Is this a crazy idea?

I would get me a small generator. Of course my herp room has emergancy power with generator back up. So I am cool

Try the searching around a bit too. There have been some great threads about this kinda thing.

Here's one... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=26467

as said above search and you should find a good topic or two about what people do. As mentioned I've run mine off my UPS (uninteruptable power supply) that I use for my computers at home. I usually have alot of computer equipment even when I'm not servicing others so I have a pretty good sized UPS. Heat elements shouldn't draw a whole lot so you most likely wouldn't need anything to fancy just compare the wattage and be mindfull of that when your looking or using an existing battery backup unit.