Egg Incubation

[frankykeno]

Okay folks, thinking ahead to next winter and the possibility of us having incubating eggs during a cold Michigan winter I've been googling for generators. Well after I picked my butt off the floor (holy wow those things can be pricey) I need some advice.

What do you smaller breeders do if you live in colder climates, have eggs incubating and the power goes off? We are moving off the lake and back into town this spring to try and avoid the power outtages that seem to hit more on the lake during winter storms but I still am concerned about this.

Are there generators that aren't thousands of dollars out there? I think I remember a thread about this and something called an "inverter" but I'm so darn clueless technically I don't really understand how that works.



~~Jo~~

[daniel1983]

Here is the ol' power outage thread: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...t=power+outage

It has pretty good ideas. I use inverters....but that is only good for a day....if you are going to be without power for any longer, I would definately invest in a generator.

[frankykeno]

Oh thank you Daniel! We aren't generally out of power for more than 2 or 3 hours out here on the lake and it doesn't happen all that often but I'm not going to stake the health of bp eggs on it!


~~Jo~~

[Jeanne]

When I went lookin for a generator for the house, I looked in the local newspaper, usually there is someone selling a few, and it is alot cheaper than new ones. Also, generators need to be hard wired into your household wiring, so you would need an electrician to have it done right.

[mlededee]

well jo if it's only for a few hours you could just get cozy and snuggle up with those eggs under a nice thick blanket till the power comes back on.

[daniel1983]

Oh thank you Daniel! We aren't generally out of power for more than 2 or 3 hours out here on the lake and it doesn't happen all that often but I'm not going to stake the health of bp eggs on it!

I used the power inverters and extension cords for Hurricane Rita....we lost power for around 6-7 hours....and my gas gauge got a little below empty. Everything was fine. If you get a power inverter, you may want to make sure that it can handle what you want to plug into it. Cause with no power, the house temp will drop.....and running a space heater off of an inverter may be a problem....may not I bought an inverter that can handle the enclosure heating elements.....and maybe a little heater/fan.

[kavmon]

we use gas powered gens at work, a 3500-5000 watt one should run you around400-600 depending on brand and wattage. i've seen a few under 400, usually in the warmer months. those should be enough to run 3 maybe 4 small space heaters. you could just run extension cords from the gen into your house temporarily, we do it every day.


vaughn

[jglass38]

I wouldn't have known what to do without my power inverter! It kept the snakes all toasty warm during the 6+ days we were without power after the last hurricane.