Advice on cold weather move?

[jason_ladouceur]

We have just found out that due to a fire code violation in our building we are going to be forced to move in February. The coldest month of the year. Here in Toronto it is not uncommon for the temperature to drop to -30 or worse here in Toronto. I have by design have never moved in the winter time but this time I will have no choice and was hoping someone out there may have experience that they could share with me on the matter. I was thinking about pillow cases in a Styrofoam cooler with some sort of heat source. Hot water bottle?, heat packs maybe. Any input would be greatly appreciated. This is just one more thing to stress about on top of having to pack and apartment hunt over Christmas.

[Jeo123]

I've never had to do anything like this myself, but I've heard numerous people say those heat packs can work great. Just make sure that you don't heat it too much. Leaving a snake in an insulated container with now way to move away from a 100+ heat pack will not be good.

[kristan]

My fiance and I moved in Feb last year in 10-15 degree weather. I was able to put my green trees in small gladware containers piled in a Styrofoam container. I had some large bloods that I put in bins with some heat packs. I wrapped each bin in a blanket before taking it to the car. I had no issues, even with one of my animals being in shed.

[kitedemon]

Been there last year I helped move a friend out in -26ºC and again this fall we helped move a breeder out it wasn't super cold but about 10ºC I think. All in all no RI or any other problems (accept finding enough snake bags for the breeder... 160 snakes is quite a move!) I assume you have a car or something?

What we did is quite simple, We packed all the snakes in snake bags and into a cooler that had been warmed up (over turned over a forced air vent) A warm towel was placed inside on the bottom and then the snakes and finally a towel over the top. We had already made a run or two and the car was warm but had someone in it keeping it running so it was warm inside. Once the rack was loaded and the car ready to go we closed the cooler (actually the towel over the top and then closed the cooler) and walked it outside closed tightly and to the car (about 5 min away was the best we could do) The cooler was placed in the back seat of the warm car and off we went. After about 5 min or so the outside of the cooler was warmer and then we opened the top and pulled off the blanket. The thermometer read 84º and it started at 86º so no problem. The car was about 79º inside but the cooler didn't drop much more than 83º over the 45 min trip before anyone got out we just sealed it up again, and walked it in.

The rack however arrived off the back of the truck fridged and even with the heat turned one and everything plugged in it took hours to warm up fully so the snakes spent the night (well what was left of it anyway) in the cooler and snake bags with the lid opened we just cranked the room temp up to 83º The other move was much the same only we used just a unholed tubs for the transfer.

Hope this helps!