Reptile & Amphibian Forums

we had quite a storm the other day and lost power for about 3 hours in the morning. I am in a rural area and we often have heavy snow and power outages. How do you prepare for this? I doubt I can afford a generator but have heard that those heat packs work OK if you wrap the cages well. Trying to plan ahead!

lele in NH

I live in Indiana and got worried in the winter and spring becuase we get tornados and blizzards but luckly nothing has happines while i have had chams... if you have them in the same room you can put a heater in the room..i think they are kerosine or something...i dont know.
anyways the room(entire house) should stay warm enough if the power was out for three hours i would think but i dont what would happin long term outages (we were out for 2 1/2 days once)..

The house is 275 y.o. and gets cold quickly - all sorts of cracks and crevices! I have all the herps in my office which is the warmest room of the house. The upstairs was modernized about 30 years ago so at least the windows are tight. I am just wondering what others do in prep.

>>I live in Indiana and got worried in the winter and spring becuase we get tornados and blizzards but luckly nothing has happines while i have had chams... if you have them in the same room you can put a heater in the room..i think they are kerosine or something...i dont know.
>>anyways the room(entire house) should stay warm enough if the power was out for three hours i would think but i dont what would happin long term outages (we were out for 2 1/2 days once)..

I do a couple of things. First, I don't worry overly much unless the room gets down below 55 F. If it is dark and cool chams just tend to sleep through it. I'd drape the cages in sheets or light blankets to keep drafts down and slow the rate of cooling. And, humid air holds heat longer. You could heat water on a campstove or fire and put the warm pot in the cage. If you get an emergency heat source such as a kerosene heater be sure you know how to vent it properly. You may have to put all the herps in a small room with a window cracked open. Also, I make friends with any neighbor who has backup heat such as a woodstove and prepare small reptariums or boxes for the trip just in case. If nothing else works I would put them in boxes with perches and shipping heat packs.