Power Outtages

Alright, so my power went out for about 10 minutes today and got me wondering.
If you guys have a bad storm and the power goes out for some reason, what do you do? Especially if you have young snakes or incubating eggs.. how do you fix that?

I mean, it could be extremely dangerous to lower the temperature of the eggs for even a little while?
I know the snakes will be ok for a little while, but what if it lasts for hours and you live in a colder area?

I just want to know any back up plans if anyone has any.
This started to worry me a bit. D:
I think this is the right place for this..

I live in Florida so we are prepared for hurricanes, I have a generator if things got too bad....

For my snakes I have those pocket warmer things; they heat up instantly, sort of. I have 2 hour ones that heat up quickly and then I have 48 hour ones and also some 60 hour ones. Put them into sweat socks so the snakes don't burn themselves on the heat pack.

As for incubators, I've read on the forum that people use bottles of water in the bottom of their incubator that will help to hold the heat for awhile. Back up power helps (like a genny).

depending on how much power draw you have, you could prolly keep an incubator running for at least a little while on a bigger Computer UPS (Uninterpretable Power Supply). I think since I have access to older parts in that field, I will snag me one of the bigger ones the next time my company upgrades. Maybe a 2000w or something.

*jots down plans*

I keep some of those heat-pocket things on hand, the 60 hour ones. I also have a 1500v and a 850v computer UPS, if worse comes to worse.

I have 2 generators...One for the Rodents and want for the Reptiles...

I want to add a whole house generator that comes on as soon as the electric goes off. Not sure if I'm going to stay here long enough to benefit from it though...

My next house will definitely have a whole house generator.

I have a portable generator that I use for the incubator, and a kerosene heater that I can put in the snake room. I had a couple power outages while I had eggs this season and it worked quite well. I also have a gas range in the kitchen that can keep the house relatively warm in the winter. This helps because it reduces the amount of heat that I have to produce in the snake room.

Steve

i think best buy sells power backup units for computers, they look like a big plastic battery. that should work but I am not sure how long the charge would last.

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Originally Posted by Dragoon

i think best buy sells power backup units for computers, they look like a big plastic battery. that should work but I am not sure how long the charge would last.

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I looked into them about a year ago...and if I remember right even the really expensive ones could only run 1000 watts for about 20 minutes.

A backup generator would be the best way to go, but as someone mentioned on here, the lower end ones kick out really dirty power. Some thermostats will just give you an error. Either a better generator, or just running a room heater would be probably solve the problem.

JonV

Natural gas powered generator. My refrigerators, fish tanks, and incubator are all hooked up on it.

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

I looked into them about a year ago...and if I remember right even the really expensive ones could only run 1000 watts for about 20 minutes.

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An 850w Belkin UPS model will run for about an hour or so if not overloaded. That means running a full-load for about an hour. If you overload it, the power will be drained a little quicker and you might only get 30 minutes. However, by underloading it, like with just a single BP heating unit and lamp, I imagine the power will last a lot longer.

Thanks for starting this thread! Our power went out for a short while too. My first thought....."Oh my goodness I need to ask the snake site!!!" Of course, when you need something most :rolleyes:

I'm thinking about buying a cheaper generator.. so when I get my incubator set up for my corns I can be safer than sorry!

How do you manage to hook up your refrigerator, fishtank, and snakes too the generator? Isn't that a LOT of long wiring?
Why do things have to be so darn difficult in my house.. It's super old, and my snake room is my bedroom and closet. My closet will be my main room (it's walk-in and relatively large) and theres only one plug on the ceiling.. joy.
Not to mention there are 4 plugs in my room.. and 7-8 walls. D: Stupid old plaster.

Thanks everyone!

Okay, so this is a little silly, but I thought I'd throw in my experience.

I've only had to manage a power outtage once, for a couple of hours, and since I've just got the one snake, Badoo, the solution was relatively simple...

We have a product purchased from one of those "Slumber Parties" dealers, but I imagine you could find them on the internet at any adult novelties site. It's a vinyl heart about as big as a salad bowl, filled with some sort of liquid chemical and a little strange metal disc suspended in the fluid. It's all non-toxic stuff because of its, well, intended purpose, but here's how it works. You flex the little metal disc back and forth inside the heart, and it starts some sort of chemical reaction that converts the fluid inside to a hard sandy crystal. The chemical reaction generates heat -- the outside of the thing warms to about 100 degrees while the crystals are forming and the heat lasts about half an hour. Once it's all solidified, you just boil the heart for about ten minutes and it goes back to a liquid, you dry it off and store it until next time.

This thing came in really handy the one time I had a power outtage to deal with. I just started it warming up, wrapped it in a paper towel, and stuck it in the terrarium.

I guess this wouldn't work for a huge setup with dozens of snakes, obviously, but for those of us just keeping one or two snakes, this is my recommendation. They're marketing under the name "Hot Heart", paid about fifteen bucks for it. And hey, while the snake's not using it...

I have a bunch of heat packs which I can use (and have used in order to keep snakes warmer while doing a winter vet run). I've also used a glove filled with hot water to keep a gecko warm during a vet run.

Since the hot water is heated with the gas heater, I could always resort to that if I had to. I've considered getting a generator, but since I live in an apartment, I don't really have a good way of hooking stuff up to it.

As for the backup power supplies, they just don't last long enough for me to want to spend the cash on one.