Lost power-how long is safe before I have to move my snakes??

[Stormy]

We're in the middle of a snow storm and have been without power for almost 5 hours now. I immediately covered up the snake tanks with heavy blankets. My parent have power and live about 15-20 minutes away but it may be more dangerous trying to get there as its still snowing and blowing pretty good.

How long will our snakes be safe before we absolutely have to move them?

Thanks!

[Eric Alan]

Depends on how well your place and their enclosures hold their temperature. If it starts getting in the low 60s, then you need to be concerned. You don't want them to be that cold normally, of course, but short-term exposure to cold temps is much better than short-term exposure to hot temps.

[DVirginiana]

Can you get hot water in buckets or gallon jugs? Putting that under the blankets with the tanks keeps temps up a lot longer than just a blanket; I've had them last an entire night at 75-80 like that before.

Hopefully your power gets restored and you won't have to move them!

Edit: You'll want to keep a very close eye on it if you do that to make sure the areas next to the jugs don't get too hot.

[bcr229]

Can you get hot water in buckets or gallon jugs? Putting that under the blankets with the tanks keeps temps up a lot longer than just a blanket; I've had them last an entire night at 75-80 like that before.

I would recommend this, especially if you can heat the water outside, or in a well-ventilated garage, over a camping stove.

Once you're at the point where you have a rack of snakes IMO you really should get a generator, and that goes double if you have an incubator.

[Sauzo]

I was told by people here about Mr.Heater which looked really great for short power outages. When I lost power back in December for about 6 hours, I waited till the temps hit 70f, then loaded everyone into tubs and put them in my car with while cycling the heater on and off for about 4 hours. Was not fun since it was 3am to 7am. That was a long night but check out the Mr. Heaters. Cheaper than a generator. But like bcr229 said if you got racks or incubators, a generator for sure.

[pbyeerts]

I have some of the heat packets that you put in your shoes and gloves set aside for Ginger, in case we lose power

[Stormy]

Power ended up being off for 8 hours. When it came back on heat mats were at 70 degrees. Just checked on both of them; heat mats are back up to temp and the air temp is getting close. Looks like we'll be ok. Thanks for all the good ideas; this is the first time we've ever lost power for this long.