Reptile & Amphibian Forums

if you dont have a back up gen, what do you use to heat?

Other than heating with NG or propane with a system that does not require electicity, there will be no heat.

Get a generator.

Dave

One of these would keep your incubator or a few racks running for several hours.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFRxmhp_1cs
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Louis Kirkland
Cornerstone Reptiles

Oh, I went through an ordeal with mo heat/AC. I had to use popsicles taped to the sides of the racks, desparrately trying to keep them cool. I have also done the same with heat packs on a couple tanks in a quarrentine room. Terrible! Definitely get a generator! Well worth it!

Kidding!

When there was no power in a lot of San Diego County after the recent fires, what I found worked, at least for a couple days, was the heat packs used for shipping. Just told people to essentially bundle the snakes up like they would ship them, and put in a heat pack. I keep one heat pack on hand for each snake now just in case. People said it worked great for the day or two it took while being back home but without power.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

Ok, I've not yet had snakes, but I did have a tank of angel fish and it was the middle of a Canadian winter with no power. This tank also sat on the floor. They were in quarentine(sp?). So what I did was wrap towels around the tank and on top and shut off the filter.
I'm sure this wouldn't work so well with snakes as air isn't as insulating. But I thought I'd put my two cents in. Maybe someone would think of something from that.

There have been a lot of good suggestions shared over the years about how to heat when the power goes out. If you are in an area where frequent or prolong outages are the norm - then a generator would be your best bet. However we have seen some short term alternatives shared - like moving the snakes in by the fireplace, or filling bottles of hot water and placing that inside the cage.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

I have gas heat. I pull them all into the kitchen where the heater is and crank that bad boy.

Luckily it hasn't happened yet, but I am in Ct...home of snow...so...
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

For short term I have put them in bags and sat in the car. For longer term I have put them in bags on my waterbed that has a temp of 87. That held good heat for days. I also have a few 30 hour shipping warmers around, as a last "just in case" thing. But, we don't often lose power.
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1.0 100% het albino ball python (Junah)
0.1 normal Ball python (Alana)
01 50% het albino Retail Boa (Hitomi)