# POWER OUTAGE!!! AWWWEEEE



## Jessicap (Dec 12, 2010)

power went out during the night. Woke up around 4 and noticed it. Checked Sidney and temp in his enclosure was down to 70 and dropping! We are having a blizzard with temps in the 20s and driveway drifted shut. I started the car and put him in there until I could think of something else to do. Thank God for a gas stove!!! I boiled some water, then put it on simmer, covered with a cookie sheet and put a tub with cyprus mulch and moss dampened. It got up to 90 in there and nice and humid. It actually started getting up to almost 100 so put the muffin pan under to allow a little more air to circulate. I checked it every few minutes, okay pretty much sat right there and made sure the bottom wasn't getting too hot. I think he rather liked it :0)


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## John (Dec 12, 2010)

i keep a couple cases of pocket hand warmers for just that reason,their cheap at the depot


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## Jessicap (Dec 12, 2010)

squamata said:


> i keep a couple cases of pocket hand warmers for just that reason,their cheap at the depot



I think we are going to get a generator for Christmas... lol. I thought of handwarmers but after awhile they tend to loose power and not get very warm, and all I had were some old ones.


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## coreyc (Dec 12, 2010)

squamata said:


> i keep a couple cases of pocket hand warmers for just that reason,their cheap at the depot



I just got some Friday for that same reason


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## John (Dec 12, 2010)

they do work for a short period.if its gonna be a long time i move all my animals into large coolers and use the hand warmers in there.


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## Torty Mom (Dec 12, 2010)

Here are 2 links where you can buy some that last 40 hours and 72 hours. I bought some just to have in case of an emergency. 

http://www.shipyourreptiles.com/shop/heat_packs/product

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...i-containers-shipping-boxes-packing-material/

We went thru the '94 Northridge earthquake, so I have an eathquake kit and a power outage kit. Just in case!!


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## ChiKat (Dec 12, 2010)

Oo a nice little sauna  He probably really enjoyed this power outage!
I really need a plan in case we have a power outage...I'll have to buy some hand warmers asap.


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## Becki (Dec 12, 2010)

Kudos on your inventiveness! How are you keeping your birds warm? Here's hoping the power is back soon!


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## Jessicap (Dec 12, 2010)

Becki said:


> Kudos on your inventiveness! How are you keeping your birds warm? Here's hoping the power is back soon!



I covered their cage with a towel and if it got too colder I was going to put them in a carrier and take them next door to my parents who have wood heat. Power came back on at 7am so all was good. Got chilly but everyone survived.


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## tobibaby (Dec 12, 2010)

you are hilarious.. u went and sat in the car?? is that what i read? true tortie mom


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## Jessicap (Dec 12, 2010)

tobibaby said:


> you are hilarious.. u went and sat in the car?? is that what i read? true tortie mom



lol... yep - it was the only thing I could think of at the time that would get WARM. cranked the heat to 90 and let the car run in the garage with the garage door cracked open. I couldn't let the little guy FREEZE, he was already under so much stress. I have only had him 1 week! :0(


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## Tom (Dec 12, 2010)

Very inventive. Hot water in various jugs works well too. A gas water heater will work even when the power is out. 

I still think a generator is the best plan.


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## Jessicap (Dec 12, 2010)

Tom said:


> Very inventive. Hot water in various jugs works well too. A gas water heater will work even when the power is out.
> 
> I still think a generator is the best plan.



water hear works but unfortunately well pump does not... lol I think a generator for Christmas is the best plan too!


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## onarock (Dec 12, 2010)

I hate it when the power goes out. I have to reset all my clocks. Last week the power went out and it was terrible, because I cant sleep without my ceiling fan on, too hot!


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## zzzdanz (Dec 12, 2010)

I had a generator hooked up to run the whole house.Go out to the garage start it up and flick a switch.I would imagine the winters out there being pretty rough with a lot of power outages,so it would be 1 of the best investments you could buy.

We don't lose power often but living with 3 daughters and the wife who think it's armagedon when they don't have a hair dryer it was the best thing I ever did...No whinning about no power=priceless.

In 6 months ya wont have to worry about it until next yr...ughhh 6 months til warm weather.


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## -ryan- (Dec 12, 2010)

I am buying a house with my fiancee in over the next couple of months, and we definitely want a generator, but we are having a really tough time deciding on which route to go. If we could stand to fork out a few grand, we could get a standby generator that would hook up directly to the natural gas line. That way we would be safe regardless of when the power went out. However, we were thinking it might be just as effective to get a portable generator for $600-700 and wire in a transfer switch to just run the furnace and refrigerator, as well as a few extra circuits. I don't have any animals that could be really negatively effected by living in room temperature for days or even a week or so, so I am not worried about making sure that their heat lamps are all on. As long as the house temperature stays from 60 degrees for the most part.

One great benefit of working for my father is that I could easily head home in the middle of the day to run the generator for an hour and get the house temps up if the power is out, so I am leaning toward getting a portable generator.


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## yagyujubei (Dec 12, 2010)

Before you decide on a generator, I would listen to some run first. I have used portable generators for years at work, and they are as noisy as can be. Unless they have changed drastically in recent years, you may not be happy with one.


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## Balboa (Dec 12, 2010)

AS long as you're buying, go the automatic standby generator route, see if you can get that rolled into the mortgage or something. IT'll be well worth it in the long run. By the time you add up all the costs for both ways, the standby doesn't look so bad.



onarock said:


> I hate it when the power goes out. I have to reset all my clocks. Last week the power went out and it was terrible, because I cant sleep without my ceiling fan on, too hot!



Darn hawaiians, complaining its too hot when the power goes out in the middle of winter .... rofl


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## zzzdanz (Dec 12, 2010)

I was thinking the same thing..toss it on the mortgage and go all out.


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## tortoisenerd (Dec 12, 2010)

So what night temp do you usually keep this redfoot hatchling at that 70 was freezing and you needed to warm it to 90? Just curious, as I've never kept my tort that warm at night as I like a natural temp drop. I too have the hand warmers but haven't yet had a sustained outage.


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## Jessicap (Dec 13, 2010)

tortoisenerd said:


> So what night temp do you usually keep this redfoot hatchling at that 70 was freezing and you needed to warm it to 90? Just curious, as I've never kept my tort that warm at night as I like a natural temp drop. I too have the hand warmers but haven't yet had a sustained outage.



I keep it at 80 ambient and slightly warmer under hide and water area 85-90. From everything I have read on Redfoots this is the temp it should be warm and humid. The temp had dropped below 70 and was getting colder. The house temp was down to about 50. I put the car at 90 to get it warm quickly. I also figured it may stress him out some moving him since I had only had him a week and figured the warmer temps would be good. If the inside enclosure temps are not correct please let me know. I REALLY want him to stay healthy!


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## -ryan- (Dec 16, 2010)

Thanks for the generator advice. I am doing the research now. I figure we can probably afford to get a small standby generator. I found out that Generac has a new small standby called the 'core power generator' or something like that, for around $1800 with the transfer switch included. I could get it installed for free by a family friend, so really it's only just about double what I would spend on a portable generator and transfer switch. I think we'll try to go that route.

Right now it has snowed a couple feet in the last couple of days, and I just try to keep my fingers crossed that we won't see any long outages this year. By next year we will be in our own house, and I will have a generator of some sort in place.

Stressful!


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## lusciousdragon (Dec 16, 2010)

I am new here but I have something to contribute yay!
We had our power go out for 2 weeks after a big storm last year. We were so lucky to have a generator. I highly recommend everyone have one.
While on the subject of keeping our reptiles warm. I recommend that everyone keep their reptile heating elements plugged into a surge protector (just like you should with your computer and big electronics). If you get a big surge through your lines it could blow your lamps (and in my snakes' case their heat tape and thermostat) and then they would be without heat until you are able to purchase new supplies.


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