Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just woke up and looked out the window its sleeting. I am in Ga and what if the power gos off? what do I do? I have a collection of 10 californa kingsnakes and 1.1 western hognoses.
I wish I lived somewhere warmer. I heat my room two heaters
the better one is used in the day and the other one regulates the nite time temperatures.

Old man winter let spring rub you out of the picture

You should be fine for a 6 hours or so should that happen because you won't reach the dangerous temps. for at least that long if your place is heated OK. I would recommend using a small, propane heater than blows heat out for emergencies - that's what I have. I tried it out and it works - but I cracked the window just a little to be safe. Just don't put any kind of heat device too close to the snakes or let hot air actually blow directly onto the snakes - even a hot draft could cause you problems.

Keith and others who live in really cold areas can help you out with this as well.

If push comes to shove - and this happened to me in my car when it was like 15 degrees my heater broke - you can bag the snakes and keep them inside your jacket or right next to your body and allow your own heat to keep them warm. Kings can take it to 45 degrees or a little less for a while without killing them (maybe even a little colder) and your body can do keep them at that temp. easy. I knew a guy in Missouri who put his snakes in the truck with him and kept them warm that way until he found a place to keep them while his power was off.

Just some thoughts...and I hope this doesn't happen to you.

-John

and you probably already know this, just wanted to make sure. If you bag the snakes up and use your body heat to keep them warm, remember to put each one into a separate bag. You can use pillowcases as snake bags if necessary, just make sure that the top is tied securely without tying the snake's tail or head in the knot.

I also have heard of people using this trick and climbing into their bed and covering up with lots of blankets and comforters.

Or you can invest in some of those little disposable $1 hand warmers and use them as emergency heat pads under their tanks. If you had one, I would use the small plastic critter keeper shoeboxes to conserve heat with this trick. I think you can buy big boxes of them at the super warehouse stores sometimes.
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sue

Yeah I am going to look into the hand warmers for deer hunters. It helps to have a plan in case of emergency. Thanks for the advice about the bed thing I never heard of that one but if I saves my babies its worth it.

So far the weather has stopped being bad it quit sleeting. I thought of doing that with the body heat thing If I have too.
I have some thin pillow cases that would work for that. We have a gas heater in the living room that heats the whole house. I use two heaters in my room one for the day one to let the day one rest to regulate nite time temperatures. I wish spring was here don't you?

john

the temp should stay in the safe zone for awhile. If you don't have a basement try a cooler with some heat packs, just but your shoe boxes into the cooler. I lost a clutch of king eggs to an electric outage this past summer. My basement stays around 55 year round, which was a bit cold for them.
Good luck,
Bob Bull