If power goes out, how do I heat my BP's enclosure?

Thank you all for such helpful advice. I believe that a generator is something I should invest in. If not, then probably some heating pads would do the trick if I keep adding warm ones to the enclosure.

http://www.tsksupply.com/categories/Heat-Packs/

There are many types of heat packs, I always have a selection on hand and replace them when they expire. The little hand warmer ones are quite short lived. In my situation I have a battery back up good for around 8 hours maybe a touch longer. Then I have a catalytic heater and propane for 40 hours or so. After that 72 hour heat packs for my cooler holding system and enough for 9 days.

Somthing that wasn't mentioned about generators: you do have to be there to turn them on. If you are gone for long stretches you my want to invest in an automatic stand-by unit. They are more, but I work at a hardware store in a rural area and every year I have 3-5 people come in saying they came back from a trip to find thier food spoiled, pipes frozen/busted, and pets dead. A couple years ago an elderly gentleman went out to the garage to start it and never made it back to the house. Another option is to just switch to gas. Around here about 1/3 of homes use gas to heat (LP or Nat) because they simbly don't go out. If you are there most of the time a portable is awesome, just be sure to check out reviews before you purchase there are vast differences in product preformance and reliability across brands.

Generac home backup I linked earlier have transfer switches and usually run on gas. They also are used by many keepers and are comparable with herpstats and helix stats (likely herpkeeper and ecozone, I have no idea about the rest.)

Sadly they are quite costly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lyssa981

Somthing that wasn't mentioned about generators: you do have to be there to turn them on. If you are gone for long stretches you my want to invest in an automatic stand-by unit. They are more, but I work at a hardware store in a rural area and every year I have 3-5 people come in saying they came back from a trip to find thier food spoiled, pipes frozen/busted, and pets dead.

---

Good point, between our critters and running a business out of the house, we're never gone more than a few hours, certainly not overnight, so I'd never considered a scenario where the home may be sitting empty for a day or two.

I wan't sure if mentioning brand names was OK, still learning the forum rules, but since someone did; Generac units are by far the best and most relieable, but also the most expensive. Ridgid is the one I tyically recomend as best value for what it is, it winds up comming in at about 1/2 the price, and gets great reviews.

The only thing to watch out for is that most proportional stats perform badly with some lower cost inverters. I have tried a number of back up systems and in my testing I have discovered that some cheap inverters cause a triac controller found in most proportional stats to stay on all the time. It would be tremendously sad to have a power failure and discover your snakes died from too much heat.

I have spoken to both Dion B (herpstat) and Jeff W (helix) and both say Generac work, it is why I suggest them I know they are compatible with proportional stats.

Do your research before you buy ask specifically about triac controlled thermostats. It would be sad to spend a large amount of money and end up with something just as dangerous to your pets as the power failure was in the first place. Be certain that the back up power will work with your stats.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sirensong26

I keep some of those shipping heat packs on hand, and in the case of an emergency and I run out, I also keep mitten warmers on hand just in case. The problem with the latter is that they can get extremely hot (warped the plastic of my feeding tub) soif you use those, insulate them well from the BP.

---

Where does one get "those shipping heat packs?" What exactly are they called (please be specific) and where can they be purchased?

Thank you

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kitedemon

http://www.tsksupply.com/categories/Heat-Packs/

There are many types of heat packs, I always have a selection on hand and replace them when they expire. The little hand warmer ones are quite short lived. In my situation I have a battery back up good for around 8 hours maybe a touch longer. Then I have a catalytic heater and propane for 40 hours or so. After that 72 hour heat packs for my cooler holding system and enough for 9 days.

---

Again, thank you all for the help. I appreciate your advice! To let you all know, I am controlling a heat panel mounted on top of my Animal Plastics enclosure. My thermostat is a Hydrofarm Jumpstart. It is a simple thermostat because I have one snake as a pet and don't need anything fancy. Should I spend the large amount of money for a Generac generator, or a smaller, less expensive one?