After reading the post about the tremendous loss of life caused by the heat, I cannot even begin the imagine the pain this family is going through! Special prayers will be said for them! A tragedy like this causes me to ask some questions! I live in Ohio, and while the last 2 days have been extremely pleasant-this is AUGUST-our worst month of the year! I do not have air conditioning. I live in an old farm house which sits under hundred year old oak trees. These trees shade the front of the house all day-and thankfully, the ferret room is in this part of the house. But still, on very hot days, it is miserable in there-as it is everywhere!!! On days that I am home, I take their small cage outside and let them stay in the shade on the deck-which sometimes catches the faintest of breezes. On days I am not home, they have 2 fans, icebags and frozen water bottles. I am never gone more than a couple of hours!! But there are two days next week where I already know I will be gone most of the day. My question (finally) is how long does it take for the heat to get to them? I mean-how much heat can they take before it becomes life-threatening? I am thinking that perhaps I should inconvenience my sister(-again!!) by having her come and change the icebags and water bottles at least once while I am gone. This really has me worried and I would appreciate any info. I tried to do a search of the archives finding info on this subject, but my blonde got in the way again!! DOOKS! Della and the Tumbleweeds Judy Cooke Tyson and Einstein [Posted in FML issue 2763]