Heat pads/packs in Emergency.

[LadySharon]

Ok. I tried a search for this but cannot find exactly what I am looking for.

Though I live in colorado and have never had my electricity go off for longer then a few hours, I do have a concern of supplying needed heat in case of an emergency.

Now - I am buying some stuff from lllreptile and I was thinking of adding a bunch of these:
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...king-material/-/disposable-40-hour-heat-pack/

They are 40 hour heat packs... I'm assuming chemical activated? I can't tell from the picture.


What I'm looking for is something to use - perferably on the outside but maybe safely on the inside - (wrapped in a towel or something) of T cages (and my snakes of course... but this is a T board and I'm most concerned about them)

if the electric were to go out for a few days durrng the winter.

I'm assuming if the outside temps were <30 d F. and the electric went off that my place would drop in temp pretty quick.

For info I live in a condo that is on the ground floor and between two other condos (id not on an end). I share walls.

So it hopefully won't get as low as outside temps or I'd have other problems!

Has anyone out there (with all the ice storms going on across the US) faced this? What did you do? What do you recommend?
Will these packs proved enough heat? (ie heat up an area/encloser 20 to 30 degrees more then the surrounding temp?)

Thank you for your time and help

- Sharon

 

[Arachtis]

As a matter of fact, my electricity just returned last night due to an ice storm that knocked out power all over the region on Tuesday morning.

The day before the storm was expected to hit, I stocked up on body warming heat packs (I think I bought 20 or 30 of them) they provide heat for close to 18 hours, and can easily be taped to the side of a T enclosure. I also used hot water bottles to provide warmth (fortunately my stove and water heater are gas)

Once the storm came through and my power went out, I scrambled into the bug room and began evacuating the occupants into the living room, so that they could be closer to the stove (which I couldn't turn up very high or else I would suffocate myself). I placed all of my inverts (close to 55 of them) at various parts of the living room, if they happened to occupy a large enclosure with a heat pad or such, then I placed them inside of a deli cup with some slightly moist substrate, so that they didn't take up so much room. Once I got them all in the living room, I placed woolly blankets over each group, and put a heat pack or hot water bottle filled with warm water underneath the blanket with them for good measure. Each day I would check up on them, and mist their substrate as needed. even when the temp outside dipped down into the teens, I was able to keep the temp around 70-72 in the immediate area of the inverts. I had ZERO deaths, and in fact, some of my heavy webbing species appeared to have been extremely busy during the power outage. The main thing, is to get your ducks in a row the day before the storm hits, so that you can act quickly when the power does go out. Don't be afraid to drag your T's into the kitchen, or wrap them in a blanket, whatever it akes to keep them alive.

 

[LadySharon]

hmmm interesting.

I don't have a gas stove though.

What brand of packs did you use?

To be honest I always figured I'd hole up in the bathroom and possibly light candles - I've expermented before and they heat up a room fast. I have to figure out safe ways of useing them though. Ovously I wouldn't let them burn all the time... I also have used large squat ones and ones in jars/glass - I have cats so I already have set ups where the cats won't knock anything over.

I also have an unoccuplied 20 gal - I've put candles in smaller cages before with a screen top - the heat etc escape but nothing can get in.

However, I'd also like to know if there is a safer alternitive for heating a room in general - must be able to be used in a closed space. (some of the "camping" stuff are for cooking and say you have to use it outside and/or in a well ventalated area.