Close call

[Allthingsterrarium]

Heya guys! November here in Wisconsin means unpredictable weather patterns and insanely cold temperatures that are both just going to keep getting worse until March at least with lingering coolness until about mid May. I'm sure a lot of you guys also live in very cold areas as well and have faced this exact problem and might be able to help me figure out some solutions. Last night we had a serious catastrophe for cold blooded creatures. You've probably already heard about the insane blizzard the midwest just had, 40 MPH winds. We had a power outage at around 2:30 in the morning and about 11,000 people in our area including my whole block were without power until about 8:30 this morning. It got incredibly cold in the house, incredibly quickly and my biggest concern was for my terrarium animals. I have my bearded dragon, collared lizard, brand new jeweled lacerta, four frogs, two tarantulas, garter snake, mantis nymph and a tiny spider I found and am trying to take care of. In other words, a lot of animals that depend on heat and I still want to get a new chameleon. The power outage made the space heater in the room plus the heating pads some of them have useless. The room they are all in had some residual heat left from the space heater and it stayed just barely warm enough, dropping to the low 50s or even upper 40s and slowly kept going down. I took priority and put blankets over the tanks with species I felt needed it most in hopes of at least keeping out as much additional cold as possible. Thankfully everybody's okay but that was too close a call. It's the time of year for power outages and too cold for reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates plus on extremely rare occasions it might take a few days to fix the electricity. How do you guys deal with this problem? What do you think the best thing I can do when this happens is?

 

[Janelle]

I was also in the blizzard yesterday. I worried we would lose power, but we didn't, thankfully. Before the blizzard hit, we divvied up who would be in charge of which animal if the power went out. My hubby was going to put our beardie, Jayne, into his shirt, while I would have Vera, our ball python. I planned to be under a blanket with her and bring our tarantula, Itchy, under the blanket with us, in her viv. One daughter was going to have Mal, my sand boa, while a son would have Simon, his leo. The biggest pain was going to be keeping everybody warm while also staying separated. We have the house set up for a wood burning stove but haven't bought it yet. I hope to buy it once we get tax returns, then I won't have to worry so much in the future!

Had it been just me, I guess I would have gotten Jayne on my chest, Vera and Mal in pillowcases, Itchy in her viv, and Simon in a critter keeper, all under blankets with me.

I've also heard of people sitting in their running cars with the heaters blowing, but just getting to the car would have been treacherous in that storm.

I'm glad all your babies seem to be ok.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

I was also in the blizzard yesterday. I worried we would lose power, but we didn't, thankfully. Before the blizzard hit, we divvied up who would be in charge of which animal if the power went out. My hubby was going to put our beardie, Jayne, into his shirt, while I would have Vera, our ball python. I planned to be under a blanket with her and bring our tarantula, Itchy, under the blanket with us, in her viv. One daughter was going to have Mal, my sand boa, while a son would have Simon, his leo. The biggest pain was going to be keeping everybody warm while also staying separated. We have the house set up for a wood burning stove but haven't bought it yet. I hope to buy it once we get tax returns, then I won't have to worry so much in the future!

Had it been just me, I guess I would have gotten Jayne on my chest, Vera and Mal in pillowcases, Itchy in her viv, and Simon in a critter keeper, all under blankets with me.

I've also heard of people sitting in their running cars with the heaters blowing, but just getting to the car would have been treacherous in that storm.

I'm glad all your babies seem to be ok.

Thanks Janelle! Those are all good ideas and as a last resort I probably would end up finding pillow cases or something similar to put them in and just sit with them for a little while or at least find some containers and put the most vulnerable ones in the closet where it would at the very least shield them a bit. I also read about putting hot water bottles or hand warmers next to the tanks. I never even thought about the car but you're right it would just expose them to more cold on the way there and our car takes a while to heat up. It's definitely time to start making plans even though I hope we don't get any more snow storms this bad this year. Fortunately I think my desert species like the bearded dragon would do okay for a while since it often gets below freezing in the outback at night I hear. When I checked on them most of them seemed to do the smart thing and burrow or go into a hiding place.

 

[Janelle]

Having hand warmers on hand is a great idea. I should probably stock up on them, since it seems this winter will be a doozy. A hot water bottle won't work for long, since the hot water heater would only hold its heat for so long without power.

 

[Tabasco]

I have a small backup generator that will power outlets, frig etc. A backup might be heat packs.

 

[Hdrydr31]

I also live in WI up by Green Bay and we have a big generator to run things as not only for our animals I don't do well in the cold due to health issues.. I have carriers for each dragon and if need be we would run a heater in a small room like bathroom and keep them there. Hand warmers are good too just make sure to put layers between as beardies can't feel heat from below so they could burn themselves if they burrow..

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

Having hand warmers on hand is a great idea. I should probably stock up on them, since it seems this winter will be a doozy. A hot water bottle won't work for long, since the hot water heater would only hold its heat for so long without power.

True, you would probably have to use a charcoal grill or something to heat a water bottle and then let it cool a little or just pray the power comes back soon and rely on the hand warmers.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

I have a small backup generator that will power outlets, frig etc. A backup might be heat packs.

Thanks Tabasco! Heat packs outside the tank are also a great idea! I'm going to start looking around for generator options too!

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

I also live in WI up by Green Bay and we have a big generator to run things as not only for our animals I don't do well in the cold due to health issues.. I have carriers for each dragon and if need be we would run a heater in a small room like bathroom and keep them there. Hand warmers are good too just make sure to put layers between as beardies can't feel heat from below so they could burn themselves if they burrow..

Thanks Hdrydr31! I've often considered a generator but the only portable ones I saw when I looked them up the other day were gas powered and I feel like that would unsafe inside the house. Are there non gas powered ones and if so are they expensive? How long do they run?

 

[Hdrydr31]

Thanks Hdrydr31! I've often considered a generator but the only portable ones I saw when I looked them up the other day were gas powered and I feel like that would unsafe inside the house. Are there non gas powered ones and if so are they expensive? How long do they run?

We only have a BIG generator that uses gas as we would need too much for a little one. Alot of it ranges depending on how many amps you need.

 

[PatsyB]

I was in that blizzard too last week but being in the city we didn't get hit as hard. I had the same thought as my friends and coworkers had their power go out. One friend had his out for 24 hours! Last time our power went out in the winter, I filled water bottles with hot water and wrapped them and put them in the tanks. I turned off all the lights and covered the tanks with blankets to keep the heat in. My landlord said to fill your tub right away with hot water and close the door, that way you have at least one room that is warmish (not sure if that really helps though). Of course as soon as I was done wrapping the last tank, the power came back on LOL!

I always wondered if it would be smart to stock up on those reflective cover things that people use for their car windshields. That might help keep the heat in.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

We only have a BIG generator that uses gas as we would need too much for a little one. Alot of it ranges depending on how many amps you need.[/QUOTE

Oh okay! That would probably work pretty well. I did see one you can install outside sort of like an air conditioner.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

I was in that blizzard too last week but being in the city we didn't get hit as hard. I had the same thought as my friends and coworkers had their power go out. One friend had his out for 24 hours! Last time our power went out in the winter, I filled water bottles with hot water and wrapped them and put them in the tanks. I turned off all the lights and covered the tanks with blankets to keep the heat in. My landlord said to fill your tub right away with hot water and close the door, that way you have at least one room that is warmish (not sure if that really helps though). Of course as soon as I was done wrapping the last tank, the power came back on LOL!

I always wondered if it would be smart to stock up on those reflective cover things that people use for their car windshields. That might help keep the heat in.

Genius! The bathtub would be a very good idea and well worth a try along with everything else! Man I do not know how I survive winter every year haha.

 

[PatsyB]

Genius! The bathtub would be a very good idea and well worth a try along with everything else! Man I do not know how I survive winter every year haha.

Right?! I feel like each year I get older, the colder and colder it gets.