Niteangel cooling board

I’m really not sure to be honest, I don’t know exactly what silica board is but it doesn’t sound like something you would want your hamster to chew on, it might be too hard to chew though, no idea about that really.
I think putting actual ice packs in the cage is too much, better to just stick to chilled sand, mugs & similar I would think.
 
I'm inclined to agree with Elusive. It's a good idea but Rodipet used to suggest just having a terracotta plate on top of a house that you could sprinkle water onto. It's a nice idea though. I'm not sure what silica board is either.
 
I googled silica board too and came up with similar. It's used for insulation and plasterboarding in houses. Niteangel do tend to sell safe products generally but personally I don't think I'd like the idea of a hamster chewing that - and you don't know if they would chew it or not. Further down the page it mentions how to use it and avoid condensation in the nest.

It's a good idea to internally cool a cage or tank. It's expensive and I'm not sure about it. Obviously it's only intended for occasional use during the odd heatwave. I don't think I would want to use it. But if it's an extreme situation - like people in hot countries with glass tanks - something like that could help the hamster temporarily. Providing it wasn't chewed. It's a similar idea to the heating boxes for sick lambs - but those tend to be made of plain wood. I suppose wood wouldn't be waterproof or keep cool long enough. Surely plastic would be better?
 
I feel hamsters would end up chewing it especially the hamsters who are prone to chewing. I wonder if it could be dangerous. Their products are usually great but this one feels a bit unsafe.
 
Plastic wouldn’t have the same thermal properties so wouldn’t stay cool for long so I guess that’s why they’ve gone for this.

I remember one year when it was really hot I tried putting ice packs under the cages, not touching but on a shelf below, when I did Zeki’s I thought he was in his house at the back of the cage so I put it at the front, that’s exactly where he was under the substrate & he shot out of there like a bat out of hell! Since then I’ve been wary of putting anything too cold near the cage & wouldn’t put something like that inside.
 
They can get overheated if the room temperature gets very warm - in the past I've seen hamsters leave the nest and lie out in the open or sleep in a ceramic hide. It may be worse in some hotter countries I suppose. Glass tanks can get warmer in hot weather just by the nature of them being glass and most tank owners are aware of this and take precautions.
 
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My hams have alway coped better with the heat than I do, sometimes they’ve just laid in the sand & gone to sleep if it’s very hot, I think with deep substrate burrows stay cooler anyway.
 
Same here, I spent a lot of time fretting over the super high temperatures last year and admit on one occasion Hams did look a little damp emerging from his bed, but he never used the tile I placed in for him, he too would sit in sand or on his plastic shelf. But with the current temperatures he’s just doing everything as normal, doesn’t seem phased by it.
 
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