Black out / Power Outage

JRLongton · 10-31-17, 08:58 AM

Hey all. So yesterday my neighborhood lost power for a little over 24 hours. It's the first time this has happened since I started keeping snakes.

I woke up and found the temp in my Corn snake's terrarium was 68 F. I totally freaked. I have an uninterruptible Power supply (UPS), but my Herpstat thermostat doesn't work with a UPS, even though it provides AC power. I had to run the RHP direct, driving it at 100% and draining the UPS in a little over an hour. It did buy me another couple hours at manageable temps, though.

After that heat dissipated, I hit Walmart, bought a sterilite tub and a ton of hand warmers. The terrarium is 4'x1'x2', so I figured I had a better shot at maintaining temps in a much smaller tub. I was able to keep her at 72 F, but 92% humidity (yuck!), for the duration.

The problem is, I'm really getting off on this snake keeping thing, as I'm sure you all understand, and I want to get more, and more interesting snakes. So perhaps the power outage was a blessing in disguise in that I can work out a solution should this happen in the future when I have more snakes that are more sensitive to temps.

Therefore, I'd like the communities input.

I have a few ideas. I could go the route of a UPC, but that would require a new thermostat. Does anyone know of a good quality thermostat that functions on AC power from a battery. For about $500 I could get a UPC that'd keep me running for at least 24 hours.

For about the same money I could also go the route of a portable gas generator. I've never used one and I'm unsure if thermostats can run on the power they supply. It could be used to run my freezer and fridge in addition to the snakes heaters, but then I may be investing in something that'll be used only very rarely, if at all. But the real drawback is that it'd require me to be aware that it's needed. If I were asleep or out for an extended stay that could be a problem. A UPC would take over without my intervention.

So what are your thoughts? What do you guys do to safeguard your animals?

Thanks!