California Keepers! Earthquake/Fire Safety plans?

[Capt.Britain]

So, I was talking with my mother the other day about attaching furniture to the wall for earthquake safety, a pretty standard thing in California.
As I am planning on expanding my collection and hopefully breeding as a hobbyist once I move back to California after school, a thought occurred to me.

Do any of you California keepers secure your racks to the walls to prevent them from falling over during an earthquake? (The ones that aren't just annoying little shakes) I feel like a rack falling over could cause some serious injuries to snakes in the racks, as well as opportunities for all those snakes to get loose.

And on that subject, for those in fire-danger areas, do any of you have evacuation plans for your snakes in case you get an evacuation order? Where you'll go for heat, stacks of pillowcases nearby to load 'em all up, etc?
Just a thought.

[southbay54]

I would always put my racks on the floor when living in cali and I had to evacuate once for tsunami warning

[satomi325]

I personally don't have very tall racks. And the racks I do have, are pretty well balanced/lower center of gravity where it wouldn't fall any ways during a large quake.
But if you really wanted to, it wouldn't hurt to tether them to a wall bracket like furniture. Or at least maybe instal a pin lock(like RBI's racks) where the tubs won't slide out without moving the pin. This will keep snakes in their respected enclosures.

We haven't had a large quake in 24 years. Everything else in between have been pretty tiny and insignificant.

I don't live in a high fire zone, but it's always nice to have an evac plan regardless.
In my emergency kit, I have:
- shipping heat packs
- roll of flexwatt
- spare thermostat
- pillowcases and small totes for snakes (pillowcases for the big stuff and totes for the smaller guys to prevent them from getting smashed)
- insulated cooler (which is the emergency kit itself) to keep snakes in a stable temperature in a pinch.
- old rags
- paper towel
- water bottles

[Expensive hobby]

^ and a power inverter in case the power goes out! Gotta run that flex somehow if no wall outlet is working. That or a generator.


I like my Dubstep to go Wop Wop Wop Wop

[Capt.Britain]

Thanks everyone! I have always planned to invest in a couple of those 100 hour generators from Home Depot, which we have in our earthquake kit at home.
I hadn't thought about an extra thermostat though, or getting a cooler-incubator style deal for heat. Very smart! I'll have to look into all that.

I don't live in a fire-hazard zone as of right now, but eventually I'd like to get more out into the hills of East Bay, which is more of a hazard than where I am now...which is essentially in between two fault lines and close to a third. Lol. So I think I will definitely be attaching racks to walls and putting those pin locks on, just in case. The fact there hasn't been a big one in 24 years is what scares me. We're way overdue.

[sorraia]

My rack isn't secured to the wall, but if it fell over in an earthquake my whole house would be gone. I have a couple aquariums, and they are secured to the walls.

I do have an evacuation plan too. I've actually been evacuated before due to wild fire. I didn't have all the critters I have now, but on my own I loaded up three cats, a dog, and a few dozen rats, their food, and a few personal possessions and left in less than a half hour. It'll will take longer than that now, but I have quite a few more critters, but also hubby is around now (he was deployed when I was evacuated) which will help. I want to go through the motions just to practice, but we haven't gotten to do that yet.

[southbay54]

One in SD three years ago was pretty big lol over 100 million dollars of damage

[Saber402]

I have eight Vision cages stacked four high. To prevent them from sliding during an earthquake I placed industrial strength stick-on Velcro between the cages. They are now locked securely together. While I don't think they would tip over as a group unless we had a large earthquake, I will be fastening them to the wall just in case.

Worthwhile thread. It should encourage all of us in earthquake prone areas to take precautions to protect our animals.