No heat in my apartment and I am stressed!

[HJ1983]

I am so worried about my little guy. There's no heat and right now the temperature in the apartment is dropping. My building management says there's nothing wrong but we haven't had heat all day. I have the CHE on but it's not doing much. Right under the heater it's 71 and where Killer is sleeping its slowly dropping closer to 65. And since my guy has worms he's on newspaper and he can't dig to get warm. The temperature outside will continue to drop since we are expecting snow tomorrow. Should I be worried?

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Just realized the temp dropped to 67 then saw that the damn CHE turned off. Moved it to another outlet.

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[wellington]

An adult can take it to 60 maybe a little lower as long as he can warm up during the day. Leave the CHE on and maybe give him a towel to snuggle in too. Also you can cover the cage to help keep the CHE heat in a little getter.

 

[Gtphale]

See if you can find a way to lower your che

 

[laramill]

We had to get a new furnace a couple days before Christmas and so we had no heat for the better part of a day while they installed it. (I live in Wisconsin)--

I found I could "up" the temp in my torts enclosure by about ten degrees just by taking a big piece of aluminum foil and putting it over the CHE fixture and top of the enclosure to kind of trap the heat in. While I think my CHE looks a little bigger than yours, I think with your set up, this may be pretty effective (mine is more open while yours looks more enclosed.) I also put it over the basking light.

Try that and see if it helps...

(and then tell your super your outlets are going, too! That doesn't sound good!)

Best of luck and you'll be in my thoughts-- Let us know how you're doing.

 

[HJ1983]

I can definitely lower it. I'm afraid of the newspaper catching fire. Is that a valid fear? Or am I paranoid? I'll also look for a small towel he can use. I feel bad because all of my checking on him has disturbed his sleep. Last time I checked on him he peeked at me as of to say. "Really can't a guy get any rest around here".

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We had to get a new furnace a couple days before Christmas and so we had no heat for the better part of a day while they installed it. (I live in Wisconsin)--

I found I could "up" the temp in my torts enclosure by about ten degrees just by taking a big piece of aluminum foil and putting it over the CHE fixture and top of the enclosure to kind of trap the heat in. While I think my CHE looks a little bigger than yours, I think with your set up, this may be pretty effective (mine is more open while yours looks more enclosed.) I also put it over the basking light.

Try that and see if it helps...

(and then tell your super your outlets are going, too! That doesn't sound good!)

Best of luck and you'll be in my thoughts-- Let us know how you're doing.

I'll try the aluminum foil too. Anything!

As for the outlets... That was my bad. I stupidly plugged it into surge protector that I had programmed to turn off. I felt my heart drop at my negligence.

 

[laramill]

yes-- a che can start newspaper on fire-- just be really careful. (I once dropped hay on my che and it burned right up and FAST.-- you kind of have to treat those things like a burner on an electric stove...)

 

[HJ1983]

yes-- a che can start newspaper on fire-- just be really careful. (I once dropped hay on my che and it burned right up and FAST.-- you kind of have to treat those things like a burner on an electric stove...)

Ok I am not lowering the CHE. Too scared of fire. I am leaving him alone for now. I don't want to keep disturbing him.

It is currently 32 degrees outside, yikes! I will check him before I go to sleep. I cannot wait until morning when I can warm him up. If the weather keeps like this I am going to lose my mind if the heat isn't put on.

 

[laramill]

Try the foil-- Much less chance of burning (going by all the wads of char-covered foil I've found in the ashes of every campfire ring at every camping site I've ever stayed at ever! ha ha) Just kind of do a loose bubble of it over the top-- and you can peek in every so often to see what the temp is doing.

I think our cold is heading that way... so I'll keep you in my thoughts! (Have you checked around to see if anyone else you know in the building... who has heat... would be willing to take him in for a day until things get straightened out?)

Good luck again...

 

[HJ1983]

I did it! Thanks for all of the help. This is what I did.


The thermometer directly under it says 76! The thermometer on the right side says 70 and the one right above him is closer to 70 than 65 now. I just hope that it's good enough. Heat is supposed to turn on at 5am and who knows how cold it will get in this apartment.

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Nobody has heat. And my neighbors aren't too friendly. I'm not worried about the day time because he can just lie under his lamp to warm up. Thursday marks springtime so hopefully that means warmer days a comin'.

 

[ascott]

Good job with the foil....I would add a bit more to cover at least 75% of the top...this will really warm it up...especially if you are treating for parasites...you will really want the temps up so the tort can have a healthy immune system in place...

 

[HJ1983]

It's good to know that the higher temps will help him fight off those parasites. I will try to keep it up a little bit more. He has one more treatment so hopefully he won't mind the newspaper for too much longer.

I'm happy he is warm. I on the other hand am very bundled and still feel cold. I'm grateful that I had some sense (not a common thing for me) and bought that CHE. This is the first time I've had to use it. And I'm sure I'll have to pull it out again at some point.

Once again the advice here has helped me immensely. Killer and I thank you.

-Haydee

 

[ascott]

Perhaps you can get a bit closer to the tortoise enclosure and piggy back some of that heat.....

 

[bouaboua]

Poor baby! I mean both of you.

 

[HJ1983]

We made it through the night! I put on his UV and heat lamp at 7:30 as usual and a few minutes later he was standing next to his rock waiting for food. And he had the look of a tortoise who had a good nights sleep.

There was still no heat at the apartment when I left for work. Someone's got some explaining to do.

 

[Saleama]

Where is his basking light? A decent 60 watt flood bulb will get his temps up into the 80 - 90 range on top of a tile or brick. Mine like to floop onto a terra cotta dish turned upside down under their light. Night time temps in the mid 60's low 70's are ok for a russian tort so no worries there.

 

[HJ1983]

His basking light was on this morning. It was 95 directly under the light. And his cool side was still 70. This morning my apartment was very cold and outside it's 24! But thanks to you all killer never knew it was cold.

 

[ascott]

YAAAAYYYYYY

 

[kezilulu]

Whoop Whoop go Killer!
Hope your heats on when you get home (for your sake too!!!)
xXx

 

[HJ1983]

There's heat! They turned it on last night around 6. It was still a bit cold last night so it was night #2 for the CHE and foil. Now I'm having the opposite problem and his enclosure is a bit on the hot side. Go figure.

Thanks everyone!

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Now it's warm enough for his soaking!

 

[laramill]

Poor killer! He can't get a thermal break!
Haha. Glad you both made it through and the heat is back...

Now if we could only get the temps outside up a bit...

Cheers!