Power Outage!!?

[tman]

Hey Guy's, I've got a heck of a storm brewing up here in my part of the Great white North. I'm looking for some idea's to keep my BP warm enough if the power goes out....anything would be Great.

[Jeanne]

Well, here is what I have done in a pinch. I got some of those little hot pack things, you have to break them in the middle, leaving the bag intact, they are sold at sporting good stores, for hand warmers, walmart carries them.

[led4urhead]

What are the temps like inside your house now? As long as the power doesnt go out for an unreasonable amount of time .. you should be ok depending on the temp inside and outside your house. I would be more concerned in the dead of winter than in the summer, but then again .. you further north than me. As for suggestions .. you could get him out and hold him close to you to get your body warmth if you are concerned. I've never really dealt with a prolonged power outage that concerned me for my reptiles. I would think you could use those hand warmer things. You would have to get a couple and make sure you bp couldnt snuggle up in direct contact with them .. through a towel or something. Any body else have any ideas or dealt with this?

[tman]

Thanks Carson and Jeanne / my house temp is pretty average I guess and outside now is pretty hot and humid, I guess there is no need to panic, even if it went out for an hour or so I could just throw a blanket over the housing and he should be fine.

[led4urhead]

Definitely man. Just keep an eye on your temps if you are really worried

[Cody]

Ah, so that's where the storm went that we were hearing about over here. We never got anything from the storm except a bit of wind.

I was wondering about the same question a while back when I was first deciding on getting a snake, but then I realized my house is usually in the high 70's all year round(even in the winter it doesn't get too cool in our house), and if it gets too cool, I'd just hold the snakey under my shirt and use my body heat to keep her comfy until the hydro comes back on.

[elevatethis]

BP's can safely take a temp drop well into the 70s and upper 60s for a short period of time, meaning like overnight. And usually thats the longest that a power outtage would last. However, if you live in a cold climate and have strong winter storms, I would prepare WAY ahead of time and have a stash of hand warmers just in case that you lose power for an extended period of time.

[TekWarren]

I've actually had the power go out in the winter for several hours...not a fun thing. My house will cool down quick with a good wind as we are still saving up for new siding and windows. Anyways...my profession is with computers so naturally I see a battery backup UPS device as an alternative to keeping power restored. I have a UPS (uninteruptable power supply) on my webserver at home that will last nearly an hour...with the server plugged into it. Heating pads depending on what your running wouldn't take nearly the same ammount of voltage and therefore would decrease drain on a batter system. I have researched UPS's a bit in the past and found ways to make some fairly cheap homemade setups that will provide a good long time of power for low consumption heat pads etc. I will try and dig up the link again...with winter approaching again I need to start thinking about a power backup plan anyway.

[kontron]

living in SO. Cali. we are used to power outages, and blackouts, however we are not used to very cold weather. hand warmers sound like a good idea. i used them for myself in main when i lived there. gets real hot.

[TekWarren]

Well I dug up the link I was referring to above about a home made power packup system. Regretably I was remembering incorrectly and it wasn't as cheap as I had thought I read. But, for those with a large number of animals it would still be well worth looking into and cheaper for larger operations to prevent power failure. Take a look at the link if you wish, otherwise I stand by my thoughts on a normal UPS unit. I will probably start looking online at some and around local stores to see what I can find. For just a few animals a fairly inexpensive UPS unit I would think could power their heatpads so they still have a constant source of heat.



Link: http://www.dansdata.com/diyups.htm