Emergency Evacuation Plans

[Bogertophis]

You could pre-pack your snakes when there is a severe weather warning- it's very time consuming, & that's something that worried me when I lived elsewhere, under threat of wildfires, as that's another thing that doesn't give you much time to pack. You're wise to at least try to plan ahead. Chemical-air quality issues- not sure what you could do for that, as everything has to breathe, & the last time I checked, none of my snakes would keep their little masks on...

[bcr229]

if i bagged my collection up in a hurry does anyone know or reckon if i could modify a tote to be able to keep them safe in the event of a chemical plant accident affecting air quality? this happened before and had a profound negative impact on my arachnid collection at the time so would be cool to brainstorm this also

Replacement HEPA filter for a small tabletop unit + battery-powered camping fan. Use rubber bands to hold the filter on the fan.

It's not perfect but it's better than nothing.

[Trinityblood]

I was thinking about this last night. It's looking like a bad season for fire. I could see smoke from my backyard from a brush fire that destroyed a building. I have a smaller bin cage i could bug out my snake with but I don't know what to do if i'm not home. I didn't even know there was a fire until someone pinged my work chat. The fire notifications here are very poor and I know how fast fire can move. I can't imagine not being able to save my dogs.

[Caitlin]

With the size of your snakes, and assuming you are talking about sheltering in your basement due to a tornado warning as opposed to evacuating, this is what I'd do:

When the holidays come, get yourself one Christmas tree storage tub for each snake. Put the tubs in the basement; drill air holes in them, add a hide (this can just be a cardboard box) and a water bowl, throw down a few layers of paper towel or some puppy pads as substrate, and put a gallon jug of water in each tub along with a pack or two of the 72-hour 'UniHeat' shipping packs that are used for shipping plants, chicks, reptiles, etc. You can get them on Amazon. I'd throw a towel in, too - I like to put a towel over the heat packs. This relatively minimal prep should be all you need and once you have each tub set up and packed, that's it until needed.

If sheltering in your basement I wouldn't even bother with snake bags. Just haul the snakes down there and get them into the tubs. OR you can use the method I'd use during a critical evacuation (meaning the kind where you don't get 30 minutes advance notice; you just run) and get a bag big enough to hold multiple of your snakes and stuff as many into that as you can. They'll be fine for the run down to the basement.

I live in wildfire country and keep smaller tubs outfitted like this in the trunk of my car. If needed, I'd throw as many snakes as I could into one big bag (if it's a critical evacuation there is no time to screw around with separate bags), get the heck out, and sort out separate tubs later.

In my region there are some big reptile shops and veterinary practices that will board reptiles for free if people are evacuated due to fires or floods. It might not hurt to check around your region to see if that is a possibility; otherwise you'll be looking for a campground or hotel as temporary evacuation shelters typically do not take pets.