Snake Emergency

For the first time in a long time Virginia has had a snow storm. And we all know that means power outages. We are currently moving in with my mother in law and so the majority of our animals still live at our apartment. Because of the snow, we fed all the animals earlier today and had a friend check on them tonight. Our apartment lost power and so we rushed over there. We have no idea when the apartment lost power but it was definitely below room temperature. Thankfully the snake racks retained a little heat, but the corns and the boa were all cold to the touch. We got as many pillow cases as we could and moved them over. Most of the balls are 2 to a bag, one having 3 of our males since they are smaller. The corns are in a bag and the boa is in a bag. We have 9 10-hour heat packs. We do have a space heater and intend on using it to heat the room up, but what should we do about them being in the pillow cases? We could possibly move them into some tubs, but the tubs have no ventilation holes and we have no way of making any. And we only have 3 tubs, maybe 4. We did bring over two enclosures for the corns, but the boa is still without an enclosure of her own.

So any advice?

Wow. If you have them in tubs just move your tubs...

Other then that maybe use boxes that you seal up some how and poke hols in it. I know it is a bad situation, I just don't really know what else to suggest as I have never had this problem.

Mike

We only have 4 tubs. They normally are in a rack system but because the back end of my jeep was damaged in an accident this past summer I can't open the back, therefore I can't move the racks. We are going to try and borrow a truck tomorrow if the roads are not too bad and move the racks over, but I'm not sure if we will have a truck available.

We found some more pillow cases so we are going to put everyone into their own individual pillow cases and then we are going to put everyone in tubs (open of course) and use a space heater to heat the room. I really don't think the heat packs are going to do us any good because they are only good for 10 hours. We will use them if we lose power here.

A bit to ease your mind:

Snakes that normally live with BP-range temps will be fine for sustained periods of temperatures of 60-70 degrees. It's not ideal, but think of all the people out there who house BPs for a year+ at a time with no heat. Truly long periods of time are certainly detrimental, but unless you hit the 50s and below before the power returns, I'd bet on all of your snakes having zero problems for a few days.

Colder temps than that... the solutions I can think of all involve moving your snakes to a friend's/family member's house with power or something much more expensive.

I forgot to say, good luck and keep us informed!!

So they will be ok at room temperature for a day or two? We can use a space heater to boost the room temp to 75 or more. Not sure that my mother in law would like that, but I'll pay her entire March electricity bill if need be.

We have put them all in their own pillow cases. We wanted to keep them separate from each other to minimize stress. My husband is setting up the heater. We put the snakes in a walk in closet and we are aiming the heater towards the closet.

We were really worried about the snakes getting RIs. I thought I saw somewhere that low temperatures can cause RIs (like when you cool sometimes in the breeding season). We just had to treat our rescue ball for an RI and it would be very expensive to treat all 12 of the snakes for RIs.

thats why i have a indoor coleman porpane heater. it lasts 5 hours per 16oz tank. and it gives off oxygen no fumes. cost about 60$ but well worth it. you can also get hot had packs fomr sportinggoods. and put them in pillowcases for added heat.
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colem...ategoryid=3000

Lower temps put your snakes at risk for an RI...but it's not an automatic sentence. Keep things as stress-free as possible and don't feed them and they'll all most likely be fine, as butter said. So long as the temps don't get frigid. If you can keep it in the 70's you'll be fine.

They were fed a few days ago. Will this be a problem?

it can be. jsut run to a store thats open and get the heat packs. and wrap them in a rag so no direct contact and they will have heat for about 12-24 hours

We have the 10 hour heat packs, but will having the heater blowing warm air towards them help any? I just went over and checked and its already a few degrees warmer in the closet than it is in the room. I'd say its about 70 degrees in the room, 72-73 in the closet right now. We didn't bring any thermometers with us.

the heat packs will be enough heat for over night. those can reach 120degrees. if you wrap them up and place through out the tubs youll be set.

I feel your pain, Jay. I'm just south of you in Hampton. So far we still have power, but last night I was at Wal-Mart very late picking up an extra case of heat packs and new pillow cases. We have a lot of snow and ice, but so far the power is still on. My plan for a power outage is to bag the boys and put all the bags in my emergency bug out tub. It's basiclly a 60 qt Rubbermade tub with vent holes drilled in it. I tape several heat packs to the inside of the lid, and run an Accurite probe down into the tub so I can monitor temps. I set this tub up last hurricane season in case I needed to pack up the BPs and bug out of town during a storm.

Don't forget, a couple of emergency candles can heat up a small room (closet size) to help keep the ambient temp up.

If we get the chance today, we are going to Walmart to pick up a few tubs and a bunch of heat packs. I threw in a heat pack with my male corn and he's wrapped around the sock right now. Him and my baby boa were the coldest ones so they got heat packs automatically. We were so scared for our boa. She was by far the coldest one and when we were at the apartment getting the snakes, I reached down into her tank to get her and she was so cold. At first I thought she was dead but she turned her head to look at me and I was like "Thank God!" She is now snuggled in a pillow case with a heat pack.

The closet has heated up nicely. I would say it is just under 80 in there. The snakes no longer feel cold to the touch.

Sounds like you're doing good. The extra tub/heat packs would still be a good idea as well. You can also make holes in the tubs with the tip of a knife or something else sharp. Just get a nail and start a hole if needed and work your way into a hole for them. I don't know if the accurite at Walmart has the probes but there is a few different ones there to choose from to get an accurate reading of temps. Good luck and keep us posted :gj:

Good deal. Keep us posted. If the traffic in the Richmond area is as screwed up as it is here, be careful trying to get out to Wal-Mart. Also, the temps are supposed to drop to below freezing this afternoon. I wouldn't be supprised if places like Wal-Mart and K-Mart start closing early today. Might want to try a local big box supermarket. They are normally the last to close, and some of them carry Rubbermade and Sterilite products.

The Walmart isn't too far. The roads are pretty bad though. The road near my house is right beside a main road (actually this road is a main road) and it hasn't been salted or plowed.

We are also making the trips today to get the rest of our animals. The snakes are doing great. We are going to be opening the pillow cases and checking on everyone soon. If my husband's friend is available to help us today, we are going to borrow him to help us move over the snake racks. If anything we can move one or two of them instead of all three and just use dividers in the tubs.

I have to say we were really unprepared for this kind of thing. We only have 2 animal carriers, so we are going to have quite the time moving 4 cats and 4 ferrets. We also have some mice and rats to move. Wish us luck. We are leaving now for the apartment. I wonder how cold it is over there.

when your at walmart ask them if they have any boxes. if you had to you can use them for cats. my walmart has the nice large heat packs

We just got back from our first trip. We were able to bring over 2 cats, the mice, all rats, and a bunch of animal food. We still have two cats and the four ferrets to go.

When we got to the apartment, we had lost two rats, a blue male and a cream hood female that had both been in QT. The mice were huddled together but obviously freezing to death. The male was almost dead when I got to him. I warmed him a little in my sweatshirt and then we quickly moved them to the heated car. Everyone else seems fine.

It has started to snow again, so we are heading out in the next 30 min to get the rest of the animals. I officially hate this snow.

Good luck, Jay B. It's starting to get colder here as well. I just decided to stay off the roads today!

That apartment was cold on the second trip. We got all of our animals here though. Oh! And I found a thermometer so I can keep track of the temperature in the closet where I have the snakes. The temperature is staying steady at about 78-79.

The mice are also perking up. Two of the females were up and about. The male who was almost dead is starting to move around a little. We are officially off the roads for the day.

All the snakes are doing well and are being kept around 78-80 at all times. We are going today to get the tanks for the boa and one of the corns. The racks can't be moved until we have a truck available. How long is too long without being in their racks?