Power Out! Rats might Defrost!

[55fingers]

I apologise if this is in the wrong section, please feel free to move it.

The power in my house (and the houses around us) just went out! My rats are in the freezer and I'm not opening it at all (to keep the cold in), but I don't know when the power will turn on, and the cold in the freezer will only last so long.

Any suggestions on how I can keep my rats from defrosting?

[jmcrook]

Just don’t open the freezer is your best bet and hope the power comes back on soon. Could go grab a bag of ice and move the rats to a cooler if you think the power will be out for some time


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[Bogertophis]

Ugh! Hoping your power isn't out too long, especially if you need the A/C on too. Your unopened freezer should be good for maybe a day or so, as I recall,
but depending also on how hot your house gets also. Sending good electric vibes your way...

Some power companies (like mine) have a number to call & report outages, & they also tell you if they have a known cause or an expected length of the outage.

One more thought that won't help you right now but something to think about: the fuller you keep your freezer, the longer it will stay frozen if the power goes out. Summer outages are typically much shorter than winter outages (because in winter, ice storms can topple trees so the roads need cleared before they can even fix the downed power lines). The more air is in your freezer (the less frozen food is taking up the space) the greater the risk of thawing. Even if you don't want to fill your freezer with food, keeping plastic jugs of ice water or bags of ice (etc) will help protect your food in an outage.

[EL-Ziggy]

Hope your power comes back on soon!

[bcr229]

One more thought that won't help you right now but something to think about: the fuller you keep your freezer, the longer it will stay frozen if the power goes out.

This is a good point. After losing power for four days in July a few years back where temps topped 100*F each day I learned to keep my freezer FULL by putting bottles of water in it to take up unused space. That also helps the freezer run more efficiently and save energy.

Fortunately I do have a generator but it can't handle both the chest freezer and the kitchen refrigerator/freezer at the same time, so I ran them in alternating six-hour cycles.

[Sonny1318]

Wish you the best of luck! And definitely keep it closed. Hope your power comes back on soon.

[55fingers]

Thanks for all the support! Thankfully it just came back on. I think all the rats are okay ^^