Lost Power

So say my power goes out. We are having an ice storm now and what if it causes the power to go out for an extended period of time. What would I do to keep my BP warm enough? Would it hurt him to be cold for a day or so? Or do they only get sick if they are cold for an extended period of time?

Andrew

Yes it will harm your ball python to get cold. I keep lots of 60 hour heat packs on hand and if the power goes out, I would attach one of these to the top of my warm side... keeping it warm.

Then I'd cover the tub with a nice thick blanket or towels... keeping the heat in.

Since your thermometer should be battery operated, you'll be able to see if you are keeping the temps up warm enough. If it's a small heat pack... you could use two or three at one time. ;)

if power is lost do you have any means to heat anything like hot water/stove? for future reference get some heat packs like the ones for shipping, an insulated box and pack him up. basicaly like you were going to ship them.



vaughn

Well ironically, the power did go out about 10 seconds after I posted that. It came back on a while ago. I will keep some heat packs around from now on. What I did was fill two water bottles with hot water and then covered the cage with my blankets. So it worked for that time but tomorrow I will go pick up some heat packs.

I don't know what kind of cage or tub you use, but I might suggest getting a smaller tub that you could easily keep warm with the heat pics rather than trying to heat a large enclosure. If I had to heat my Animal Plastics T-10 with heat packs, I'd need dozens! I am thinking about getting a generator soon though so that would give me more peace of mind in case I'm not home and the power goes out.

I've had to heat water on the gas stove before and fill 2 liters for heat. Works well rather than using up a bunch of handwarmers to keep abigger snake warm like my BCI's. For smaller snakes, handwarmers are perfect!

I used to have a lot of power loss (old house) so I got an acrylic display case (with 10 seperate sections) and ran a single strip of flexwatt down the back. When the power would go out I would put all my snakes in the case and then plug the flex (and reostat) into a computer APC (basically a battery backup for computers). It would last for a day. I could easily check on each snake and keep them warm.

On the cheapest end, pick up a styrofoam lined shipping box and some (24 to 40 hour) heatpacks. If the power goes out, place the snake in a pillowcase and tie the end. Place this in the box on one side. Wrap the heatpack with a loose bit of newspaper and stick it to the other side of the box. Crumble some paper between the heatpack and the snake. If you have a wireless thermometer or one with a wire probe, you could also stick the probe in the box too so you can monitor temps, but this is how snakes are shipped so the snake should be good for many, many hours.

If you have multiple snakes, I would suggest something like a Mr. Heater(tm) "Portable Buddy" Propane Heater. I used one here in Maine (where we get serious winters) and it has saved my snakes (and kept us warm) a few times. I picked mine up locally for $69.00 and it was worth every penny. You can get extra value if you use this when camping, in the ice fishing shed, in the hunting camp, etc. too.

As I mentioned, that worked fine to heat a room or two of the house in a pinch, I did finally upgrade to a Guardian Standby Generator. It was the purchased from the money I received from selling about 14 of my Argentine black and white tegu hatchlings. (around $2000) The feeling of safety I have when I leave home in the winter and know that if power goes out, this thing automatically turns on, is without value. ;)

Rick

well when the power goes out here i use a generator that i have to power the rack and a few other odds n ends

Yup, i just got over the ice storm knock out. I've been out of power since 10am yesterday. Just got back at about 1pm today. I was forced to take my animals to my friends house who had power and use a heat pad. Really scared me but they're ok. The town looks bad though, trees down everywhere. I can put a few picks up later but for now, I'm just starring at a light bulb and smiling. :cool: