Are you prepared for a disaster...

[ArkansasKelly]

I sure was not. LOL A freak Ice storm hit NWA last week and crippled the city. Most people were out of power for a few days, but most, like me, were out for at least a week and more will be out longer than that. Our power finally came back on last night so we were out for 8 days and 10 hours.

What was worse, we were not prepared! No generators! Okay, so the house itself was not a problem, I can live with no power for awhile, but my torts could not. This is how I wound up keeping them warm.

And it was all because of this.

1.5-2" of ice. Trees were snapping everywhere, but the worst was the power poles. They snapped like tiny twigs. Crazy!

Anyway, the power is back and the torts are in their perspective houses, but I just wanted people to be aware that disaster can strike anywhere and anyone. Having even a small generator on hand would not be a bad idea. We now have 4. LOL Of course, we were trying to keep 40,000 turkeys alive too. Ugh!

Best wishes!

ARKelly

 

[Isa]

I hate when things like that happen. I am glad everyone is doing fine. I have one generator at home but the electrician did not plug it yet, I think I will call him this week.
By the way, that is a cute little dog you have

 

[ArkansasKelly]

I hate when things like that happen. I am glad everyone is doing fine. I have one generator at home but the electrician did not plug it yet, I think I will call him this week.
By the way, that is a cute little dog you have

Hey, thanks Isa. That is my inherited dog Courtney. She is a rat terrier. She is just 1 out of 5 dogs that we have. I think I am a glutten for punishment. The dogs ages range from 11 years old down to 10 months old.

Tell you what, we were able to find generators if we looked hard enough, but believe it or not, the plugs were the hardest to come by. They were flying off the shelves in record numbers. LOL What a mess.

ARKelly

 

[Yvonne G]

I have thought about this frequently. I would really be hard-put to protect all of my tortoises should we have an ice storm or if the power is out for any length of time. I really need to start putting money aside to buy a generator. With 25 or so rather large tortoises to keep warm, it would be quite a sight in my house near the wood stove! I do have several large tubs and troughs that will house a 100lb tortoise temporarily.

That's global warming for you, huh?

Yvonne

 

[Maggie Cummings]

For those with smaller tortoises you could do what I have done when the power goes out. I fill old Ragu jars with hot water then wrap a towel around it and put it in with the tortoises. Obviously you couldn't use that for bigger tortoises, but it works well with the smaller ones.

 

[Crazy1]

ARKelly, Glad things are getting back to normal for you and sorry you had to go through that. Ready I am. I have a generator and I have a Rubbermade tote filled with tort supplies, food extra water, etc and one with dog supplies, incase of Earthquakes or power outages or any kind of disasters. As long as CA does not fall into the ocean my animals should be OK. I even have extra plugs and power strips for the generator. I live in a house that is 105 years OLD and it has had it's problems even in CA so My Animals have their emergency gear. Now I need to get mine in order. Thanks for reminding us that we need to be prepared.

 

[ArkansasKelly]

For those with smaller tortoises you could do what I have done when the power goes out. I fill old Ragu jars with hot water then wrap a towel around it and put it in with the tortoises. Obviously you couldn't use that for bigger tortoises, but it works well with the smaller ones.

That would have work except hot water was hard to come by. LOL The hot water we did have came from the small kettle that was on the wood stove and it took forever to get it to boil. That is how I soaked the torts though. Boil the water, pour in a rubbermaid tote and then add some cool water till it got luke warm and then soaked them. My hatchlings loved it.

ARKelly

 

[Crazy1]

Amazing how things like that bring us back to the bare roots. Imagine doing that kind of thing every day before electricity. 'I shutter'.

 

[ArkansasKelly]

Amazing how things like that bring us back to the bare roots. Imagine doing that kind of thing every day before electricity. 'I shutter'.

NO THANK YOU! I was born with electricity and I WANT to keep it.

Camping is fine but other wise, no.

ARKelly

 

[jlyoncc1]

I was thinking about you while watching the news. Wondering if you were in the middle of that mess. Glad everything turned out ok. I have a generator and thank goodness because we have had to use if before to keep sump pumps running due to bad rains and flooding.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Thanks for the reminder for all us tort lovers!

We had a big scare in December here in Seattle--about a foot and a half of snow with ice and wind, about three storms in a row. I was really thinking we were going to lose power. Now we have an emergency plan in place though...we are stocked up on fire logs, and bought hand warmers for our little guy so we'd be able to keep him warm without needing to boil water even. They are just those cheap disposable packs that warm up with friction I believe.

That must have been crazy for you Kelly! How much does a generator run, by the way? I'd love to have one here because I've heard ice storms are rather common, and I'm spoiled and like my electricity. We still don't own a snow shovel or any of that useful stuff. Been meaning to pick up more emergency supplies and car tire chains.

 

[Jacqui]

Lived thru something like this once before, about 10 years ago in October. Our stove is propane, so usable without electrical power. If we needed water, in town there is a spring fed horse tank that folks keep open because people from out of town bring jugs to fill from it. They seem to like it's taste. We are "lucky" with having learned various things to do because we have flooded, had ice storms,and our mini tornado. A fire scares me however...

So how well did you do with the turkeys?

 

[Madkins007]

I've had a plan for a couple years now (I am a big-time preparedness fan). It consists of...

Temporary sheltering:
- House in old coolers (from thrift shop, cleaned well), with old towels for substrate.
- Heat with sealed bottles of hot water or heated bricks, heated on camping stove (I have a couple, and a propane grill, and a few spare tanks of propane)
- If I need to cover the coolers, I tape a small lightstick on the lid, and always leave the lid somewhat ajar

Longer term:
- Using the same coolers as above, move them to a warmer place- friend, relative, workplace. One of the cool thing about tortoises as reptilian pets is that most places and people don't care about them.

I am hoping to pick up a propane-powered indoor/outdoor camping catalytic heater (like http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1603298) so I can warm up a small room, like the bathroom, for the tortoises and family, and so we can camp out more comfortably in the marginal weather so common here in Nebraska.

 

[ArkansasKelly]

That must have been crazy for you Kelly! How much does a generator run, by the way? I'd love to have one here because I've heard ice storms are rather common, and I'm spoiled and like my electricity. We still don't own a snow shovel or any of that useful stuff. Been meaning to pick up more emergency supplies and car tire chains.

Generator prices vary quite alot, even for the same model, but price is indictive to how big of one you get. Our smallest one,which is a 5500w ran us $575.00, the plus was another $30.00 and the wiring about $4.00. Even though you get the generator, you must find the plug also. LOL You would think it would come with it. Ugh!

Butterball finally came out here with a 15kw that can power 2 houses at once so that helped. We will be getting a 25kw also so we WILL be ready for the next freak storm. Stupid turkeys!

ARKelly

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So how well did you do with the turkeys?

We did alot better than most other growers. For the longest time we were in the single digits for mortality until some of the decided to "pile" and then we lost 200. They did it twice so we lost 400, give or take a few. All in all, things went very well. The floor in house #4 is shot though. It is so wet, that it is like walking in muck, but this muck is pure turkey crap.

Arkelly

 

[Jacqui]

Glad your losses remained fairly low. Normally, how big is the average number lost with each 1,000 you try to grow?

 

[tortoisenerd]

Goodness how many turkeys do you have? That's awesome! Can you tell I grew up in the city and have been on a farm maybe twice in my life? lol I guess with only one tort I don't have much of an excuse to spend near that much on a generator...bummer.

 

[ArkansasKelly]

Glad your losses remained fairly low. Normally, how big is the average number lost with each 1,000 you try to grow?

Well, we actually go by whole farm percentage. Our best flock mortality was 2% out of 40,000 turkeys, which is about 800 birds.

Since we had a bad start this flock, birds came in dehydrated, we are 6 weeks old and are already at 5%.

Average percent in a normal flock would be about 3.5% mortality out of 40,000.

ARKelly

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Goodness how many turkeys do you have? That's awesome! Can you tell I grew up in the city and have been on a farm maybe twice in my life? lol I guess with only one tort I don't have much of an excuse to spend near that much on a generator...bummer.

Hey, growing up in the city has nothing to do with it. I was born and raised in NW IN. I have only been raising commercial poultry for 3 years now, but it feels like 10. LOL

And we have 40,000 turkeys we raise till they are 10 weeks old, ship them out and then start over with day old babies. Not very fun though.

I had more fun when I was raising bantam chickens in my backyard in IL.

ARKelly

 

[drgnfly2265]

That is something to think about. I know we wont get any ice storms or anything snowy here, but we have lost power for about a week because of the hurricanes. The good thing is that we won't freeze, but in the fall months it is so hot. No a/c in August or September is bad, but the sulcata doesn't mind.

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Jamie

1 Sulcata (Bowser)

www.myspace.com/bowsertortoise