Curtis is healthy and warm, and nothing has happened to either of my tortoises. This is just to have on hand if I need it. I realize that half the time I post it's because something has happened, and I don't want to scare anyone, lol.
Some of you may remember the scare I had with Curtis two years ago. I am happy to report that nothing like that has happened since, and it doesn't seem to be happening any time soon. However, I am back at college and will be for the foreseeable future, so I am currently unable to watch over him myself, and Texas is having some very low temperatures right now. Curtis even got some snow yesterday, though he remained nice and toasty in his night box instead of venturing out.
It occurred to me that, while I am confident I know what to do if the heating fails, my parents are not, so I wrote up some instructions for them in case it happens again. My hope is that this post may also be helpful to anyone who finds themself in a similar situation in the future, or just stumbles upon it. Most of this is probably obvious or common sense, but you never know.
My parents are diligently checking on him at least twice a day, often more, so it is virtually impossible that anything will happen to the degree it did two years ago. He has lights plugged into the same outlets as his heating to let us know if there's an outage, but it's not visible during the day, and sometimes heat will fail even if there's power. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that only about a fifth of his $200 Kane heat mat is working, and though his oil heater and what's left of the mat still keep his night box at 80 degrees with the door closed in sub 20 weather, it's best to keep an eye on it. Ideally, I should have a Wi-Fi thermometer or the lights on a thermostat.
The below is what I sent them. It assumes that temperatures outside are below freezing, the water heater is working, and that the house has power.
Is anything not quite right, especially about the method in which you gradually warm them? I also said there's no exact science to the rate at which you warm them, but for all I know, there could be. Anything very important that I've missed? This also does not cover what to do if he does not fully recover, like if RI sets in or frostbite happens. It's just meant to be direct steps to take in an emergency to keep the tortoise alive and stable until you can seek out a vet or more advice if something is still wrong. If all goes well, my parents won't have to do any of this, but someone might.
Curtis has also been exceedingly lucky and I'm pretty sure he has plot armor, and it was written with him in mind, so it's possible I am greatly underestimating the damage freezing temperatures can do to a sulcata or other non-hibernating species in a limited amount of time. Feel free to call me on this if there are definitely more immediate steps that should be taken after finding your ice cold tortoise.
Also feel free to share any tips that could be helpful for me or other people in this situation.
Some of you may remember the scare I had with Curtis two years ago. I am happy to report that nothing like that has happened since, and it doesn't seem to be happening any time soon. However, I am back at college and will be for the foreseeable future, so I am currently unable to watch over him myself, and Texas is having some very low temperatures right now. Curtis even got some snow yesterday, though he remained nice and toasty in his night box instead of venturing out.
It occurred to me that, while I am confident I know what to do if the heating fails, my parents are not, so I wrote up some instructions for them in case it happens again. My hope is that this post may also be helpful to anyone who finds themself in a similar situation in the future, or just stumbles upon it. Most of this is probably obvious or common sense, but you never know.
My parents are diligently checking on him at least twice a day, often more, so it is virtually impossible that anything will happen to the degree it did two years ago. He has lights plugged into the same outlets as his heating to let us know if there's an outage, but it's not visible during the day, and sometimes heat will fail even if there's power. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that only about a fifth of his $200 Kane heat mat is working, and though his oil heater and what's left of the mat still keep his night box at 80 degrees with the door closed in sub 20 weather, it's best to keep an eye on it. Ideally, I should have a Wi-Fi thermometer or the lights on a thermostat.
The below is what I sent them. It assumes that temperatures outside are below freezing, the water heater is working, and that the house has power.
Is anything not quite right, especially about the method in which you gradually warm them? I also said there's no exact science to the rate at which you warm them, but for all I know, there could be. Anything very important that I've missed? This also does not cover what to do if he does not fully recover, like if RI sets in or frostbite happens. It's just meant to be direct steps to take in an emergency to keep the tortoise alive and stable until you can seek out a vet or more advice if something is still wrong. If all goes well, my parents won't have to do any of this, but someone might.
Curtis has also been exceedingly lucky and I'm pretty sure he has plot armor, and it was written with him in mind, so it's possible I am greatly underestimating the damage freezing temperatures can do to a sulcata or other non-hibernating species in a limited amount of time. Feel free to call me on this if there are definitely more immediate steps that should be taken after finding your ice cold tortoise.
Also feel free to share any tips that could be helpful for me or other people in this situation.
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