What are Your Plans in Case of Emergency?

MaddOphelia

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Oct 31, 2018
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Location (City and/or State)
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
We live in NH, so the climate is the big potential challenge for my exotic pets.

We lose power 10-20 times each year, generally short duration interruptions, but we have a generator sized and wired for the house that picks up the slack a few seconds after the power goes out.

If the power stays out for a week, or we have to leave the house for some reason, I've got a travel kit for Darwin, my redfoot.

View attachment 256735

It's a 60 quart container, by Ziploc.

View attachment 256737

Everything fits inside, until such time as Darwin needs to go in.

View attachment 256738

Two Rubbermaid containers: one with cypress for the big box, then a soaking tub when Darwin needs it; one with a cutout that can be used as a hide in the big box.

View attachment 256740

A waterproof heating pad, thermostat power supply, and an inverter for running the heater in my car (and on the road).

View attachment 256741

Water for soaking the cypress, hydrating the food, and washing Darwin.

Food and plastic lid: dehydrated fruit and veg and bugs, tortoise kibble.

Jamie

PS - we've got go-bags for the dogs, and Beulah, the marine toad, is tough as nails, and can wait out the power outage

Thanks so much for the detailed description and the photos! I'm going to put a kit like this together for Coralie.
 

TortMom6

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Citrus Heights, California, USA
Thank you for starting this thread! We're down here in the East Bay, about an hour south of Sac, and even here, the air is bad enough that we're stuck in the house with the air filters running 24/7. It's definitely got me thinking in more detail about how to evacuate Coralie if need be.
Today seems to be the worst for air quality, the smoke is quite horrible. Thought I am very thankful smoke is all I have to deal with, it could be much much worse.
 

NorCal tortoise guy

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I live only about an hour from this fire and am also very greatful the terrible smoke is the worst we have had to deal with. This years fires and last years possible dam brake (for which we did have to evacuate) has really had me thinking about a better plan. I keep lots of tortoises several of them being big sulcatas. I think a costumized trailer maybe the way I go.
 

Pastel Tortie

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I believe @ALDABRAMAN has a horse trailer to evacuate his herd of Aldabras from south Florida when needed. He would be a good one to ask about special considerations for evacuating larger sizes (and larger numbers) of tortoises.
 

KBeam

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Central Illinois
There is a large, very un-contained wild fire raging about 2.5 hours from where I live. While I feel safe that it will not come as far as Sacramento it has gotten me to thinking about emergency preparations for my tortoises (and all my other pets too), not just fire emergencies, but any emergency that would require me to leave quickly.

Do any of you have emergency plans for your tortoises? If so what are they?

I am thinking about making a bail-out box of emergency supplies. Just not sure what it should include.

I hate thinking about this, my greatest fear is not being able to get everyone out in time. I imagine there will be nightmares for a good few nights now, but better prepared than not.

I have 72 hour kits for each person (4), dog (5) and turtle (1). When we lived in Florida we learned to be prepared for hurricanes. Then we moved to Iowa and had a train carrying unknown toxic substances derail and had to evacuate again! So, you have to be prepared no matter where you live!
 

ALDABRAMAN

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SW Forida
I believe @ALDABRAMAN has a horse trailer to evacuate his herd of Aldabras from south Florida when needed. He would be a good one to ask about special considerations for evacuating larger sizes (and larger numbers) of tortoises.

~ Yes and we have other options on standby if needed.

44484136_2093397064055739_5598725848724144128_n.jpg
 

Tim Carlisle

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I dont have a real disaster plan in place for fires. Around here we have to worry about floods, tornados, snow and ice storms. Power outtages are a real concern here. Fortunately, my house is on the same grid as the hospital, so it's usually back on pretty quick. My indoor enclosure has redundant battery backups, so I usually get around 4-5 hours of emergency backup.

My outdoor enclosure (although not finished yet) sits on top of a hill in case of flooding. I plan to purchase a genny this spring for it. In the event of a tornado, I would have to bring him down in the cellar.

Fires. Hmmm. I feel so bad for the folks who have lost everything. How do you 100% plan for something as devastating as that? Some lost all.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Keep in mind that you don't need a separate plan or separate kit for each type of emergency.

There's a core concept in emergency management that plans should be "all hazards" oriented. Floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, winter storms, train derailments, disease outbreaks, and hazardous materials all sound very different at first... Then when you think through it, you realize that how you have to prepare and respond... is actually quite similar.

You start with the basic plan, then you figure out the tweaks for the different hazards that may require some special considerations or additional actions.
 

jsheffield

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I got the first test of Darwin's enclosure in a power outage this morning (and it's still going) ... I knew that the outlets powering his enclosure were on the circuits that the generator picks up, but until I saw it happen, I didn't actually believe it (if you can understand the difference between knowing and believing something).

The power's been out for two hours, but the generator kicked on five or ten seconds after the outage began ... not even long enough to warrant adjusting the timers on the lights in his tank. The heat and humidity has been holding at the levels I (and Darwin) have become accustomed to, so we don't have to worry about taking the next step in our emergency plan.

Jamie
 

jsheffield

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We live in NH, so the climate is the big potential challenge for my exotic pets.

We lose power 10-20 times each year, generally short duration interruptions, but we have a generator sized and wired for the house that picks up the slack a few seconds after the power goes out.

If the power stays out for a week, or we have to leave the house for some reason, I've got a travel kit for Darwin, my redfoot.

View attachment 256735

It's a 60 quart container, by Ziploc.

View attachment 256737

Everything fits inside, until such time as Darwin needs to go in.

View attachment 256738

Two Rubbermaid containers: one with cypress for the big box, then a soaking tub when Darwin needs it; one with a cutout that can be used as a hide in the big box.

View attachment 256740

A waterproof heating pad, thermostat power supply, and an inverter for running the heater in my car (and on the road).

View attachment 256741

Water for soaking the cypress, hydrating the food, and washing Darwin.

Food and plastic lid: dehydrated fruit and veg and bugs, tortoise kibble.

Jamie

PS - we've got go-bags for the dogs, and Beulah, the marine toad, is tough as nails, and can wait out the power outage

I'm redoing this kit in light of now having three tortoises....

J
 

Pastel Tortie

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I'm redoing this kit in light of now having three tortoises....

J
Understand completely. Been having to adjust my own household plans now to accommodate 5 turtles (1 juvenile Gulf Coast boxie, 2 mud turtles, and 2 hatchling spotteds), 2 bearded dragons (1 adult male, one young female), 1 fish (betta), a few pet snails (mystery snail and some Nerites), and a herd of indoors-only felines.

Then there's the invertebrate colonies and feeders... Isopods, earthworms, tiny pond snails, superworms, crickets... The feeder populations in the fridge would likely get fed out to the lizards and turtles first.
 

Kylee L.

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Aug 3, 2019
Messages
337
Location (City and/or State)
Jacksonville, FL
We live in NH, so the climate is the big potential challenge for my exotic pets.

We lose power 10-20 times each year, generally short duration interruptions, but we have a generator sized and wired for the house that picks up the slack a few seconds after the power goes out.

If the power stays out for a week, or we have to leave the house for some reason, I've got a travel kit for Darwin, my redfoot.

View attachment 256735

It's a 60 quart container, by Ziploc.

View attachment 256737

Everything fits inside, until such time as Darwin needs to go in.

View attachment 256738

Two Rubbermaid containers: one with cypress for the big box, then a soaking tub when Darwin needs it; one with a cutout that can be used as a hide in the big box.

View attachment 256740

A waterproof heating pad, thermostat power supply, and an inverter for running the heater in my car (and on the road).

View attachment 256741

Water for soaking the cypress, hydrating the food, and washing Darwin.

Food and plastic lid: dehydrated fruit and veg and bugs, tortoise kibble.

Jamie

PS - we've got go-bags for the dogs, and Beulah, the marine toad, is tough as nails, and can wait out the power outage
this is great!! thank you
 

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