Incoming Storm - Advice ASAP

I'm dealing with the same storm, just got lucky it wasn't quite as bad as they were saying and my power hasn't gone out yet. For a few years I was in a place that had ZERO insulation, so once the power went out it only took about half an hour for everything inside to be seriously cold. Eventually I got one of those indoor propane heaters... You can't leave them on unattended, but it keeps an area big enough for everyone in their travel containers out of the dangerously cold zone, and it's great for when the power goes out in the middle of the night because it's much easier than making sure everyone has a hunting heat warmer safely insulated ect. ect. without any lights.

Yup a Mr Heater? Those has a tip over safety switch where they will shut off. They are also made for indoor and inside tent use. Don't ever use a plain propane heater for indoors as those are made for outside in a work area or a well ventilated garage or workshop. They can kill you if used indoors.

Yeah, that's the one. I think it still has a warning to check it every 20-30 minutes in case something goes wrong, but it beats cuddling my turtle with a chest warmer on for five hours lol.

Powers been out here for about 12 hours now. Luckily the fireplace is going and the snakes are in tubs in front of it. Nice and steady upper 80s. Been a long night though.

Dave

Update - no power out yet, a few flickers...but nothing more than 10 min. I was up every hour and sleeping with the light and TV on, just to make sure I woke up if it went off overnight, and I'll be repeating the process again tonight. Not sure how much snow we have total, probably 5-8 inches, but it's the wind that will kill the lights.

Hopefully everything works out for everyone else. Stay safe!

Our power has been fine and it looks like the high winds are primarily east of us on the other side of the mountains.

That said, according to the snow totals from the local media, my house is right in the 36-48 inches band of accumulation SO FAR and it's still coming down, though thankfully lightly.

$100 will get a small portable generator from Harbor Freight that will run herp heat and the fridge/freezer. $500 will get a generator you can safely hook into your breaker box using an interlock switch (*codes vary) and run virtually everything but a powerful central heat pump. An extra $100 will get you one that runs off propane so you'll never need to fool with gas storage or the gas lines that NJ saw during Sandy.

For a small collection, a back-up strategy is to always keep a well insulated shipping box and heat pack aside. You can get both from Ship Your Reptiles. If you lose power, pack the animals just like you would for shipping. The insulation and heat pack will keep them warm for a day or two as long as it stays above freezing in your home. I strongly prefer a generator, a small one is not much, but saving an old shipping container and a couple new heat packs is very inexpensive and easy to use in an emergency.