Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know some of yall have had hurricanes recently. Houston hasent had a hurricane in 25 years I havent been through this before. What precautions did yall take?

Pack up and get the hell out if you think its a direct hit.I'm thinking tortoise keepers might want to get together and plan something about this after this year.If we could find a place out of the H zone we could take our tortoises for temp.set ups on some farm land or park with water/shade etc.Anyone want to kick this around.One thing i'm doing is starting to collect those big dog crates.The rubber/hard plastic type.This way each tortoise has its own crate.They go crazy when bunched together in stock tanks and their to big to transport.This way several cars or trucks could be used instead of a big truck.You might be able to get someone to take one or two vrs.large groups kept together.We got to start thinking about how long it would take to rebuild not just the day or two of the strike.Please chime in and kick it around your Herp clubs.Lets see what we can come up with.This could be usefull to the folks out in calif.with the fires also.Vic

hahaha! yeah i will bring it up at the next eths meeting! i am in north houston so i dont think i will evacuate. I brought all the little guys inside. There is a large sturdy (i think) shed that i house them in during the winter. i will put every body over 20 lbs in when the wind picks up. Im just not crazy about putting a 50lb aldabra and a couple 25lb burm. browns in with three 125 lb sulcatas that have a tendancy to act like a bunch of drunk rednecks! It should be dark by then though so their light switches should be turned off for the night. I can see it now the browns and aldabra have black eyes tomorrow and the sulcatas have a hangover!! It would be nice to have some kind of container to seporate them with!!

The tortoise with the bigest gulars wins.I hope that works out for you.Mine will fight when kept with torts.that are not normally with them.I had to do it a few weeks ago with Fay.I flooded big time.I had one with a real bad bite to the neck.Its the grab,then they both recoil!Ive got one now with a hole in its neck and a peeled lower jaw.Thats another good reason to keep them single.But sometimes you got to act fast.Your out building sounds like just what you need now.Being dark calms mine down.I have also noticed that when kept in large cattle tanks when they get resless and start climbing the sides,I put a large unfolded news paper over them and lightly mist it,they calm down and go to sleep.Something about feeling the paper clinging to their carapace is calming,like their under some wet leaves.I hope everything works out for you.I know Dr.Flanagin a Vet at the zoo there.He's got some big mt.torts.too.I hope hes ok along with the rest of you keepers and folks near the Gulf.Hang on. Vic

ouch!! poor guy! hope nothing that extreame happens here. I did the newspaper trick and it seems to be working like a charm. Great idea! Well the power is on the blink now all that is left to do is hunker down and light off some fireworks!!! Hope everybody else comes out alright!!!

How did they do? and yourself.

Yeah, how did everyone fare? I am worried now that we havent heard anything. Hoping all is well and power is just out.

Carole
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www.reptilecare.com

yeah the power was just turned on a little bit ago.... ac is nice! We did have a cool front come in and give us some nice weather which helps out with the clean up. lots of branches, fences and roof damage in areas. most businesses are starting to reopen. The more northern areas conroe, navisota, and montgomery are facing a major power outage lasting ive heard 4 weeks there substation is under water and that part of the grid has to be reworked. so if you have a well you cannot get water in thoes areas. as for the torts i had a tree fall on the sturdy ol shed and it held up no problem thank goodness! lol but no losses or damage to anybody. my fence in the back came down and i made a makeshift fence for the time being but some neigbors saw what i was doing as i was placing some of them in the pen revealing the best kept secret in h-town. come night fall i was getting real nervous as word travles fast when there is no power and nothing to do (and a lot of young teens around) so i packed up everybody and took them to san marcos to stay with family until i can build the super fence of doom complete with butt torture device if you try to jump it hahaha!!! THANKS for the concern it seems as though everything on this part of town is turning back to business as usual.

That's great news! I think many of the forum regulars were a bit worried about you guys out there. Most folks don't have to worry so much about hurricanes, thank goodness. I've grown up my entire life in Florida, Miami as a kid and Jacksonville for the past 38 years. We have had trees fall on our houses before but until one actually compromises the roof and water is pouring in it doesn't really get your attention. Two years ago that happened at our place due to Hurricane Francis. Lucky I have a small enough collection of tortoises and can bring them all in during a hurricane. Many of friends have much larger Tortoises and property more prone to flooding. I'm glad your electric is finally on and my prayers are with all those folks in the Galviston area who have lost most everything. Glad you made out with no huge losses and sounds like your manageing well---I wish you a quick return to normal living again---Richard
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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

Hi, good to hear from you. Sorry to hear about your super fence! I hope all is back to relative normalcy soon!

Carole
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www.reptilecare.com

Glad everyone made it thru.Looked pretty bad on TV (I'm from Boston).I can't imagine the number of animals that must be missing down there.I saw a lot of adds on craigslist for missing dogs/cats.Probally quite a few turtles/tortoises missing as well.

yeah ive been looking at pics of galveston and that place is a wreak!! Nobody is allowed to even go in and see there houses still. ive been going there on weekend getaways all my life and the island will never be the same there are places that are just no longer there! just swept into the sea. i feel for the residence of galveston and there loses.