Ice Storm'n with Herps

[sophia]

Well we've had an interesting week that's for sure... spent most of the weekend huddled around our fireplace without electricity trying to keep ourselves and all of our babies warm... lovely thing ice storms! Not to mention the seven trees that banged down on our house and barn!

Jon

[Tim_Cranwill]

Sounds like a nasty week. Hang in there:)

[Dev_Man]

We had an ice storm here back in 1998, at the time i didn't own any herps (thank god) because i lost all of my fish and 2 Gouldian finches:( we didn't have power for 10 days, anyways i hope all your herps are ok:)

[sophia]

Most of the enclosures are in the living room where the fireplace is... we just had to move the bloods and our adult ball python into their feeding containers {rubbermaids} to keep them warm... bad thing was we were running out of wood after a couple days of constant cold... it tore things up pretty good around here. People in Raleigh & Durham are still without power - at least a good deal of them. I lived in Michigan for over 20 years and we rarely lost power at all...especially in the winter... down here - if the wind blows - the power blinks - and we get ice down here... not snow... nasty stuff.

We have to have our roof repaired as well as our central a/c unit... {tree speared it} and on top of that the barn is just totaled. Been a great month all in all... started off with getting laid off... then ice storm... then putor burnt up a video card... then last night our clothes dryer fried it's motor... I think I'll just stay in bed tomorrow!

Jon

[sophia]

Here's some pix... :rolleyes:

http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice1.jpg
http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice2.jpg
http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice3.jpg
http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice4.jpg

[sophia]

More pix...


http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice6.jpg
http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice7.jpg
http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice8.jpg
http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice9.jpg
http://www.sophiagroup.org/ice10.jpg

Jon

[Tim Winegard]

Looks nasty
Least your animals made it through it!

[sophia]

I hear ya... believe me they are a big priority around here! House full of tropical animals and no power... jeesh.

Jon

[Jeff_Favelle]

Good luck Sophia. Hope things turn around quickly for you!

[sophia]

Thanks Jeff,

I swear if I had a cliff nearby I'd... oh ya know... {G}

Jon

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ha ha, now don't talk like that!! Maybe this is great weather for cycling! You know, cool and dry?!! LOL!! Be positive!

:D

[sophia]

LOL

Jon

[Linds]

Those are some huge trees! :eek: Well least all your kids pulled through! Hope damages aren't too bad!

We only lost power for half a day last year and I was going bonkers (we replaced the wood burning fireplace with a gas one so no heat). The last ice storm I remember having that was bad was when I was 6 or soemthing - I only had my iguana back then and I kept her in my shirt for the 3 days we were without power :D

[sophia]

Thanks Linds - yep they all made it just fine... though we were plenty worried there for quite a while. The fireplace kept it about 75 degrees in the living room... it was about 20-30 everywhere else {heat guns come in handy for more than cage temps}. And yes, those are huge trees... the 7 that hit the roof knocked our house around on it's foundation and now must be re-leveled... it bout knocked Tay off the couch where she was sleeping... wicked night. Scary like a hurricane... but without the wind...

Jon

[eyespy]

Wow, I'm glad to hear your herp and human family made it through such an ordeal. I often lose power in the winter here in PA, but for a day or two at most. I keep a little propane camping stove for boiling water and putting hot water bottles, well wrapped in towels, inside my cages for those critters who don't tolerate cycling well.

Those ice-covered trees sure are beautiful. It's freaky that such beauty can be so dangerous to living things.

[Lisa]

Wow, looks nasty, glad you didn't lose anyone due to the storm.

i'm thinking we need to get a kerosene heater for our herp room just in case. we haven't had any power problems here but we haven't lived here long.

[Them and Us]

we haven't had a bad storm and lost power here in NY since 1996. i lost my three parakeets and all of our fish. i didn't have any herps. Beethoven my guinea pig did makeit through. and then died of old age a week after everything was restored . irony. a family friend who lives in North Carolina sent us a video of their ice storm where we watched 7 trees fall in his back yard.

[sophia]

Lisa - we had our kerosene heater handy too... the biggest thing that concerns me about those things is the fumes that they produce... ya have to really vent the room that they are in... it was going to be our backup plan believe me... luckily we were restored in just a couple days...

T&U - Sorry to hear about your losses.. I guess it's just a risk we have to take - most of the folks on this board live in a northern climate where the temps get far lower than here for the most part... ya just have to have one of those 'what if' plans... especially when we all rely so much on electricity for heat. Where does your family friend live in NC?

Jon

[Lisa]

The venting is something i worry about too... still trying to figure that one out, we're in an apt building so putting a hole in the wall isn't really feasable.

[BILLP]

Sorry to hear about your place but at least everything living made it thourgh it. I live in arizona so I don't have that problem but I always worry about the ac going out in the summer when it is 115 degrees out. I think the reptiles would make it but we have things like chincilla's, sugar gliders, and a gambian pouch rat that couldn't take the heat.