It's HOT. My A/C is out!!!

[Golden Gate Geckos]

It has not gone below 100 degrees here for 9 straight days, and it was 113 yesterday and 112 today. Last night did not go below 99 degrees! Now, our A/C is out... oil all over the compressor pad and so far we can't get anyone out here to look at it until Thursday at the earliest. It is now 94 degrees in the house and climbing, and I'm using ice-packs in my incubators!

The worst news is that my friend Daniel (who takes care of my geckos when I'm gone) is a breeder himself, and lost over 100 of his Cresteds and Gargoyles last night due to the rolling black-outs and his cooling unit had reset in his reptile building. So far, he has only been able to save about 6 breeders and a few Gargoyle babies. He was here earlier so heartsick he could barely even stand up.

I may need to pack up all my geckos and check in to the Ramada Inn, but I'm afraid the incubators will get too hot on the trip! They are keeping many of the Senior Centers open until midnight since so many folks don't even have air conditioning in the SF Bay area because there are usually only about 7-10 days in the entire year we need it!

Thanks for letting me 'rant'. BTW, did I mention that it is HOT here?

 

[RaiQuee]

Poor Marcia, My future sister in law lives in the Bay area. So when I visit, I will make sure to visit you as well Just not when it is hot. Ramada would be good for the leos, as well as yourself!

 

[Jeremy Letkey]

Holy hottness!! Hope all goes ok for you guys there.

I feel horrible for Daniel as well. Heartbreaking.

 

[brandy101010]

I'm so sorry about your air conditioner breaking! and about the loss your friend is going through!
Try to keep cool anyway you can! I wish you lots of luck!

 

[Grinning Geckos]

That's just awful! The A/C always manage to break down at the worst times possible. Mine broke down last year during the hottest week of the year...it got to 100 in the apartment. Last week was the hottest week we've had so far, and a friend's A/C broke. Going to a hotel isn't a bad idea...it's gotta be better than risking having all of your leos and eggs in the house! I'm so sorry about your friend's loss. That's really heartbreaking to lose so many.

 

[LeosForLess]

Marcis, if you turn on the AC in your car so its like 80 degrees you cna get an adapter and hook it up to the incubator from the car for the drive to the Inn. When my power goes out i stick the incubator in the car and turn it on. And if the power is out for a while (which hasnt happened yet ) i would just go to a friends and plug it in there.

EDIT: If it stays hot, you can jsut send them to me OR you can send them to Albeys TOO COOL reptiles

 

[Wretched]

I know how you feel. I'm thin the bay too. I've been putting ice cubes in my water dishes and my geckos have been languishing by them. All are healthy and eating, just really really sluggish right now. No AC, Nothing. We went out for a couple hours and I came home to find all my cages over 100 degrees.... I'm trying everything i can think of to cool them down.

 

[nwheat]

Yikes! It's hot here, too and I've been having trouble keeping my eggs at 83(hot weather is so unusual I don't know anyone that even has air conditioning right around here) but it's not anywhere near THAT hot! I haven't had to worry about the breeders at all, though. Poor Daniel!:sick: I heard the worst is over - hope that's true!!

 

[Welsh]

It's the same here Marcia. Its so humid too! Im dying!

Florida on the 29th for two weeks though. Hopefully cold weather will grace us!

 

[PaulSage]

Blah. Sorry to hear that Marcia, that really sucks. I hope your geckos and eggs do alright. Please extend my sympathies to Daniel. I can't even imagine how devastating that would be.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Well, it never got cooler than 88 degrees last night, so I sent my incubators to work with Glenn (my husband). I had been using ice packs, but they melted so quickly the coolest I could keep my female incubator was 84-85 all night.

After calling about 20 different HVAC companies, we finally found someone that can come out tomorrow. We also found out that a portion of the city has been without power for 3 days, and there is not a single hotel/motel room available, except a few that will not accept dogs!

The forecast says we should be below 100 degrees tomorrow, and cooling into the mid-90's by the end of the week. What we really need is for the marine fog layer to move in to cool things off! AAARRRGGHHH!

 

[ExcessiveHerps]

Marcia thats horrible, I didn't even know SF got that hot I actualyl thought it was colder up there than LA and San Deigo. Good luck hope everything is back up soon.
Xavier

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Xavier, we are not in the city, but across the bridge in the foothills closer to the delta of the SF Bay.

 

[rrhill]

Hey Marcia, do you guys have access to swamp coolers up there? They are big (well not really big) fans that also mist out water...sometimes you see REALLY large ones on the sidelines of football games. You can get smaller versions of those and they do cool things off. You can also try the old wet towel over the fan trick...doesn't work as well though.
I keep mice and rats in my garage and use 20 oz. bottles of frozen water over the tops and between the cages to cool them off. As soon as a bottle gets put between 2 cages all the mice run over to that side and sleep right against the plastic box. If your freezer is working I'd get empty plastic bottles and fill them with water to freeze and stick the bottles in the cages. It isn't the most ideal situation but it could be the difference between some of the geckos living or not. Good luck and I'm hoping for cooler weather for you!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

If your freezer is working I'd get empty plastic bottles and fill them with water to freeze and stick the bottles in the cages.

Thanks for the tips, Ro! That's exactly what I've been doing now that they have frozen overnight!

 

[Jeanne]

OMG! Marcia, that sounds horrible! It got up to 103 here for a couple days and I don't have air conditioning either. Sleeping in 90 degree weather Is BAD! Luckily, I have all the animals downstairs which is partially underground so it is usually 10 degrees cooler than upstairs.

Well, I wish you cool weather, and tell your friend that I am so sorry for his loss. I couldn't imaging losing that many geckos and have no control over it.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

WOOO HOOO!!!!:banana:
By no other reason than by the Grace of God, our A/C is up and running! One of the HVAC companies was in our neighborhood and finished their job early, so when he called and said he could be here in 10 minutes I was overjoyed!!! The unit had a blown capacitor, and in less than 30 minutes and $136.04 later, it was blowing cool air! The house is now at 85 degrees and dropping.

 

[brandy101010]

Congrats! Glad you diddn't have to wait any longer!

 

[silentjohn]

Hey Marcia, do you guys have access to swamp coolers up there? They are big (well not really big) fans that also mist out water...!

Swamp coolers are great, to a point. Anything over about 90-94 degrees and they are pretty much worthless. Here the past two weeks it has been really humid (relatively speaking), since it is probably the same "system" affecting Marcia, she is probably also dealing with higher than normal humidity. We've been getting 113 degrees with high humidity, and with high humidity a swamp cooler is almost a detriment, because that is how a swamp cooler works by adding moisture to the air, and blowing large volumes of air. It's been the worst here that I can remember. Last week it was getting about 108 with scattered showers. Terrible. When we (central valley) say it's 100 degrees for most of the summer, but it's a dry heat, everybody laughs, but I will take our regular dry 100 degree weather over the humid crap we have been getting the past couple weeks, any time. what really sucks, as Marcia mentioned, it's not cooling down at night. Nothing sucks worse than opening the door at 5 or 6 in the morning, and it's like walking into a sauna. Tragedy about the animals, especially for your friend Marcia.

 

[Jeanne]

Yeah! Happy Banana Time!