How do I make moving less stressful for my BP?

[Caali]

Hello,

so basically I'll be moving to a new house in May of this year. The one I am living in now is quite old and needs to renovated and so our landlord offered us to move into the house next door which is being renovated at the moment.
So I won't be moving far but I'm not sure how to do this with my BP. I know it will stress him out for sure but I would like to know how I could keep the stress level to a minimum.
I have a styrofoam box which is perfect for his size and I've been wondering if it was a good idea to put some holes on the lid and to keep him there for the time of the move. It will take about three hours until he can go back into his enclosure. Where I live temperatures in May tend to be around 64 and 77 degrees.
Do you think it is a good idea or does anyone have a better one?
Thanks in advance!

[MCKINLEYW]

If you could set up a small enclosure and maybe get an inexpensive 12v dc to ac converter and hook up a lil temporary setup with thermostat and a heat mat under a tub. Thats my 2 cents. I have been looking at how i would do a state to state move with mine. What kind of enclosure do u house ur BP in now and is it going to be the same thing at the new place? I think using ur vehicles electricity would capable of keeping a tub to house the BP in until his enclosure can get back up to temp. Hope that helps.

[Bogertophis]

Hello,

so basically I'll be moving to a new house in May of this year. The one I am living in now is quite old and needs to renovated and so our landlord offered us to move into the house next door which is being renovated at the moment.
So I won't be moving far but I'm not sure how to do this with my BP. I know it will stress him out for sure but I would like to know how I could keep the stress level to a minimum.
I have a styrofoam box which is perfect for his size and I've been wondering if it was a good idea to put some holes on the lid and to keep him there for the time of the move. It will take about three hours until he can go back into his enclosure. Where I live temperatures in May tend to be around 64 and 77 degrees.
Do you think it is a good idea or does anyone have a better one?
Thanks in advance!

Nice that you're thinking about your pet this way. Just going next door, I wouldn't go to the trouble of setting up a fancy temporary cage as suggested in other post.
I think your idea of using a styro-foam box is just fine, as long as you add some heat, & fortunately, there's an easy & low-tech way to do it. You have enough chaos with
moving. I've moved halfway across the country with a lot of snakes & a dog in my small car, staying in "dog friendly" hotels at night & not telling what they assumed
was food in my ice chest taken into the room at night, & my snakes couldn't have been calmer. I took them out briefly each night for a drink of water & cuddling.

Use a cloth "snake bag" or pillow case (not your best, in case your snake goes potty) & secure the snake inside by first using a strong twist-tie wire, then doubling that
part over and wrapping it tightly with a strong rubber band. (find those things ahead of time- not during the move...)

Then (depending on how big the box is) fill one or more plastic bottles with warm tap water & tuck them inside along with the snake. The box will remain nice & warm.
Testing this out well ahead of the move will give you peace of mind.

[Jellybeans]

Don't move...LOL

[Caali]

Nice that you're thinking about your pet this way. Just going next door, I wouldn't go to the trouble of setting up a fancy temporary cage as suggested in other post.
I think your idea of using a styro-foam box is just fine, as long as you add some heat, & fortunately, there's an easy & low-tech way to do it. You have enough chaos with
moving. I've moved halfway across the country with a lot of snakes & a dog in my small car, staying in "dog friendly" hotels at night & not telling what they assumed
was food in my ice chest taken into the room at night, & my snakes couldn't have been calmer. I took them out briefly each night for a drink of water & cuddling.

Use a cloth "snake bag" or pillow case (not your best, in case your snake goes potty) & secure the snake inside by first using a strong twist-tie wire, then doubling that
part over and wrapping it tightly with a strong rubber band. (find those things ahead of time- not during the move...)

Then (depending on how big the box is) fill one or more plastic bottles with warm tap water & tuck them inside along with the snake. The box will remain nice & warm.
Testing this out well ahead of the move will give you peace of mind.

Thanks a lot. It sounds like a good idea to me. I will do a test run in the next few days (without the snake) just to see what kind of bottles I would need and how I would have to organise it.
It will be good to know so that I don't have to worry it on the actual day of the move.

[Bogertophis]

If the house is really cold (you'll probably have doors open while going in & out) you might want to use hot water in the bottles. Being in the bag will protect your
snake from contacting them, just make sure they don't leak. You can also put a little towel around them.

I've actually had to do this for a long power outage (from an ice storm), for days. Hot water in large jars in large ice chests with 2 or 3 bagged snakes in each actually
kept them warm -a balmy 80-82*- for 8 or 9 hours, when I changed the water again. All my snakes were fine from that "adventure" too. Most of mine are colubrids,
but I also had a large boa then & still have a small python.

[Caali]

If you could set up a small enclosure and maybe get an inexpensive 12v dc to ac converter and hook up a lil temporary setup with thermostat and a heat mat under a tub. Thats my 2 cents. I have been looking at how i would do a state to state move with mine. What kind of enclosure do u house ur BP in now and is it going to be the same thing at the new place? I think using ur vehicles electricity would capable of keeping a tub to house the BP in until his enclosure can get back up to temp. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the advice.
I will keep the same enclosure.
It's a big enclosure (59 inches in length, 25 inches in width, 32 inches in height) and it weighs about 80kg (176 pounds) in total. The enclosure is on the first floor and our staircase is very narrow so there is just no way to keep him in there. We have to disassemble the enclosure before moving.
I'll think about setting up an alternative enclosure if the other idea doesn't work out. Thanks a lot for the tip.