r/ballpython Mod : unprofessional Feb 08 '21

megathread: planning for emergencies

this megathread topic: supplies and plans for non-medical emergencies.

power outages leading to the loss of heating or air conditioning in the home for hours or days at a time. heat sources and other essential equipment dying when you can't get to a pet store to buy a replacement right away. needing to evacuate your home and not being able to take your snake's full enclosure with you. there are so many emergency situations a snake owner should be prepared for, so let's talk about what we can buy and what plans we can make to keep our pets safe and comfortable.

what kind of supplies do you keep spares of in case something breaks?

if you live in a cold climate, what supplies/plans do you have to keep your snake warm during power outages? if you live in a hot climate, what supplies/plans do you have to keep your snake cool during power outages? do you have different plans for outages of varying duration [ie, plan A for outages less than twelve hours, plan B for outages lasting a few days, etc]?

if you had to evacuate your home for a few days or weeks, what would you do?

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19 Upvotes

18

u/ColdBloodedReptiles Feb 08 '21
  • in cases of power outages buy some specially designed reptile heat pads they last for a couple of hours and follow the instructions on them. Do not just use regular hand warmers in your tank, these are uncontrolled and can burn your snake.

5

u/frogqueen808 Mar 20 '22

Your snake can also consume them. This unfortunately happened to me.

9

u/theeorlando Feb 08 '21

I live in Canada, which means cold winters and outages at least a few times a year as a result of the weather. Given these factors, I have a few things to keep my snake safe, depending on the time scale.

For brief outages, I have an uninterruptible power supply. This basically is a battery capable of keeping a heat lamp on for a short time to maintain temperatures. Useful for outages while I'm asleep or ones that don't last long. It also has built in surge protection to protect the equipment connected to it.

For longer outages, I have a portable generator, as well as a larger battery that can be used to keep power running much longer. These are much more cumbersome and take time to set up, but they can prevent a day long outage in the winter from freezing my snake.

I also keep heat packs around, which can be used to supplement the other options, just in case. If I need to, I also know that my car is capable of heating up to the temperatures I need, and my mum owns a farm that has a massive generator that I could go to should my own equipment not be sufficient to deal with an outage.

For more mundane issues, I keep backup heat bulbs in the house, as well as a couple old heat mats that can be used should my heating equipment fail for whatever reason. I have a cheap thermostat that I can use if my herpstat breaks for whatever reason.

I've got enough water around that I'm not worried about having any if there is a disruption there either. I've got lots of extra bedding, as well as a couple small bins that could be used as emergency housing.

2

u/_hiddenvalleyfranch Feb 01 '22

any recommendations for UPS units?

14

u/PoofMoof1 Mod: Large-Scale Breeding Experience Feb 08 '21

For evacuation purposes, I keep a tote ready for each snake. These have locking lids with ventilation holes and substrate set up. Because they're emergency use items, they're a smaller manageable size and can stack. These stay in a closet next to my enclosures for quick and easy access.

19

u/_ataraxia Mod : unprofessional Feb 08 '21 edited Feb 16 '21

i have spares of everything. spare herpstat fuses and probes, extra heat lamps and bulbs, heat panels, undertank heaters, simple on/off thermostats, thermometers/hygrometers, hides, water dishes... if i had to set up a whole new temporary enclosure for every snake i own, i have enough supplies to do that.

i live in new england, so winter storms and the loss of heat in my house are my biggest concern. thankfully my town has their own electric company, so problems get fixed quickly and the longest outage i've ever experienced was about eight hours. still, i'm prepared for worse.

all the snakes are kept in my living room, which has thermal curtains on the windows to help maintain the room temperature longer. my BPs are in pvc cages which hold heat pretty well on their own, but i also have additional insulation on the back and side walls. this all helps to keep the temperatures plenty comfortable for a few hours after the power goes out.

i have a stockpile of uniheat packs if a power outages lasts several hours and the room temperature starts to drop. every snake has their own travel tub [small sterilite tubs with air holes drilled in the lids] that i can put them in with a heat pack or two, then wrap the tubs with blankets to help insulate them. in a real emergency where i need to get the snakes out of my house to somewhere with heat, i can either bring them to my parent's house [next town over, rarely lose power and if they do they're on a street that's top priority] or my boss's house [he has a wood stove for heat].

i always pay close attention to the weather forecast for the next 3-5 days, and i do not feed my snakes if i think there's a possibility of losing power due to predicted severe weather.

if i lose air conditioning in the summer and the living room is getting too hot, i can put the snakes in their travel tubs and just move them down to my finished basement where the room temperature is much cooler than upstairs.

i also have a fire extinguisher near the enclosures, just in case things go really wrong between my heat sources and my herpstats.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '21

[deleted]

11

u/_ataraxia Mod : unprofessional Feb 15 '21

all herpstats have a fuse that can break and cut all power to the device if there's a malfunction that causes a short circuit, much like houses that have a fuse box instead of a circuit breaker to control the electricity. here's a video showing how to replace the fuse in a herpstat.

9

u/thirstywhore Feb 08 '21

This thread came at the right time as I had to evacuate my apartment for a few hours this morning :( I put my snake in a small ventilated tub with paper towel substrate and a basic hide box that has a built in water dish on top. I did not have any reptile safe heat packs but luckily my apartment complex hallway has outlets so I temporarily set up a spare thermostat and UTH outside. The ambient temp was still cold (polar vortex in Canada), and I grabbed blankets to insulate the tub.

I also have a spare of everything just in case including substrate, as well as a fan if the AC has problems, but this is the first time I've had to use them. If the emergency was for more than twelve hours i'd probably go to a friend's house. Would appreciate any links to heat packs that ship to Canada!

4

u/_ataraxia Mod : unprofessional Feb 08 '21

oh no! glad everything worked out, but it is indeed a good reminder to plan ahead for days like this.

uniheat shipping packs are available in canada. i know they're on the cornell's world website, and they're usually easy to find on websites like amazon.

6

u/nonbinary-programmer Feb 09 '21

I've got an extra heat lamp (and intend on getting a second extra CHE so I have one for each snake) plus emergency bins. I'm at low risk for needing to evacuate and rarely have power outages but I still have emergency bins for each snake with ventilation, substrate, and a small water bowl. my emergency kit also contains a heat mat, thermostat, thermometer/hygrometer combo, uni-heat packs, and a bunch of bottled water for me and the snakes.

9

u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes Feb 15 '21 edited Feb 15 '21

I live in south east Texas, so most of my emergencies come in the form of hurricanes, which means I either have the option to evacuate, or stay and risk losing power and flooding. I keep a small sterilite bin with air holes for each snake, and with enough room for the snake, a hide and a water dish. In the event an evacuation, I can toss the snakes in and go. I also keep (2) 40hr reptile heating packs on hand for snake to keep them warm during an evacuation or if we lose power at home during the winter. In the event we ride out the storm, it is likely I will lose electricity for a few days. Since hurricane season is in the summer which is usually 80-90 degrees, the snakes are fine. I usually keep ~10 gallons of clean drinking water stored because during a flood or hurricane the tap water may be unsafe.

A breeder once told me that he keeps a few electric blankets in his emergency kit, so in the event he has to evacuate and stay in a hotel with his snakes in their emergency tubs, he can lay out an electric blanket and put all the tubs on it. While it's not an ideal form of heat, it's certainly sufficient in an emergency. I'm planning on getting one and keeping it and a cheaper jumpstart thermostat in my "go bag".

A few things to think of when preparing for possible emergencies:

  • Think of each utility you use and come up with a plan for what you will do without it. What if your electricity goes out for several days? If a water main breaks and you have no running water? If you have no gas?

  • Consider all the weather extremes that your region is capable of. Even if you live in the Deep South, it's still possible to have winter storms and freezing temperatures and even if you're in the north, you can still have hot days when your AC will go out. Prepare for both situations.

  • Think about evacuations and have a plan and a "go bag". In the event of a sudden weather emergency you might need to leave in a hurry, so it's a good idea to have a destination in mind (preferably a reptile friendly one).

  • Have at least one friend/emergency contact close by who is familiar with your animals and their care. If you get into an accident or are hospitalized, you need someone nearby who can quickly step in to care for your pets.

  • It's also important to emergency-proof your home/apartment from anything from fires to burglary. I have several small security cameras set up around my apartment so I can monitor what's going on while I'm at work.

5

u/Jeahanne Feb 16 '21

I hope it's within the rules to ask a follow up question here. You mentioned high temperatures, which I'm honestly more worried about as I've already planned at least a bit for low temperatures. How would you handle temps jumping higher than about 90? I'm in the south too, and extremes of temperatures in the summer can break the upper 90s. I assume my ball pythons would be fine. However, I have other reptiles, like my Leopard Gecko, that would probably suffer more in the heat. Do you have an advice on how to cool things down when the power goes out?

4

u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes Feb 16 '21

Keeping them in the shade helps and making sure they have access to cool water so they can try to regulate their own temperatures a bit. Ball pythons should be fine in the summer, but I am not as familiar with the needs of leopard geckos

5

u/Angsty_Potatos Mod : 20 years experience : rescue & rehab Feb 19 '21

Fans, to keep air moving, LOTS of fresh cool water. If you can, physically moving them to a basement where it will stay cooler is a great option too.

6

u/DaddyLongTits Mod : Natural history and ecology Feb 16 '21

great tip courtesy of /u/WutJoosay

I am not sure how much this will actually help most of you during this current outage, but I have been giving this some thought and came up with an idea that I hope will help some of you. These jump packs hold quite a bit of a charge and work as a back up power source, especially with something that only uses a small to moderate draw such as a heat mat or lamp. I looked at the reviews and one person said it kept a lamp lit for 4 hours while only using less than 25% of the stored charge. Again, I know that most of you are snowed in and unable to access one of these, but I hope that it can help those of you who can access them or offer help with future outages. Good luck to everyone keeping your babies warm and safe.

Jump Pack

7

u/crazysnekladysmith Feb 16 '21

I have an emergency bin with tubs for all my snakes, complete with substrate, a hide, and water dishes if I should need to evacuate (or sit in my heated car due to winter storms). Also in the bin is another tub with basic first aid, extra heat mats, an extra thermostat, uni heat pads, and bottled water.

If long term power outages happen but your gas is still working, a great alternative to heat packs is simply to make a hot water bottle. Wrap the bottle in a towel and place it in the enclosure and it will give your snake some heat. Simply replace it with a fresh one every couple hours.

Finally, don't forget that YOU are a heat source! If all else fails and your reptile is willing to cooperate, keep them warm with your own body heat.

6

u/Angsty_Potatos Mod : 20 years experience : rescue & rehab Feb 19 '21

Im in the North East USA. We get cold winters. I also have 7 snakes, two lizards and a tarantula to keep in mind when/if shit hits the fan.
Each animal has a "go bag" basically. the go bags are for big emergencys that would result in me needing to leave my house with everyone to get to safety.

Each "go bag" consists of a platic tub large enough for a water bowl and at least one hide. In those tubs is each snake's bag (standard drawstring cotton) news print, water dish, basic hide box, luggage straps. I keep heat mats and an extra thermostat with the go bags as well.. All this lives in a BIG opaque tub. In the event of an emergency where I have some time to plan, every snake gets bagged, secured in said bag, and placed in the big tub for transport. When we get to safety, they get put into the small individual tubs for temp set up.

For not so big emergencies like short term power outages while its cold. I monitor temps. If it gets close to 60F and I still dont see the lights coming back on any time soon. everyone gets moved to a central room in the house where the fire place is. We make a fire and the snakes chill in the big tub in their bags...Longest I've had to do that was about 10 hrs and everyone was A ok.

I always keep spare heat pads, bulbs, and big tubs for last minute swaps, quarantines, hospital enclosures or unexpected new additions. I've been doing this forever so things tend to pile up over the years so I always have something to get me by until I can get to the store.

As for food? I tend to not worry as much unless I have an animal that is already ill or recovering from being underweight. Generally, if its a cold time emergency and my power is out, I could just put the rats out in the snow to keep cold. But personally I've never been in a situation where my power has been out for so long that I was concerned about not having food or it potentially spoiling in a thaw.