Reptiles vs. Blackouts...?

I want to know what YOU would do if you had a quantity of reptiles and had a blackout with NO POWER. I just had one and it reminded me what i would do if it was for a long period of time...:confused:

Nothing, or hook up a generator.
If I open the tubs they will lose some of the heat.

If their heat ran dangerously low then, hygiene issues aside, I'd probably put them in cloth bags (same size ones go together,) line my bed with a plastic covering, and stick them all with me under a few layers of blankets.

Heat up some hot water bottles (using gas heaters/fireplace) and we'll all have a giant reptile slumber party.

I'd recruit family members into this too.

But this would only be a few hours/one day thing if it was in the winter. I'd have to figure out some other way if it lasted for longer than a day.

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Originally Posted by p3titexburial

If their heat ran dangerously low then, hygiene issues aside, I'd probably put them in cloth bags (same size ones go together,) line my bed with a plastic covering, and stick them all with me under a few layers of blankets.

Heat up some hot water bottles (using gas heaters/fireplace) and we'll all have a giant reptile slumber party.

I'd recruit family members into this too.

But this would only be a few hours/one day thing if it was in the winter. I'd have to figure out some other way if it lasted for longer than a day.

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If it starts to get really cold you can put some hot water bottles (just plastic bottles filled with hot tap water) in the cages and it'll warm up the cage/tubs.

Hot hands and or the disposable heating pads, they last between 8-12 hours. I have never been in that situation but things happen and I keep some around just in case. :gj:

If you have no power and generator, how do you heat up the water? If you have a generator you can warm up the room or the snakes.

24 hr heat packs are your friends!

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Originally Posted by Clear

If you have no power and generator, how do you heat up the water? If you have a generator you can warm up the room or the snakes.

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The water inside a water heater will stay warm for hours.

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

The water inside a water heater will stay warm for hours.

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Thats great, but who is concerned for only a few hours? The temps in the tub and room shouldnt drop to fast in a few hours unless you keep going in and out.

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Originally Posted by Clear

If you have no power and generator, how do you heat up the water?

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You learn fast grasshoppa, I was replying to this specific part of your post.

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

You learn fast grasshoppa, I was replying to this specific part of your post.

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And so was I. The water would be cold before you actually needed to use it.

I voted nothing, because outside of ridiculously unlikely circumstances that threaten more than just my pets' lives, they would be fine.

I live in an apartment in the city.

If there was a blackout, power would return shortly in 99.99% of situations.

If it was a long-term blackout but only local, I could move the animals to a friend's place.

If it was a long term blackout and wide area, I would probably skip out of town for a bit with my pets if weather permitted, go visit family a few states over

If I had a serious, unmoveable collection of reptiles, that would mean for me personally I would at least own my own house. If I owned my own house, I would have a backup generator. They come in handy at the worst of times.

I can just about guarantee you that people like BHB with large buildings dedicated to raising reptiles have backup generators, but even BHB got screwed by weather before.

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Long story short, just about all reptiles will be fine without heat for a day or even a week or more, heck some people keep ball pythons alive for years with no heat. Don't panic.

Ugh, we were IN that situation a few years ago. There was a horrible wind storm and our power was knocked out. We only had about eight snakes and an elderly iguana at the time, but it was cold out, and we freaked out!

We braved the storm, found a 24 hour Rite-Aid that had hot water bottles and heat packs, and thought we'd be okay.

Unfortunately, it was like, the WORST power outage our area had ever seen. We got the generator hooked up the next morning, but soon afterwords, my father-in-law's friend (who has a PHD in ASTRO-PHYSICS and ENGINEERING) decided to refill the generator while it was still running. So big fire, and boom no more generator. And of course, since the power had been out for two or three days at this point, there weren't any we could buy anywhere.

So what we did, since we had a fairly small collection at the time, was condense everyone into critter-keepers and Boaphiles, and drove them a couple hours up North to family who had power.

The iguana stayed with us, usually under shirts (which she enjoyed) and the birds had to go stay with friends who had better heating options. Meanwhile, we nearly froze every night until over a week later when the power came back on.

We learned after that a lot of reptile collections in the area were completely lost during the power outage. We were given a large male BCC and one of my favorite female BPs, Lucille, by a man who was paralyzed and had too much trouble getting the snakes out of their enclosures and closer to the fire, so he was scared he was putting them in danger.

We have a dedicated circuit for the reptile room now, and that's one of the three that the generator is hooked up to, so if there's ever another problem, we're good to go.

MAN it was scary, though!

Even before I had reptiles I was out of power for 3 days due to an ice storm. I put a portable generator in the garage and ran an extension cord up through the attic and into one of my upstairs bedrooms, where I was able to run a space heater, lamps, and my computer, and a hot plate for warming up soup and stuff...


Rob

If it were an extended period of time I'd crank up the generator. Running the generator would be for human comfort also. AC is a must!

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Originally Posted by Clear

If you have no power and generator, how do you heat up the water? If you have a generator you can warm up the room or the snakes.

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Natural gas heaters and radiator heat.

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

Natural gas heaters and radiator heat.

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I dont know about where you live, but here when the power is out it is caused by some type of storm, ice, hail, thunderstorm, hurricane. They shut the gas lines off for safety precautions. But you are right, if you do have NG then you could heat up water!

24 hour heat packs are my friend personally. Or hot water bottles. Once i get my reptile room i'll end up with some sort of generator/heater thing. BUT, i don't plan on living where there is much ice.

I've lost power more times due to CAR ACCIDENTS than due to weather.. And i've lived in places where there is a ton of ice and snow. :/

I do nothing at all because I have a generator hooked up directly into my main gas line and it automatically comes on during a power outage. :)

I plan on getting a generator just in case something happens.

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Originally Posted by panthercz

I do nothing at all because I have a generator hooked up directly into my main gas line and it automatically comes on during a power outage. :)

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Same here. No power loss for me. Comes on like 30 seconds after power loss and stays on indefinitely. Runs off my gas line which always works.

:cool:

*snaps fingers* I forgot you can buy those heat packs.

Boiling water even if you don't have electricity shouldn't be a problem--there's always something burnable hanging around--and if I had to I'd chop up my furniture for wood, well, my parents may have a problem with it but I don't. =3

I use a Coleman catalytic propane indoor heater. When power goes out i turn it on low and it keeps room at 88F till power resumes. The 16 oz tanks i get for 2.99 each last about 8 hrs per tank.


a must have with reptiles
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colem...id=3000&brand=

im an apperentice electrican so I could call a guy with a company van, they all have generators in the vans.

or id start up the fireplace and if the reptile room got too cold id move em all in the living room with the fire place.

i gotta get my own generator... expensive tho. i even priced it out to build one, but after all the regulation and everything, cost way more to build one. but i was going to make it out of a old 350 chevy i had laying around, be cool, but complete waste of gas and money. tho i could run a the whole block with it lol. 305 hp x 746watts = 227,530 watt generator lmao. given theres alot of other factors that would reduce that number...but who cares.