Reptile Emergency Plan

[CaGirl5]

I'm not sure where to post this...

I was wondering if anyone had any emergency evacuation plans/ideas that involved their reptiles..

I'm from Santa Barbara, California and a couple years ago we had some really really bad fires and a lot of people were evacuated on short notice, including myself. Thankfully, back then I didn't have any reptiles.. but now I do. So I got to thinking the other day, "what am I going to do if I had to leave?". I really had no idea what I would have done. I definitely don't have anything to separately transport all my reptiles.

A lot of people here are putting together emergency kits with food and supplies in case of an emergency.. so I thought I would ask.. Is there anyone out there that has emergency plans for their pets? Extra carriers or containers? Emergency cage necessities that I should buy in case?
I'm basically trying to come up with some sort of plan so that in a case of an emergency, I can just grab everyone and go. I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to transport all the reptiles.

I currently have 2 snakes, 2 small tortoises, a beardie and a full grown iguana (without a tail).

Thanks for you input!

[txcoker]

I have some bags for each of my snakes just in cases we have to leave with containers for each. We had some fires last year and now a hurricane possibly coming our way. If we loose power we have a back up generator to run the house so we are good there.

[BHReptiles]

Well, I've never had to evacuate, but since I'm on the Texas coast, we occasionally get hurricanes so it's something to think about. For starters, all my snakes are in tubs (except for the ones in quarantine but they already have spots on my rack when they get out of quarantine) and these tubs all have lids in my closet. So if I were to evacuate, I would just grad all the lids for the tubs and put them on. That will serve as my transports. I also keep ALL my vet records/personal records/etc. in a container that I keep by my door in case of emergency. So should I need to evacuate, I would just need to grab that case on the way out. I also keep all of my reptile supplies on a box on a shelf near my rack so it's easy access and I can grab it on the go. I also keep a care sheet handy in case one of my family members must evacuate without me. This care sheet will tell them how to take care of my snakes when I'm not around. As for my mice, if I can grab a cooler and stock them in the cooler, I will. Worst case, I buy mice/rats wherever I am going. That's what I can think about now. I'll think of something else later, I imagine.

[CaGirl5]

Thank you so much! This is very helpful

[KMG]

Snakes can easily be placed in pillow cases and then placed in almost any box or container. I only have snakes so I would bag them and then place them in one tub, well the big blood will get it's own tub. Then I have power inverters to run a tstat for uth during the retreat. My bug out safe house is about an hour but being able to run tstats and uth would allow you to really go wherever needed. I know my different snakes require different hotspots but picking a nice middle number should keep them safe until I get out. I would bring stacked tubs(saves space) so I can separate them once safe. I personally would bring a small room heater so you don't have to get lamps or uth for each snake at you're safe spot and again try to find a happy median for them and only run one our two uth for those that require more heat.

Throwing your frozen feeders in a cooler would be good to if you have time and the space to store them where you are going.

[BFE Pets]

That there is reaponsible ownership! I lost 5 out of 11 bps in a house fire in 2009. It sucked so bad! Even if we had a plan in place we couldnt have got them out. Thank you for starting this thread. Hopefully others will make plans also.

[CaGirl5]

Thank you! I do have a safe house that is a little over two hours away. I like your idea. I think I'll buy a couple of extra tubs to keep up there, with water dishes and bunch of extra newspaper. Tubs will be good for the snakes, tortoises and the beardie, at least for a few days. Thank you very much!

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WOW! I am so sorry That is truly heartbreaking. I would hate to lose any of my reptiles in a fire, so i'm planning ahead. I wanna be extra prepared!

[Salamander Rising]

That there is reaponsible ownership! I lost 5 out of 11 bps in a house fire in 2009. It sucked so bad! Even if we had a plan in place we couldnt have got them out. Thank you for starting this thread. Hopefully others will make plans also.

[Argentra]

Up here, the main threat is flooding...which is why we live on the second floor. Other than that, power outages from heavy winds or one of the volcanoes deciding to wake up are the other emergency causers. But we do have a loose plan for sudden trouble.

All my animals - snakes, lizard, and bunny - have transport containers right under their cages. The snakes go into pillow cases quick in case of fast evac., and into their transport tubs otherwise. Lizard and bunny each have kennels.
Depending on time allowed, we have tubs to stuff supplies into and a soft sided cooler for FT rats.

Getting everyone safely out of the building has a plan and shouldn't be too hard... but full evacuation, then we're SOL as we have no transportation and don't really know anyone up here that could pick us up in a hurry. With enough warning, sure, but sudden no way.

Our real concern is gathering emergency supplies in case of power outages, flood, or getting iced in. And we'll work more on that once we have incomes again.

[satomi325]

Like everyone else said, pillow cases and extra tubs make excellent carriers. If you're in a rush, I wouldn't even bother with extra cases. Just stuff all your BPs into the same sack. Maybe prepare a kit that has food for all your other animals that you can grab on the way out. If you can't pack rodents for your snakes, I wouldn't worry too much about it. They can last a few weeks without food in case of an emergency.
I would also stock up reptile shipping heat packs too just in case you loose electricity.