How to cool the cool side

[Simland]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any tricks to cool down the cool side of the terrarium when AC for the whole room is not an option.

In my apartment, the summer heat pretty much destroys any kind of temperature gradient. For instance, at the moment, the air temp on the cool side is 86F and on the warm side it's 87.8F.

Overall, my Eastern garter seems to prefer cool temps (around 70F) so things probably suck for him right now. He did eat a worm today and he eats every now and then, but not much and he is losing weight.

I thought about putting an ice pack in there, but I don't think the benefits would be felt for very long at this temperature. The ice pack would probably have to be changed too often

Computer water cooling systems are too expensive for me (at least, that's the case for the ones I've seen) but I'd be curious to find out if they could do the trick.

If you guys have any affordable ideas I'm really interested.

[Albert Clark]

I would just consider using a fan for the room and maybe a larger water bowl for the enclosure. Also just turn down the setting on your thermostat is another option. There should be somewhere in the enclosure for them to cool down. Additional hide on the cool side?

[guidofatherof5]

I'd say 15 degrees below the warm side temp.

[paperfeathers]

If it has mesh on the top/one of the sides, get a small desk fan (you can order one on amazon for like 7$) and if the tank has a mesh top/side place the fan so it blows into the cage with an ice pack or frozen water bottle in front of the fan so it can circulate the cool air into the cage. Other than that, i cant think of any really economic ways to cool down a cage.

[Tommytradix]

they make air conditioners that stand up on the floor and have a small hose that goes out the window for exaust if you cant put a windo untit in. they are cheaper than a traditional air conditioner too.