Ideas on keeping my T's warm without power

satanslilhelper

Arachnodemon
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Good news!! We didn't lose power!! The roads are closed and practically everything is shutdown, but there aren't many people without power. Whew!!
 

Johnny1320

Arachnopeon
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A gas powered generator outside with an extension cord thru the window and a space heater?
 

Suidakkra

Arachnosquire
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Putting cold blooded animals in insulated containers or under blankets is useless since there is no use to keep heat that is not generated. I have was to deal with a power outage in winter, problem is that I now live alone and I am kind of paranoid when I leave my house for a long time... the only friend I have within 50 km doesn't know what to do even if I leave him the keys. Should do a training!
I think you are wrong, sorry. When you place a cold blooded animal within a styrofoam container with heating packs (just like in shipping T's over night or 2 days in winter) its enough heat to keep them alive until the power is brought back on.

By your statement, there would be no reason to put T's in styrofoam packaging with Heat packs when shipping. :?
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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I think you are wrong, sorry. When you place a cold blooded animal within a styrofoam container with heating packs (just like in shipping T's over night or 2 days in winter) its enough heat to keep them alive until the power is brought back on.

By your statement, there would be no reason to put T's in styrofoam packaging with Heat packs when shipping. :?
I think Merfolk meant without heat packs. It would be useless to cover them with blankets because they don't generate any body heat to trap under the blanket.
 

CAK

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I think you are wrong, sorry. When you place a cold blooded animal within a styrofoam container with heating packs (just like in shipping T's over night or 2 days in winter) its enough heat to keep them alive until the power is brought back on.

By your statement, there would be no reason to put T's in styrofoam packaging with Heat packs when shipping. :?

I think Merfolk meant without heat packs. It would be useless to cover them with blankets because they don't generate any body heat to trap under the blanket.
I agree... I caught the same posting thinking someone was covering them without any heat source also.
 

MOBugGuy

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Try a local pet store (petco lets me if that happens, I adopt reptiles an help them if they have trouble with any of there exotic animals.) or a motel just dont tell them what your doin an go in the backdoor.
 

Introvertebrate

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A gas powered generator outside with an extension cord thru the window and a space heater?
Sure, as long as someone can stick around and keep an eye on things. Not necessarily something you can keep running unattended while you go to work.
 

k2power

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They are calling for freezing rain overnight here in NC as well but don't believe power will go out as precip is supposed to be light. The heat pack and styrofoam cooler idea is good. We have previously lost power for about 4 or 5 days from freezing rain before and the house will eventually drop into the 40s. A cooler without a heat pack would be helpful only if the tarantulas are put in right at the power outage and the interior of the cooler is room temp. It will cool more slowly and hopefully buy a little time in an emergency. For the far northern folks we often get ice storms in the South caused when air aloft is above freezing and the surface tempserature is below, causing a rain that freezes on everything eventually causing tree limbs and power lines to come down under the weight. They suck but are pretty to look at if the power stays on.
 

satanslilhelper

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Sure, as long as someone can stick around and keep an eye on things. Not necessarily something you can keep running unattended while you go to work.
lol!! This is the south. Everything shuts down with the slightest hint of the stuff. The roads have even cleared at this point and schools are shutting down for tomorrow. :wall:

We're good though. Like I posted earlier we didn't lose power. All are safe and sound. This has given me something to think about for future incidences though. Thanks to all for your advice.:D I need to get some heatpacks anyways for shipping this winter. So, I'll take care of that soon.
 

xhexdx

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You won't suffocate spiders with blankets. I've heard stories of spiders surviving over two weeks in a shipping box, so a few days covered in blankets certainly wouldn't do any harm.

Glad you didn't lose power and everything worked out.
 

Terry D

Arachnodemon
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lol!! This is the south. Everything shuts down with the slightest hint of the stuff. .
SLH, Yeah, sad to say but you have a MAJOR point there. It was different back in the 70's. They hardly ever closed any roads except after a tornado or when major construction was underway. Tornados or severe thunderstorms spring through fall might shut the power off for a few hours, even a day, but you'd never see shutoffs in winter unless there was an extremely bad ice/snowstorm- which was extremely rare, with inner-city shutoffs were never that long. They shut down several main interstates and bridges here yesterday and after what!.....MAYBE 1/8th inch of measurable precipitation. Give me a break! :wall: At least we dodged the bullet and didn't have any major shutdowns this time

With all our advances, we've taken many major steps back. It's ridiculous......:rolleyes:
 

AudreyElizabeth

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*shudder* The mere mention of ice makes me crazy after that. It was a disaster. We had to drive to Tennessee just to get kerosene. EVERYTHING was shut down. Wasn't necessarily the roads, it was all the downed trees and utility poles.

We still have hanging limbs in our yard falling. When the wind is up I hear them creaking.

I NEVER want that to happen again.
 

Introvertebrate

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..............We had to drive to Tennessee just to get kerosene...............
So a kerosene heater got you through that period?

---------- Post added at 02:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 PM ----------

The other thing to consider is keeping your feeder colony (crickets, roaches, mealworms, etc.) warm and insulated. Feeders sometimes have a lower tolerance for temperature fluctuation than Ts.
 

LeilaNami

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I had to deal with this once. The electric company neglected to turn on our electricity in our new apartment and wouldn't let us speak to any supervisor. It was in the middle of December, there was a freeze, and we fought with them for two weeks. Needless to say, I didn't use them EVER again. I couldn't afford heat packs at the time so I wrapped all my tanks in blankets and lit large unscented candles that I already had. I moved to the tank to whatever room I was sitting in so I could make sure I didn't catch the apartment on fire. {D I even wrapped the tank in a blanket with me! Everyone lived and I gave the company a piece of my mind for endangering my animals.

I have now stocked up on heat packs and we are considering buying a generator since we have many other animals too.
 

Merfolk

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I think Merfolk meant without heat packs. It would be useless to cover them with blankets because they don't generate any body heat to trap under the blanket.
Exactly! Some people would have the reflex to only cover them. Heatpacks are really life savers in this case;)
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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So a kerosene heater got you through that period?
Yes, although we could only heat two rooms. Houseplants, Ts, and snakes all got moved into the same room with it. The heater also doubled as a mini-stove of sorts. We could heat canned goods on it anyway, and water for instant coffee.

A lot of people that I know went to shelters that had either generators or power restored, but we didn't have that option due to the animals, so we just had to tough it out at home. I think a utility crew from Alabama finally got our lines ran back to the house.
 
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SarahAntula

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I am in agreement about the kerosene heaters.:worship:
They make a great heating supplement for the really cold days.
We have a raised ranch we keep the heater downstairs on coffee table and it makes our whole house nice and toasty in a power outage. :D
I also keep 5 extra gallons of kerosene in garage.
Kerosene Lamps a smaller option also provide heat and light and they are pretty.:}
Back up generators with a transfer switch & extra gas are also helpful ;)
 

Introvertebrate

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My parents had one when I was a kid. I used to carry it outside for the shut off process. That was the only time the heater gave off fumes. In hindsight, carrying an operating kerosene heater was probably not the safest practice.
 
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