Do You Have a Plan for Extended Power Outages?

[SerpentineDream]

Being a reptile enthusiast in in rural South Dakota where we are prone to severe weather and the power can be out for extended periods of time (by which I mean weeks) I've put a lot of thought into how to keep my ectothermic friends safe. We have all electric heat in our house, so plans for a woodstove and automatic whole-house generator are in the works.

My current solution is 72-hour heat packs, bought by the case. I work from home so I can respond quickly. If the power is out for more than 30 minutes I deploy a couple of heat packs to the warm end of everyone's cages, buried under the aspen shavings. I also have reflective space blankets that can be taped over the glass of their cages to minimize heat loss. I have battery operated temperature probes to monitor their situations. If worse comes to worst and we need to evacuate, I have a bunch of locking Rubbermaid tubs with bedding and foam board insulation to serve as escape pods. Throw a heat pack and a thermometer in there and away we go.

But this is something that can affect all of us and our animals. What are your suggestions? What plans do you have in place for your critters in these situations?

[Wingbeats]

My plan is pretty simple and may only work for me, for two reasons - I only have two snakes, and both snakes are fine at room temperatures.

So, my plan is to take my snakes to work - which is an office controlled at 70 degrees. If the power outage lasts a long while, I could bring the thermostats and heat mats too.

Certainly not a plan that would work for everyone, but it worked well when my AC went out during the summer haha.

[pet_snake_78]

I have bags, styo lined boxes, heat packs, and a keroscene heater. Once I have a dedicated space, I'd like to get a really high end generator that is good enough to run tstats on in an area without generator ordinances but I'm a ways from there now.

[Salty Rob]

I have a whole house generator. I check it twice weekly to make sure it runs right and keep it full at all times. The weather in Oklahoma is nuts. One minute it's clear, the next it storms it heart out.