Emergency Evacuation Plans

what are some good strategies and tips for getting a collection of snakes into shelter ASAP? like in the event of a tornado or something - should I just attempt to bag the big ones and take the small ones by the enclosure? would be keen to hear of people’s emergency protocols

We're under a tornado watch right now with warnings/alerts/etc. at unprecedentedly high levels not seen in the past decade. If things go sideways we'll have to shelter in place until the storms pass, and then if we have to bug out we'll have to evaluate where we could go. Fortunately there's a decently high mountain just to my west that tends to break up tornadoes so the worst weather goes north of me.

I may also end up taking in snakes from local friends depending on who gets hit, and how.

If the power goes out I have a generator that will handle the refrigerators & freezers, and at least the high-low temps predicted for the next few days are snake-friendly.

@YR- it's always a good idea IMO to have cloth snake bags (or pillowcases), ways to secure them (I prefer twist-ties + rubber bands), styro-foam boxes or ice chests, & heat packs (for winter) on hand, whether you're talking about winter power outages or any other reason you have to evacuate & seek shelter. It's not very feasible to carry even small enclosures around, & judging from when I've moved across states with many snakes packed as described, they do just fine. In fact, it was EASY. Remember to allow for a bit of air-flow in ice chests, & offer water when you have a chance.

BUT also bear in mind that most public shelters for humans do not allow pets- & think about how many people would freak out if they knew there were snakes kept a few feet away from them- never mind that they're "pets"- so while there's been talk in some areas about allowing pets (meaning dogs, cats, birds) in shelters if space allows, you cannot count on that & should be asking your local agencies in charge about their policy. (ie. Would they allow you to bring ice chests if not obvious what was in them?)

@bcr229- :please: Hoping you all stay safe!!! :please:

The humans get out first.

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Originally Posted by mistergreen

The humans get out first.

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i live alone so the only human involved wants to save her babies and would consciously assume the risk to do so

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

@YR- it's always a good idea IMO to have cloth snake bags (or pillowcases), ways to secure them (I prefer twist-ties + rubber bands), styro-foam boxes or ice chests, & heat packs (for winter) on hand, whether you're talking about winter power outages or any other reason you have to evacuate & seek shelter. It's not very feasible to carry even small enclosures around, & judging from when I've moved across states with many snakes packed as described, they do just fine. In fact, it was EASY. Remember to allow for a bit of air-flow in ice chests, & offer water when you have a chance.

BUT also bear in mind that most public shelters for humans do not allow pets- & think about how many people would freak out if they knew there were snakes kept a few feet away from them- never mind that they're "pets"- so while there's been talk in some areas about allowing pets (meaning dogs, cats, birds) in shelters if space allows, you cannot count on that & should be asking your local agencies in charge about their policy. (ie. Would they allow you to bring ice chests if not obvious what was in them?)

@bcr229- :please: Hoping you all stay safe!!! :please:

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v good advice - in this case, “shelter” is my lower level/basement so the primary mission for me is just trying to get all of my collection down there in the event of a tornado touch down or something - as BCR noted the weather in WV has been p crazy as of late so I just want to be prepared

maybe pertinent info for strategies - my current collection is 12 cremates - the biggest being my male scrub, female Afrock, male mainland Burm, + female mainaland Burm - all of which are somewhere between 5-6, maybe 6.5 feet or so - the rest (dwarf Burms, BCIs, etc) I think are probably 3-3.5 feet and i think my BP might be slightly smaller than that but around that maybe - basically trying to figure out the best way to quickly evacuate thems

in the near future this would also include 2 (male/female) Selayar dwarves that are currently around 5 feet as well

Fortunately yesterday we got heavy wind and rain but nothing too bad. A funnel cloud did form over the city seven miles to our north, and my sister in law who lives a bit north and east got hail. The power and internet stayed on, which is unusual as I often lose both on a sunny 75*F days with no wind, go figure.

When you have exotic critters like we do, having a safe LZ in case we need to get out is a priority. As was pointed out, a shelter will not take them in. Also consider that once you're out of a disaster area, the authorities may not let you back into it, so the critters all have to fit into the vehicle(s) you're taking out.

@ YR- Your original question was misleading. "Into shelter" suggests you need to leave home- not just go downstairs, as did the title "Emergency evacuation plans". ;)

In any case, tornadoes do not give you time to pack a bunch of snakes elsewhere- especially large or otherwise challenging ones. Keeping a snake-bag next to each enclosure might help, but still, moving them all is not realistic unless you do so in advance under a storm "watch"- When "watches" become "warnings" the danger is imminent, but many "watches" don't ever become "warnings" so you're going to get a LOT of exercise. :rolleyes:

And basements are great unless we're talking about a flood. There's more than one kind of emergency.

@ bcr229- Glad you're all okay there, & being well-prepared sure helps. :snake:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

@ YR- Your original question was misleading. "Into shelter" suggests you need to leave home- not just go downstairs, as did the title "Emergency evacuation plans". ;)

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oh no i tots got that after ye started commenting and stuffs so i wanted to clarify - originally I thought it would be good to be as broad and open as possible following the line of thinking “someone’s wildfire protocols could work for my tornado protocols” but then later thought perhaps i should be more specific and let people know what i’m specifically work with

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In any case, tornadoes do not give you time to pack a bunch of snakes elsewhere- especially large or otherwise challenging ones. Keeping a snake-bag next to each enclosure might help, but still, moving them all is not realistic unless you do so in advance under a storm "watch"- When "watches" become "warnings" the danger is imminent, but many "watches" don't ever become "warnings" so you're going to get a LOT of exercise. :rolleyes:

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i really like the bag suggestion and i do plan to run drills to test various ways of doing it - i think i have a technique that could work on all of them but my scrubs who, while being easy to get out of their enclosure are v difficult back into their enclosures - yesterday i received an advanced national weather service advisory for tornadoes so i tried my best to get everyone in the basement as quick as i could to wait out the advisory and i felt v bad that it took awhile cuz i carried the small enclosures down and then put the big ones in giant totes i have in the closet of their room for travel - so i thought maybe i could learn exercises for greater success

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And basements are great unless we're talking about a flood. There's more than one kind of emergency.

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the primary concerns for me personally would mainly just be the recent “favorable conditions” for tornadoes - i live in the centre of one of the major cities here and it would fortunately take quite a lot to get to me if it flooded and we’d be on the second floor by default - even more remote would be wildfires and hurricanes would be impossible i think - so basically planning for things like tornadoes or also, chemical plant related accidents

^speaking of which - if i bagged my collection up in a hurry does anyone know or reckon if i could modify a tote to be able to keep them safe in the event of a chemical plant accident affecting air quality? this happened before and had a profound negative impact on my arachnid collection at the time so would be cool to brainstorm this also

You could pre-pack your snakes when there is a severe weather warning- it's very time consuming, & that's something that worried me when I lived elsewhere, under threat of wildfires, as that's another thing that doesn't give you much time to pack. You're wise to at least try to plan ahead. Chemical-air quality issues- not sure what you could do for that, as everything has to breathe, & the last time I checked, none of my snakes would keep their little masks on...;)

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Originally Posted by YungRasputin

if i bagged my collection up in a hurry does anyone know or reckon if i could modify a tote to be able to keep them safe in the event of a chemical plant accident affecting air quality? this happened before and had a profound negative impact on my arachnid collection at the time so would be cool to brainstorm this also

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Replacement HEPA filter for a small tabletop unit + battery-powered camping fan. Use rubber bands to hold the filter on the fan.

It's not perfect but it's better than nothing.

I was thinking about this last night. It's looking like a bad season for fire. I could see smoke from my backyard from a brush fire that destroyed a building. I have a smaller bin cage i could bug out my snake with but I don't know what to do if i'm not home. I didn't even know there was a fire until someone pinged my work chat. The fire notifications here are very poor and I know how fast fire can move. I can't imagine not being able to save my dogs.

With the size of your snakes, and assuming you are talking about sheltering in your basement due to a tornado warning as opposed to evacuating, this is what I'd do:

When the holidays come, get yourself one Christmas tree storage tub for each snake. Put the tubs in the basement; drill air holes in them, add a hide (this can just be a cardboard box) and a water bowl, throw down a few layers of paper towel or some puppy pads as substrate, and put a gallon jug of water in each tub along with a pack or two of the 72-hour 'UniHeat' shipping packs that are used for shipping plants, chicks, reptiles, etc. You can get them on Amazon. I'd throw a towel in, too - I like to put a towel over the heat packs. This relatively minimal prep should be all you need and once you have each tub set up and packed, that's it until needed.

If sheltering in your basement I wouldn't even bother with snake bags. Just haul the snakes down there and get them into the tubs. OR you can use the method I'd use during a critical evacuation (meaning the kind where you don't get 30 minutes advance notice; you just run) and get a bag big enough to hold multiple of your snakes and stuff as many into that as you can. They'll be fine for the run down to the basement.

I live in wildfire country and keep smaller tubs outfitted like this in the trunk of my car. If needed, I'd throw as many snakes as I could into one big bag (if it's a critical evacuation there is no time to screw around with separate bags), get the heck out, and sort out separate tubs later.

In my region there are some big reptile shops and veterinary practices that will board reptiles for free if people are evacuated due to fires or floods. It might not hurt to check around your region to see if that is a possibility; otherwise you'll be looking for a campground or hotel as temporary evacuation shelters typically do not take pets.