Keeping BP safe during long term power outage?

I'm in CT, in the path of Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit us tomorrow afternoon/evening. Last year, our area was affected by Hurricane Irene- although I believe it was a tropical storm by the time it hit us- and most of our state lost power for about a week, with some areas around two weeks. We didn't have a snake then. We have a generator, so we should be able to keep our heat sources for our BP running, assuming we're able to stay in our house.

How can we prepare to care for him and keep him warm if we run out of gas for the generator or have to leave our house?

I'm not sure, you could order some of the warming packs for shipping and try those out for the days you are out of gas. I would also consider holding them often and allowing your body temp to warm them, maybe even putting them under your shirt next to your belly. They should survive a short period of cold, they do tend to be "hardy" for the most part. Good luck!

Yeah, hand warmers, plus a down blanket over the tank or rack.

A caution with the hand warmers: They get very hot. A snake could burn itself if it cuddles up too tightly with the warmer. Might want to put the hand warmer in a paper bag with some crumpled up paper between the edge of the bag and the heat source. Or any other solution that puts some space between the warmer and the snake...

I definitely vote for the holding. If you just have the one snake, allow some of your natural body heat to help warm it up. You can also cover the cage with a blanket or put some hand warmers in a towel and place that in the tank. Hopefully there won't be a power outage and it won't be an issue.

Generator!

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Originally Posted by BPro927

Generator!

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Those are sold out in my area lol

Glad someone else asked this question as I'm in the same boat, but in Delaware. Supposed to get slammed and normally my bearded dragons are fine for a few days without power, but only having this snake for a week is making me nervous! My power goes out if a gnat flies by the power lines....so I'm almost positive it will be going out soon. I bought some extra hand warmers (10 hour ones were only 79 cents at Boscovs) and would wrap them in a washcloth or something so they can't have direct skin contact with it like someone else said. And I always hold off food due to no basking temps...

My girlfriend gave me another idea also that might help. We have a gas stove, we will still be able to boil water. I wonder if we heat water up and put it in ziplock freezer bags, or in a 2 liter soda bottle or similar. Put that inside the Rack and cages. Just an idea for people that don't have heat packs or generators.

I actually keep 1 to 2 shipping heat packs on hand for each of my snakes in the event of needing to evacuate or there's a power outage etc. 40 hour heat packs, in a paper bag, work perfectly for heating up an area of a tub for a while. Plus since they last about 40 hours, you can plan how many you'll need, and just pick up that many. I've never had to go more than the 40 hours with them, so a couple weeks of relying on them may get a little old...but I've found it extremely effective. I use them when we are out at presentations for the day as well when the weather is cooler. :)

-Jen

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Originally Posted by BleedingOrange36

My girlfriend gave me another idea also that might help. We have a gas stove, we will still be able to boil water. I wonder if we heat water up and put it in ziplock freezer bags, or in a 2 liter soda bottle or similar. Put that inside the Rack and cages. Just an idea for people that don't have heat packs or generators.

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The 2 liter bottle is a great idea. I would fill up 2 of them water as hot as you can get it(without melting the bottle when you pour it in) and then wrap it in foil and a towel. This would be good for a snake or lizard to snuggle up against without risk of burn.

Place them in a small room. Small room heater hooked to a tstat. Plug into the generator. Set the tstat to a medium temp that can make everyone happy.

I think this would be easier than trying to hook several lamps or uth to the generator. You might even be able to run the heater from a power inverter from your vehicle depending on the heaters size.

I've done the hand warmers when moving across country, the ones we just picked up (in VA, looks like we will miss most of it) says the temp is 126-144 so just be careful, we usually cover the cage and wrap the sides to help insulate. be safe everyone! i'm so not looking forward to working outside in this mess!

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Depends on how many animals you have

One or two snakes - Heat Packs (Those meant for shipping not hand warmers) or hot water bottles.

A larger collection, generator and/or http://www.walmart.com/ip/14710768?a...l5=pla&veh=sem

I have both the generator is mainly to allow us to have our fridge going and lights and my incubator and the buddy heater is to allow the snake room to remain at an ambient temp of 78 degrees.

A little tip though the worse time to buy either of those is when there is a threat of big powerful storm, chances how they'll be hard to find.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

A little tip though the worse time to buy either of those is when there is a threat of big powerful storm, chances how they'll be hard to find.

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Just like insurance...wait till you actually need it to buy, and you could be screwed.

Just saw this morning people selling generators that have roughly a $500-600 retail value for $1,000+...

OP - if you run into a bind, send me a PM. I'll gladly house your snake if I still have power. Never lost power with Irene...hoping for the same this year.

[QUOTE=Deborah;1947610]Depends on how many animals you have

A larger collection, generator and/or http://www.walmart.com/ip/14710768?a...l5=pla&veh=sem

I have both the generator is mainly to allow us to have our fridge going and lights and my incubator and the buddy heater is to allow the snake room to remain at an ambient temp of 78 degrees.
QUOTE]


I second the Buddy Heater! If you have the snakes in the small room, I've found that a buddy will heat it up to about 84 degrees; warmer if it's a very small room like a bathroom.

In 2007, we lost power for a full week in late fall and couldn't get a large generator. When the propane ran out after about two days, we moved the snakes into the sitting room with the woodstove. After hanging a few sheets to trap the heat, the critters made it through just fine.

propane catalytic heater is my first suggestion like the link posted. generators are great but for a few issues proportional T-stats use a triac and typically they need pure seine wave energy (not modified or square) They can when used in conjunction can fail open. here Dion is speaking about UPS (not a good solution BTW it only will last for a short time.

http://spyderrobotics.com/home/support_ups.html

To my knowledge the only pure seine wave generators are honda. If you have a back up on off system it should be fine just not proportional or units with triacs. Just thought it was important to mention that the typical gen could cause a proportional t-stat to fail most fail open so full heat.

I live in mahopac,Ny, just west of danbury. I got the hand warmers yesterday.I will wrap them in something.Good luck everyone!

Be VERY careful with how you use the hand warmers. The kind of heat packs you get at Walmart or the sporting goods stores meant for hand and foot warmers will suck the oxygen out of the space, so do NOT use those in any kind of sealed container. If you MUST use those kinds, I would recommend you put them UNDER the enclosure, not inside.

Hand warmers also have a short heat time very hot and not a long heating time. If the choice was hand warmer packs and 2L pop bottle with 94ºF water I'd go with the water it is likely to stay acceptable longer. Shipping packs are a different story but as mentioned ventilation is very important.

I have a similar warmer to these http://hotsnapz.com/blog/sodium-acetate-heating-pads . I got mine from a different company, but it works the same way. All you do is click the metal disk to start the reaction which lasts for a while. Once it cools heat up some water to melt it again and its ready for use again. They can get pretty hot so you could put it under or near your reptiles and cover them with a blanket as others mentioned to better contain the heat. Mine is about 5 inches wide by 10 inches long. You can find bigger if you wanted.

I just bought the last 30 packs of hand warmers at walmart. Whick gives me 60 i think that should do it.