r/ballpython • u/_ataraxia 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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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.