the water to allow your body to adjust to the much cooler water environment before you start frolicking - it's the same advice re. piggies with heat stroke/exhaustion - you need to lower the body temperature gently or you can cause cardiac arrest or - in the case of cold drinks - a nasty tummy upset. Stomach flu in hot weather is no fun.

Rather than ice cold drinks, sip plain tap water all the time, slowly but steadily - that is still the quickest and best rehydrator; don't gulp large amounts of cold drinks down quickly. Milk is indeed a good rehydrator (much better than any other sugary drinks, actually) but again, don't just pour it down your gullet.

Ideally homemade tea (not sugared but drunk hot or cold) is also a good drink if you need a bit of a kick. Stay off any sweetened fizzy drinks and alcohol during the hottest hours and if you really need a coffee, drink it with a glass of water or two or do the classic Italian espresso, which is typically served with a glass of tap water.
PS: If you want to be really naughty, a coffee/espresso with some hot water in a glass with a scoop of ice cream is a total indulgence...
 
DoragonHinansho said:
Honestly didn’t know any of this, thank you gang! ❤️ Being careful, I promise. You learn new things every day!
Click to expand...

PS: If you are at home, why not dampen your t-shirt or your bedsheet at night (not soaking, just damp) - the evaporating air trick can be made to work for you, too!
 
Whats wrong with an Omelet run? Mine spend all day in an Omelet run. Absolutely brilliant run.

But what I had come to say was this is the best thing I have purchased during the summer

Wilko Grey Waffle Shower Curtain | Wilko

It provides shade, it deflects the sun, it is secure as it is fixed with the rings and if (please God) we have a shower it is slightly waterproof
 
Guinea Fan said:
Whats wrong with an Omelet run? Mine spend all day in an Omelet run. Absolutely brilliant run.

But what I had come to say was this is the best thing I have purchased during the summer

Wilko Grey Waffle Shower Curtain | Wilko

It provides shade, it deflects the sun, it is secure as it is fixed with the rings and if (please God) we have a shower it is slightly waterproof
Click to expand...

The metal runs themselves are ok but it’s the plastic houses that they attach to which are not recommended for several reasons, although any run or hutch in a garden during hot weather can quickly overheat (from direct sun but also hot breezes) and be dangerous.
 
Piggies&buns said:
The metal runs themselves are ok but it’s the plastic houses that they attach to which are not recommended for several reasons, although any run or hutch in a garden during hot weather can quickly overheat (from direct sun but also hot breezes) and be dangerous.
Click to expand...
Mine isn't attached to a plastic house. Its just a very large metal run
 
Guinea Fan said:
Mine isn't attached to a plastic house. Its just a very large metal run
Click to expand...

The metal run is OK as long as you bring your guinea pigs indoors when temperatures are over 25 C. Plastic huts turn into an oven quickest even in moderate conditions (you can find comparison test results of various huts in our hot weather care guide in this link here: Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike) and sun-heated strong breezes can unfortunately penetrate even into deep shade and kill, as we have seen on this forum a few times first hand.
Sadly, far too many people use the Omelet set-up as a cheap permanent accommodation with fatal consequences in both summer and winter extremes. Do your piggies have a space when in the run at all times where they can get away from sun, wind, weather and a cold/damp ground? Hence our warning and our questions to ensure that your piggies are safe.
 
Last day of the heatwave! Can't wait. We have had the odd question from posties, deliverers and neighbours asking whether our sheets on the windows were related to the hot weather and whether they were actually helping.

It's been a lot of extra work, late nights and very early mornings at a time when I could have heartily done without it but we have managed to keep the temperatures well within the ideal comfort zone in our dual aspect lounge that is getting sun from early morning until sunset to 24 C (max. 25 C) for the whole week without needing any extra electricity, thanks to the regularly dampened sheets.
They have meant that we only had a rise of 2-4 C over the course of the day and that all the piggies needed was having their water bottles topped up with fridge-cooled water in the afternoons and evenings in order to keep them comfy.
It is the limited rise in indoors temperatures that is a crucial element for the guinea pigs - they are much less prone to overheating, even if your indoors temperatures are higher. It is the stable environment that is the key.
The extra burden on our energy bill has come from needing fans in the hotter human upstairs bedrooms but even there the sheets have given a measure of protection and have kept the rooms from getting desperately hot. Thankfully, while we have had warm and muggy nights without a hint of a breeze, we haven't had any tropical inner-city nights here and were able to start each day with a cooled down lounge.

Pump spray bottles for dampening mounted sheets (an investment I can highly recommend) and wetting your sheets in a sink before putting them up (or just refreshing them in places where spraying is not quite easy) mean that you actually do not use lots of water and can manage well with repeated dampening during the day even in a hosepipe ban area. The cooler you can keep your accommodation, the less cooling showers etc. you'll need yourself, which also helps to minimise water consumption in a drought.

By the way, duvet covers are obviously more effective than thin bed sheets because the double fabric layer gives more protection from the sun and can hold more water/dries out a little less quickly during scorchers. This is the lesson I am taking from this summer.
I think I will invest in a second-hand or cheap super-king-size duvet set (the first won't be quite easy to find) and use our two big bed sheets together as a double layer on the other side of the lounge for our two largest areas of window glass. That is the lesson I am taking from this prolonged heatwave.
There are always things to improve and tweak further - but then summers will continue to get hotter much more quickly than we thought and we have to keep working on ways of how to protect ourselves without expanding our footprint and our monthly bills if at all possible...

Unfortunately, most housing stock in the UK is not designed to cope with climate change; just to keep the rain out and let as much light in as possible. We have improved insulation as much as possible already in our house; it has made a difference in how quickly the house is heating up.

PS: The first big heat spike in this century meant that we ended up with 29 C in our lounge (official outside temperatures 33 C) without adequate protection; that was the seminal eye opener experience for me.
 
It was very uncomfortable last night and despite having all the windows open there wasn't a breeze. Pigs seemed to do alright; busy pop-corning and doing zoomies. I was getting warmer just watching them 😅

Had rain and due thunder today. While the pigs and my one dog hate the thunder and I get a headache, we need something to clear the air. I've got 2 water butts collecting rain and watering cans and buckets to catch the rain too to use on the plants. Hopefully this will help the ground so fire crews can have a break.
 
It's still very hot here today but there are signs that it's coming to an end - a lot more cloud than the last few days. No rain though :(

Despite having all the windows open last night the piggies room only went down to 24.5C . That was better than my bedroom which was 29C all night :( My flat just holds on to the heat and won't get cool.
 
I think it would be interesting for current and future readers if all posters on this thread trying new stuff could sum up their measures and experiences, what they have been able to improve over the last week and where they think they could make more tweaks or exploring further avenues for their specific situation.

The more practical feedback we can collect in this thread for others to try, the more piggy lives - our own but also many others - we can help save in the future. We all face different challenges in our individual location (with the wider London area the most challenging), work commitments and different housing situations and control over improvements to the building fabric.

As a country with a traditionally very moderate climate where a jump of 5 C (ca. 40 f) from one day to the other used to be quite a massive weather change and a short spike of 30 C every few years made front page headlines, the UK is singularly unprepared for climate change - both in the existing building fabric but also in practical experience in dealing with more extreme heat at home and at work.

We also have to face up to the fact that many of us can't afford the sky-high electricity bills that come with more extensive air conditioning and will have to make best use of whatever low footprint tricks there are as we are running out of resources faster than expected. Global warming is accelerating and is getting worse, not better.

So what are you taking away from having both experienced a record-breaking heat spike and a more sustained heat wave over 30 C in a large part of England over the last week?
 
LondonLady said:
It's still very hot here today but there are signs that it's coming to an end - a lot more cloud than the last few days. No rain though :(

Despite having all the windows open last night the piggies room only went down to 24.5C . That was better than my bedroom which was 29C all night :( My flat just holds on to the heat and won't get cool.
Click to expand...

I am very sorry; I ended up sleeping on the kitchen floor with acute Covid last month (as I didn't want to sleep in the piggy room for obvious reasons) when I had the same temperatures in my own bedroom and no reprieve in sight with our first tropical night of 20 C in Coventry. Needless to say that I didn't get much sleep that night. So I really feel for you! I sincerely hope that the fresher weather conditions will reach you on Wednesday.

Take comfort in that your piggies have adapted to the hotter conditions and are not as impacted as you are - thanks to all that you are doing! :tu:
 
Wiebke said:
So what are you taking away from having both experienced a record-breaking heat spike and a more sustained heat wave over 30 C in a large part of England over the last week?
Click to expand...

The guinea pigs fared better than I did. As far as they're concerned it was business as usual, and that's pretty good if I'm honest.

As someone with only south facing windows - it's leaving the windows open as long as possible, including when the house is still in the shade, and making sure the blinds are kept closed. And keeping the door to my room closed so there's less light and/or heat hitting the landing and therefore their room. If I use a fan in their room it shifts the blinds so that's out too.
They won't drink from the water bottles if something's over them to keep them from getting warm, so it's finding veg with a higher water content and giving them that instead. I also had to fight the urge to check on them frequently because if I'm upstairs, I'm raising the temperature - and every slight temp rise matters.

But I need to help myself better too - drink more, drink more sugary stuff if needs be to get something into me. Cold snack food is great, something that doesn't feel heavy on the stomach so avoiding queasiness - and making sure I don't eat something to upset the IBS because it affects more than just my intestines in the end. And if I'm not well who'll keep an eye on the goblins?

I'll be better prepared for next time, because I'll have to be.
 
Bill & Ted said:
We had flash floods in Truro today! We got caught in a downpour on the boat, it seemed very strange to put on waterproofs, thunder storms expected tonight
Click to expand...

It takes time to soften the ground; the dry soil acts more like concrete than a sponge so any substantial rainfall is actually mostly running off rather than going into the ground after a drought. :(

Ideally you get a series of near daily milder rainfalls at first to soak through the top layer in order to replenish the deeper areas where lots of the roots are and replenish the ground water table again.
 
Wiebke said:
I think it would be interesting for current and future readers if all posters on this thread trying new stuff could sum up their measures and experiences, what they have been able to improve over the last week and where they think they could make more tweaks or exploring further avenues for their specific situation.
Click to expand...
We put up our dust sheets(old bed sheets!) in front of our windows for the first time this year. It made quite a difference. During the first heatwave, I rummaged around and found a few other bits, including fabric that was waiting for sewing projects. The duvet cover on one window made a huge difference.
Yes, we looked like the crazy house, and I kept watching to see if I would start a new trend on our road, but no-one else put sheets out!
I also wedged some cardboard inside some of our windows that have poor blinds on.
We succeeded in keeping the downstairs temperature pretty stable, (25C max)near the guinea pigs, who had permanent play pen time. Our loft room reached 43C on one of the hottest days in July.
Putting the fan outside near the back door helped to drag cold air in, during the early hours of the morning.
We didn't need to use a fan near the guinea pigs at all, and they both ignored all cold freezer blocks left for them.

I will definitely be using the bed sheets outside again, and am so thankful to Wiebke for sharing this tip.


I am an early riser naturally, but gosh am I ready for a later get up…. especially as I sometimes start work at 6 am which meant getting up even earlier to try and cool us before I left.
 
Glad to finally feel a cool breeze through the house here in the Midlands! We've had a bit of rain but wouldn't mind a bit more now to really clear things up. It's been a bit muggy today.

I was happy with our measures...

- tin foil covered cardboard up at the piggy room windows (secured with masking tape so it was as close to the glass as possible) and in our bedroom

- all blinds and curtains closed during the day, plus we have an awning outside the kitchen patio doors so that was out too

- windows downstairs opened when cool enough (usually not till 9pm at the earliest) till we went to bed and windows upstairs all open from then till c.7am

- damp sheet over the cage when we started getting up to 24/25. I did put ice packs in when we hit 26 but the boys didn't go near them

Starting temp 22. End high 26-27 this time, last time it was 28-29. Outdoors got as high as 34 I think this time and 38 last.

Next time...we've upgraded our tinfoil to some reflective fabric and made our own blinds. Hopefully they'll do as good as the tin foil ones did. 🤞 We're also considering getting a portable air conditioner maybe...but at the moment that was more for us sleeping in 25+ heat...the boys were doing zoomies even in the highest temps 🤦
 
CV26 said:
Glad to finally feel a cool breeze through the house here in the Midlands! We've had a bit of rain but wouldn't mind a bit more now to really clear things up. It's been a bit muggy today.

I was happy with our measures...

- tin foil covered cardboard up at the piggy room windows (secured with masking tape so it was as close to the glass as possible) and in our bedroom

- all blinds and curtains closed during the day, plus we have an awning outside the kitchen patio doors so that was out too

- windows downstairs opened when cool enough (usually not till 9pm at the earliest) till we went to bed and windows upstairs all open from then till c.7am

- damp sheet over the cage when we started getting up to 24/25. I did put ice packs in when we hit 26 but the boys didn't go near them

Starting temp 22. End high 26-27 this time, last time it was 28-29. Outdoors got as high as 34 I think this time and 38 last.

Next time...we've upgraded our tinfoil to some reflective fabric and made our own blinds. Hopefully they'll do as good as the tin foil ones did. 🤞 We're also considering getting a portable air conditioner maybe...but at the moment that was more for us sleeping in 25+ heat...the boys were doing zoomies even in the highest temps 🤦
Click to expand...

If your boys are doing zoomies in the hot weather, then they are definitely comfortable and not feeling in the least overheated. Well done! :tu:

A lot is down to trialling different things, finding out what works best for you and then fine tuning it. But you are definitely going in the right direction. All the best with your reflective blinds. Let us know how you get on.
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
We have rain! A thunderstorm even! ⛈
:yahoo::yahoo:
Click to expand...

No thunder here but yeah, the same cell has also reached us, too (not all that far from you after all) and has brought us finally some much needed rain. Sadly not enough to go deeply into the ground (that will need a lot more rain ideally over several days) but on the other hand, no flash flooding issues, either...

Sadly too late for some of my border plants. :(
 
Lorcan said:
I'm so incredibly jealous. Steel grey skies, wind...and nothing else. I feel cheated. :td:
Click to expand...
It may yet come, the showers seem quite spread out rather than all over. It started here with grey skies and a breeze too 🤞
Wiebke said:
Sadly too late for some of my border plants. :(
Click to expand...
While we were away, my pointy pepper plant seems to have succumbed too. And my row of lettuces looks a bit browned off! Hoping it rains all night :D
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
It may yet come, the showers seem quite spread out rather than all over. It started here with grey skies and a breeze too 🤞

While we were away, my pointy pepper plant seems to have succumbed too. And my row of lettuces looks a bit browned off! Hoping it rains all night :D
Click to expand...

I sincerely hope that we have rain for several hours to gradually soak deeper into the ground and not just shoot off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top