How to keep the snake heated during power outages?

Where I live, its very common for during the winter season to have 3 or 4 fairly major power outages, where the power stays out for up to 5 hours at a time. (Actually the power was just out from 5 until 9:30). So far i have put hot water in a hot water bottle, and covered it in a towel (to prevent any burning), and placed it in his cage. Does anyone have any tips on how to keep the temperatures up for the snake during the power outages?

Get a battery backup (UPS). You can get them at Best Buy or online. They're not meant for long term outages, but will definitely help for those spikes and small outages.


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Good advice from Ballophile. Power goes out here and I can run my desktop and stereo system for a good couple hours off my UPC...so it shouldn't have any problems powering your heat and thermostat for a while longer than that.

Generator and or Buddy Heater with 20lbs cylinder http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-F232...s=buddy+heater

I have both.

I plan on the battery back up at some point. They do make some bigger ones that would power a several racks for hours.

Generator...saved my collection for a week and a half after Hurricane Sandy and a few days after an October snow storm a year and a half ago. $600 well spent...

If you're only worried about a day or two, or for evacuating/other emergencies where backup power isn't an option, I highly highly recommend keeping 1 to 3 disposable heat packs on hand per snake. I keep a case at home for mine just in case; I've had to evacuate due to wildfires before and they were incredibly helpful as I got situated finding a place to evacuate to.

For truly large collections, this may not be as feasible of an option, but for the smaller hobbyist or pet owner, the 40 hour shipping heat packs (we carry them on the site and so this is what I've used personally) are extremely useful and great to have on hand.

-Jen

someone mentioned disposable heat packs.


but noone recommended re-useable heat packs so far :) They are soft, made of silcone, filled with a liquid and have a little metal chip inside that can click. You click it, it immediately starts to crystallize and reaches the melting point of the stuff inside, around 55° celsius. They keep the temperature up for hours, until they are fully crystallized, if you wrap them in tissue so that they are a bit isolated they keep up the heat even longer.

afterwards you can put them in boiling water until all the stuff inside is completely dissolved, then they are reset and you can store them for the next use. so you can use them again and again without producing waste.

they come in all shapes and colors, for example:

http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Clothi...CG8/ref=sr_1_7
http://www.amazon.com/Hand-Warmers-H...IW2/ref=sr_1_9
http://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Pocke...B8/ref=sr_1_14

i like them because they have a maximum temperature around 55° celsius / 130° fahrenheit and wont go above that, but will keep that temperature, and because they dont produce waste.

p.s.: i wonder how often people get snake shipments with these inside and throw them away because they dont realize this :)

We also loose power on a regular basis in winter. One downside to living in the country. :(

We had a whole-home generator installed. We did have other reasons for doing this, but I would have done it for the snakes alone. The peace of mind is well-worth the price. Every snake rack/cage is on an outlet that is controlled by the generator, or is easily switched to an outlet that is. Even when the power goes out, the temps never change. :gj:

However, that is an expensive option and while I strongly feel it is the BEST choice and that you should do it if you have the means, I fully understand that it isn't feasible for everyone. But do keep it in mind for a future home-improvement project (this will add value to your home too)!

In the meantime, the disposable or re-usable handwarmers are a good choice. But you do have to make sure to wrap them well and/or stick them in a sock or something to prevent direct contact with your snake. Some of these will reach temps up to 130-180!! This will cause bad burns and you have to use them responsibly and with common sense!