Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My state was hit by the biggest ice storm we've ever seen. It left some 1/2 million people with no electricity. We were dark and cold for 6 days. The power came back on today. There are still some 150,000 people with no power... Our emergency fund was POOF GONE in less than a week and was not enough to take care of everything we needed, and now we have no $ to replace the things we lost- like food or the frozen rodents. We are very fortunate to not have any damage to our house- and dont have to file a claim on our insurance or come up with another 1k for the deductable.

We spent every penny we had to rent a generator (for 85$ a day) and about 60$ a day in gas to run the thing. this barely kept our reptile room at 60 degrees, it dipped down lower than that at night. We had every heat light, lamp, emmitter, heat pad, flexwatt, cable, everything on. We also had 2 small space heaters running. We crated all our foster dogs in the garage for body heat. We also hung blankets and plastic and everything else around the cages. we sat upstairs in front of one space heater and 2 of our other dogs for 6 days. The reptile room and the living room where we slept were about the same temp and believe me! if i didn't have kids, we would have all been piled in the reptile room just to keep them warmer.... its just been butt freezing cold for too long.

When the power was restored today, about 4 pm... it was a bone chilling 58 degrees in our reptile room. We lost one animal, a 17 year old iguana with MBD and various other issues, we got him in about 2 weeks ago... and I failed at my job and my responsability. We have been in the room for several hours now looking everyone over, making sure everyone warms up nicely. This is a room that is kept at a steady, perfect 84 degrees all year round.... until there is no electricity.

The point of this was to say- if you think you are prepared- you AREN'T!! We will be purchasing not one, but 2 generators with our tax return. as well as at least 2 more decent size heaters.

I know there are many people out there that think they are prepared because they have an emergency fund of 1,000 or maybe 2,000.... Our emergency fund was 1,500$.... we have spent far more than that this week. We had no food to cook, we didn't have batteries, things like that...

I have lost an animal because I was not properly prepared and i have by far learned my lesson. I have always been that person that says "it'll never happen to me" ... it did and it sucks...

If you have an emergency fund- double it... you WILL spend it!! you need at LEAST 1,000$ more than your insurance deductable.

Let my lesson learned- be your lesson without actually experiencing it!!
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

sorry to hear about your loss. I can agree that emergency funds are never enough. when hurricane charley came roaring through (we live in port charlotte where it made landfall) we were totally unprepaired and if it wasn't for our great neighbors I'm not sure we'd still be here in florida. To keep 2 generators running, we went through $1300 in just gas for 2 weeks (had to have elec for the incubator 24/7. The only good thing is that it was warm here so we didn't have to keep the snakes warm, just open the window.

I hope everything comes out ok with you guys and all the rest of those effected are in our prayers.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

We are in Pryor,OK. We went without electric all week also. It has been very stressful. Sorry you lost an animal. We were lucky enough not to have lost any. All of the snakes had to be put in tubs and taken with us to my mom's house. Just as we were pulling in at her house, her electric went out. We stayed a night there with a small generator to barely keep it warm enough. The snakes got to be closest to the heat. The next day we went to my stepfather's rent house. The electric there was out but came back on Teusday. So, we made out ok. Snakes were cramped for the week, but safe and warm.
Keep up the good work. I hope to be able to start taking in some rescues once I get moved and have a bulding strictly for reptiles.

Those ice storms are a nightmare. I lost the chance to potentially hatch out captive bred calabaria many years ago to a 10 day blackout here. I just couldn't keep the room warm enough and I am certain it a contributing factor, if not the only reason for the failed eggs. I will never let that happen again. Although you did remind me that I need a couple of more cans of fuel here for the generator. Sorry to hear about your loss, and I hope the recovery for you guys out there is swift and uneventful.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200325030_200325030

You got me to thinking because we live in an area where incliment weather could cause a power outage also. I was looking at prices and this is a whole house generator that is teh same price as two generators. Hope this helps, and I am going to look into one also.
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

My snakes aren't fat, they're big boned.

Yes I am waiting to see what that same storm brings us here in Ohio its 8:23 am eastern time right now and supposed to start anytime. I am going out in a minute to get some more fuel for the generators and some canned goods. 2 years ago when the ice storm hit us we were without electricity for 4 days and some were without for 2 weeks. We brought the snakes down in front of the fireplace and used one generator (thats all we had at that time) to keep the snakes warm but were are a bit more prepared this year. But we have lost our power every year for the past 5 years at least one day betweeen Thanksgiving and Christmas so Im pretty sure what to expect. Hope your animals are ok.
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com