Power outage...

Ok, i am posting this after getting my power back. Yesterday it started snowing here in Colorado an deven though i have heat pads on my t's (human ones) and kee3p my tempatures in my house warm the tempeture started dropping. The reason being that around midnight the power went out. i am trying to make sure i took care of them right. I found 2 hand warmer heat things and by the time i got back from the store getting the couple that were left at the store the temp in my apartment was around 67 drgrees. I put my baby G. rosea in a tubberware container inside the adults container and but one toe warmer in a nother tubberware in there next to the baby but where the adult could get near it with out burning them selves. i also did roughly the same thing with each of the reptiles i have. Iny ideas on what else to do should this happen again. it is still snowing here and branches are still falling off trees so i want to be prepared just in case.

Maybe next time, what you can do is, depedning on the tanks, have a cooler sitting by that you can heat up and move your reptiles and spiders to until power turns back on. all you would need to do then is place a heat pack inside of the cooler to get it up to temperature, and then place the T's and others in the cooler to maintain their heat. But 67* is not too bad for a short time. Also, you can put a towel in the bottom of the cooler, that will help to absorb and maintain heat.

I"m about to lay in my supply of warmer packs. Last year I lost 9 to the freeze. I had stacked all the shoeboxes down in a big rolling tote. I laid a sleeping bag over the top and was willing to crawl in under it... It would have kept them warmer. (But this was after we'd already lost power, and I had power restored by then.)

I second the cooler, it will require less overall heating than any room space. You might look into a small propane bottle heater. They can be used under proper supervision in a room. Just take caution for air exchange and not to tip it over. I consider them to be a last-resort emergency supplement.

Good luck!

Marga

thanks you two. My biggest concern is that i live in an apartment. it would have to either be a big cooler or multiple coolers as i have a just over 3 foot ball python and a bearded dragon thatis close to 2 feet that would both have to be put in large travel cages, but i don't mind putting my G. roseas into othre travel cages. I was reading some of the other posts and i am thinking about investing in some of those uninteruptable power supply units for computers because i ended up losing alot of my fish including my $15 african chiclid that i had to talk myself into. the rosies are doing good still, i am keeping the baby in a secure travel container inside the adults and though it was flat on the ground when i went to bed it was acting as a door cover when i woke up... I am also worried about the 2 birds. i did not uncover them all day yesterday since it was so cold. so i think i might invest in a keroseen heater as well. Any other imput would be wonderful.

If there is a Costco near you, they sell a portable backup generator for around $450. It's made for camper use, could be used indoors (again, with care) and would run a heater. That is my own next big investment. If you have that much invested in the animals - and with any kind of parrot, you will - then it's worth the money to do something like that.

Marga

Since you have an apartment, maybe you can look into using the stove as a temporary room heater if it is not all electric. As for the UPS, uninterrupted power supplies, understand that most of them have small batteries, and you will spend a few hundred dollars on a nice one that will last you a few hours. Since the cold in California is minimal, i have to go back into my days in NJ where we had the hand heaters, blankets, sleeping bags and sweaters and anything else that can assist in the retention of heat. The heat packs will help out and if you need to, you can buy the ones for the back or body or hands or feet to help with temps.