Emergency Preparedness and your reptile collection
The last thing you want to be doing is figuring out what you're going to do during the middle of a storm and your reptiles life may well depend on your planning and readiness to face an emergency. The size of your collection and hardiness of the species kept will determine which options are feasible for you.
If you have a small collection of 1-15 animals, a very practical technique may simply be to keep deli cups or bags and shipping boxes handy. In the event of a power outage, you can box the animals up with a heat pack or precharged cold pack and simply wait for conditions to improve or transport the animals to a safe location such as a family member's home. For extended power outages caused by major storms, you may need to create temporary enclosures. It would be a good idea to make such arrangements before they are needed.
For those with larger collections, it will likely prove more difficult to move all the animals and it becomes more realistic to be prepared to dig in and ride out even extended outages (although I have heard of breeders having agreements that they will allow each other to ship or drive the animals up to ride out such a situation and even of each breeder having a spare rack or two at the others location. However, one would need to have a great deal of faith that their partner would come through in this situation, have a disease free collection, and return the animals at the end of the ordeal).
For summertime power outages or those in warm locations, a generator powerful enough to run their central air or a window AC unit will be needed. If only a small number of animals are heat sensitive, a cooler with a cold pack or frozen water bottle may due. Moving animals to a basement will also generally keep them cooler.
For wintertime outages in cold regions, there are numerous options. Keeping the primary heat system going via natural gas or gasoline powered generators are an option but you'd want to test these before they are needed to ensure they can power your system and that everything is functional. Additionally, you'll want to do a periodic test to ensure the generator is still working as expected and be sure to store portable units properly and follow the maintenance procedures. For less expensive portable units, it would be a good idea to have plenty of fuel and a backup unit ready to go. If you're going to power space heaters with your generator, be advised that it takes considerable amounts of electricity to heat up a reptile room in a otherwise cold house. I would recommend being able to run at least two 1500watt heaters at the same time for a small bedroom. A kerosene heater will produce a good amount of heat but a window must be cracked while it is in use and thus I would not use it directly in a reptile room. However, they are still useful for heating the rest of the house and thus your generator or other heating systems will not have to work as hard. Kerosene stores well which is an advantage over gasoline. Here's a link to a good kerosene heater that is relatively safe to use as long as all directions are followed: Dura Heat 23k BTU. Propane is another option. Propane tanks can be leased from a local company and they will come up and refill them on request. You can also have a vented high powered furnace installed to use propane that will work in the event that you have a power outage or that your primary heat system goes out and cannot be repaired right away. Not all propane furnaces work without electricity, so be sure to check before purchasing. Additionally, many high BTU portable propane units need to be vented if used indoors. There are also non-vented propane heaters but these will not be powerful enough to heat an entire home in most cases, but they can heat a particular room. These will require bringing a propane pipe indoors and may require pulling permit as a result. Here is a link to such a non-vented unit Avenger Dual Fuel Vent Free Blue Flame Wall Heater, Thermostat - 10,000 BTU . Another option is a propane heater that uses canisters that can be obtained at Walmart or any outdoors store. This will require frequent changing of the canisters and it does not contain a thermostat so the temperatures must be watched even more closely. These may be a good option for someone who can constantly monitor the room temperature or who has a long term backup location but is just looking to hold out during short term outages such as a small storm or while waiting for the primary heating system to be repaired. Here is a link to such a model Mr. Heater
Here is a link to a good podcast regarding winter storms and reptile collections. Vin Russo -- Doomsday prepping for herpers
The last thing you want to be doing is figuring out what you're going to do during the middle of a storm and your reptiles life may well depend on your planning and readiness to face an emergency. The size of your collection and hardiness of the species kept will determine which options are feasible for you.
If you have a small collection of 1-15 animals, a very practical technique may simply be to keep deli cups or bags and shipping boxes handy. In the event of a power outage, you can box the animals up with a heat pack or precharged cold pack and simply wait for conditions to improve or transport the animals to a safe location such as a family member's home. For extended power outages caused by major storms, you may need to create temporary enclosures. It would be a good idea to make such arrangements before they are needed.
For those with larger collections, it will likely prove more difficult to move all the animals and it becomes more realistic to be prepared to dig in and ride out even extended outages (although I have heard of breeders having agreements that they will allow each other to ship or drive the animals up to ride out such a situation and even of each breeder having a spare rack or two at the others location. However, one would need to have a great deal of faith that their partner would come through in this situation, have a disease free collection, and return the animals at the end of the ordeal).
For summertime power outages or those in warm locations, a generator powerful enough to run their central air or a window AC unit will be needed. If only a small number of animals are heat sensitive, a cooler with a cold pack or frozen water bottle may due. Moving animals to a basement will also generally keep them cooler.
For wintertime outages in cold regions, there are numerous options. Keeping the primary heat system going via natural gas or gasoline powered generators are an option but you'd want to test these before they are needed to ensure they can power your system and that everything is functional. Additionally, you'll want to do a periodic test to ensure the generator is still working as expected and be sure to store portable units properly and follow the maintenance procedures. For less expensive portable units, it would be a good idea to have plenty of fuel and a backup unit ready to go. If you're going to power space heaters with your generator, be advised that it takes considerable amounts of electricity to heat up a reptile room in a otherwise cold house. I would recommend being able to run at least two 1500watt heaters at the same time for a small bedroom. A kerosene heater will produce a good amount of heat but a window must be cracked while it is in use and thus I would not use it directly in a reptile room. However, they are still useful for heating the rest of the house and thus your generator or other heating systems will not have to work as hard. Kerosene stores well which is an advantage over gasoline. Here's a link to a good kerosene heater that is relatively safe to use as long as all directions are followed: Dura Heat 23k BTU. Propane is another option. Propane tanks can be leased from a local company and they will come up and refill them on request. You can also have a vented high powered furnace installed to use propane that will work in the event that you have a power outage or that your primary heat system goes out and cannot be repaired right away. Not all propane furnaces work without electricity, so be sure to check before purchasing. Additionally, many high BTU portable propane units need to be vented if used indoors. There are also non-vented propane heaters but these will not be powerful enough to heat an entire home in most cases, but they can heat a particular room. These will require bringing a propane pipe indoors and may require pulling permit as a result. Here is a link to such a non-vented unit Avenger Dual Fuel Vent Free Blue Flame Wall Heater, Thermostat - 10,000 BTU . Another option is a propane heater that uses canisters that can be obtained at Walmart or any outdoors store. This will require frequent changing of the canisters and it does not contain a thermostat so the temperatures must be watched even more closely. These may be a good option for someone who can constantly monitor the room temperature or who has a long term backup location but is just looking to hold out during short term outages such as a small storm or while waiting for the primary heating system to be repaired. Here is a link to such a model Mr. Heater
Here is a link to a good podcast regarding winter storms and reptile collections. Vin Russo -- Doomsday prepping for herpers
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