What do you do when the electric goes out?

[IndySnake]

I figured a thread like this could open up some interesting conversation and could possibly help people that were in my situation because the first thing that crossed my mind when this happened was “I need to get on Ball-Pythons.net” but had no way of doing so.

I had a situation a couple of weeks ago where our electric was out for a full day and I wasn’t worried about all of the food in the refrigerator we just bought spoiling, I was worried about my snakes staying warm. There was no where to go to get electricity because I don’t know anyone in my area because I recently relocated so I did the first thing I could think of and covered the tubs with blankets. It was warm outside but the apartment was much cooler and the blankets weren’t doing much so once the temp hit 75 degrees I started to get really worried so I took the snake tubs out to my car where the temp was a little above 80. The electric ended up coming back on and my snakes were fine but what would you do if your electric went out for an extended period of time and you had no where to take them? And worse, what if this happened in the winter?

[cordell]

Get yourself a generator. It dont have to be a HUGE one that automatically comes on when the power goes out either. 5000 watts is plenty, it will run a fridge, lights for you and animals, run heating pads but not your home heating or air conditioner, it will run fans to stay cool though, it will run power tools if repairs to house are needed. We live in a hurricane effected area, power is lost here quite a bit. We bought a generator during a hurricane that knocked out power for 8 days! 1 month after the power was restored another storm came and we lost power for 5 days. Oh yeah, about a month after that time ANOTHER storm came, this time the power was only out 3 days. I had a 3500 watt generator during all this, it was stolen last year around Christmas. My shed was broken into and close to $6000 worth of tools were stolen! My insurance gave me $4000, not a very fair trade Anyway I bought a new generator, a 5000 watt one from Lowes for around $450, added the extended plan for another $50. I am ready man I have had this thing for close to a year and we havent lost power once, LOL.

[IndySnake]

That is a really good idea and it's crazy to think of having to go without power that long, I sympathize with you but at least all was ok

My problem with having a generator would be living in an apartment though.

I'm wondering what people on these boards could come up with for a more "primitive" solution or for people that may find themselves in my situation where they don't have and can't get a generator?

[cordell]

I didnt realize you were in a apartment. I can see where they might get upset if you had a 5000 watt generator running on your balcony! Honda does make a super quiet model, its not 5000 watts but it might run what you would need. The thing is the more quiet the generator the more $ it will cost you! I found one made by Honda, 2000 watts for $1200, a bit more $ than I paid but it is super quiet, pretty sure you could run it during the day/evening. It says 1 gallon of fuel last 15 hours, WoW

The add is a bit tricky, notice it is showing a 3000 watt model, then you look at the smaller picture that has the specs and it is the 2000 watt model! Dirty...


http://estore.honda.com/pe/asp/landi...ductCatId=P2GG

[Jacob1023]

I had a nightmare of a situation this last winter. I'm originally from Fl, and am currently stationed up in MD, and was lucky enough to be here for the worst winter on record. In FL the only thing you have to worry about if the power goes out is your food going bad, but here you have to worry about heat. We got some horrible deep wet snow, just a couple weeks after getting our first BP. We live down a long private drive, so I parked towards the end of it, so I wouldn't have to shovel all of it to get out. Well, about 4 trees fell across our driveway, including one on my car, the power was out for 4 days, it was freezing cold, and we were unprepared. I stuck my BP in a laundry bag and tied it around my neck, and put it up under my sweaters and jacket. This kept him nice and toasty, and us very very close, good bonding. We stuck around until day 3, then got a friend to pick us up and take us to a hotel. The moral of this story that you probably stopped reading a long time ago is to always be prepared for the worst. Get a generator. Don't take electricity for granted.

[IndySnake]

Yeah it wouldn't go over so well with where I'm at now. lol. We do plan on getting into a house sometime within the next year and I definitely want to look into getting a generator at that point. It would be the best thing to have in situations like this.

[IndySnake]

I had a nightmare of a situation this last winter. I'm originally from Fl, and am currently stationed up in MD, and was lucky enough to be here for the worst winter on record. In FL the only thing you have to worry about if the power goes out is your food going bad, but here you have to worry about heat. We got some horrible deep wet snow, just a couple weeks after getting our first BP. We live down a long private drive, so I parked towards the end of it, so I wouldn't have to shovel all of it to get out. Well, about 4 trees fell across our driveway, including one on my car, the power was out for 4 days, it was freezing cold, and we were unprepared. I stuck my BP in a laundry bag and tied it around my neck, and put it up under my sweaters and jacket. This kept him nice and toasty, and us very very close, good bonding. We stuck around until day 3, then got a friend to pick us up and take us to a hotel. The moral of this story that you probably stopped reading a long time ago is to always be prepared for the worst. Get a generator. Don't take electricity for granted.

Wow, that would be horrible to go through that. You know, I was thinking the body heat route as well but my problem was, at the time, I had 2 balls and 1 corn (now I have added a Cal king since the outage as well) and that would have been hard to do. I would have really panicked if I had a full rack system.

[Bones]

I live in central Florida and like some of the others have mentioned, I have been through several hurricanes. I have went for up to 2 weeks without power. I live on an airport that caters to small aircraft. Because of that, our "power lines" are ran underground. So, we have a lot of problems with our power going out, even if it is a beautiful day and the skies are blue.

My father has had a generator ever since I can remember. We haven't had a significant power outage since I've had my snake, but I will take advantage of the generator when I need it. They are a great thing to have.

[Seru1]

Might try a gas space heater one of those small portable ones? Could do in a pinch.

[iCandiBallPythons]

I keep extra heat packs on hand like the ones used in shipping