Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Saturday evening, the worst possible thing to happen to a home in the Nevada desert in July happened to my home. We lost A/C! The first night wasn't so bad, but yesterday when the sun was out, it just cooked in there and slowly crept up passed 100 degrees. Our reptiles were all out on the "cool side" of their tanks, confused and trying to get out. Our CaliforniaXdesert kingsnake had the smartest idea of all of them and crawled up into his water dish. All day, I added ice cubes to their water and sprayed my pythons with cool water. Our beared dragon was going insane for a while and finally it was too hot to move and he was just laying there and he's usually active all day long. All heat pads and lamps have been unplugged and every fan we own is in that room on those tanks. A service tech is supposed to be coming this morning to fix everything. How much stress is all of this going to put on my snakes? I'm especially worried for my new baby ball python. Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep them cool if the A/C doesn't get fixed soon?? Any suggestions on what to do for them at all would be GREATLY appreciated, I don't wanna lose any of them. PhunkyJess2k3@aol.com feel free to email your responce.
Thanks in advance!

Proud (co) owner to:

2 ball pythons
1 red tail boa constrictor
1 California desert kingsnake
1 western hognose

hmmmm...I wonder what snakes do in the wild when their AC goes out Don't worry, they can handle fluctuations in temps over the short term.

I don't know what kind of enclosures they are in, so maybe
this won't help much...You can take a few 1 or 2 liter plastic
soda bottles, fill them 3/4 of the way, and then freeze them.
When they are good and frozen, you can put them in the snake
enclosure. This will provide some temperature relief in their
cage (if the cage is small enough). This could be useful if their
cages get REALLY hot (over 105 degrees).

It seems like short periods of ~100degree temps (a few hours in
the day) are okay for ball pythons. Make sure they have water.

Good luck!
Chris

This happened to me a few weeks back, but we only made it up to 95. I actually have some cold weather species (mandarin rats, cat geckos) and they made it through ok. Just make sure everyone has plenty of water, it dries up fast in the heat.

Even throwing some ice cubes in a deli container can provide just the measure of cooling to avoid lethal temperatures for your animals. The snakes will find that microenvironment within minutes and choose how close they need to stay next to the ice containers in order to survive. If you are unable to move your small collection to another location, just keep adding ice. Few snake species will survive 100 plus degree temperatures for long.

Good luck,
Joan

>>I don't know what kind of enclosures they are in, so maybe
>>this won't help much...You can take a few 1 or 2 liter plastic
>>soda bottles, fill them 3/4 of the way, and then freeze them.
>>When they are good and frozen, you can put them in the snake
>>enclosure. This will provide some temperature relief in their
>>cage (if the cage is small enough). This could be useful if their
>>cages get REALLY hot (over 105 degrees).
>>
>>It seems like short periods of ~100degree temps (a few hours in
>>the day) are okay for ball pythons. Make sure they have water.
>>
>>Good luck!
>>Chris

If their cages are vented then they should be fine for a couple of days, if not then they could overheat and die, or get brain damage.
Chris

Personally, I would move them until the temps are back in your control. You don't have a large collection (judging from your signature) so it should be easy. Last winter we lost power and the temps were dropping FAST! I Bagged everyone and put them in my truck (thank GOD for crew cabs) with the heat running. I was going to take them to a friends house, but just as I was loading the last of them, the power came back on. I need a generator!

NO, snakes don't have A/C in the wild, but snakes in the "wild" don't hang out in 100 temps for long periods of time...they try to find a cooler spot, right? I lost a half dozen geckos last year when one of my thermostats went out and the heat tape shot the temps up to 100.

Just my opinion.