Rimba
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2017
- Messages
- 20
Before I get into any details, this is a happy post and a big thank you to Arachnoboards. Despite everything that happened a few weeks ago in Texas, and my house being without power for 5 days in freezing temperatures, my millipede (Marimba) is doing just fine.
To give a brief timeline of the events, my house lost power at 2 in the morning while the temperatures were dropping to single-digits. The whole energy grid trash-fire has been documented well enough, so I wont go into how terribly the situation and communication was handled. The most important and damning element of the ordeal for me was that the energy company in my city kept holding this carrot-of-hope in front of our faces, saying they were hopeful power would be restored in 4, 8, 12 hours.
Let me also start by saying Marimba had been molting for about 2.5 months at this point. She had strangely chosen to barricade herself underneath a cork round this time around, so I had caught her building the chamber and actually knew an accurate start to her molt. Whenever I read about molting, I see people talking about a 1-2 month timeline. Marimba has taken a full 3 month hiatus in the past while molting, so while I was beginning to get worried, I certainly hadn't given up hope. However, coupled with the huge fungus gnat outbreak that happened around month 1.5 of her molt, it's safe to say I was wringing my hands.
So then the power drops.
The first night the power was out, I stayed up monitoring Marimba's tank. I had caught wind of power issues the day before, and had bought a supply of air-activated back-warmers, which I had stuck to the sides of her tank before covering it with several heavy blankets and boxing it all in with some insulated acoustic panels I have. This barely worked. As my room dropped from 70° to mid 50°s, I managed to keep her tank somewhere around 72°.
The next day, as the situation didn't improve and the temperature continued to drop, I knew that method wouldn't work for long, especially since I was already halfway through my supply of warmers. I saw this thread regarding the use of hot water in containers, and that, combined with the fact that my house has a gas-powered water heater, undoubtedly saved Marimba's life for the next 24 hours. In this case, it was a stroke of luck that she was molting, as I didn't have to worry too much about her coming in contact with the water containers. I set them directly in her tank, opposite the side she was on, and covered everything back up. I continued changing the water every hour or two, and was able to keep her tank around 77°. That being said, there were huge temperature swings every time I changed the water, and the humidity was out of control.
Still, my house didn't have power, my room was dropping to low 40°s, and I hadn't slept much at all in two days.
With the knowledge that my room would likely drop below freezing over the course of the next day, I reached out to a friend who had offered to come pick me up. The roads were covered in ice, but he had only recently moved to the south and had both the skill and 4WD that most Texans lack. I had put off this decision because of the danger presented by moving Marimba while she was molting. At this point I didn't think I had an option.
We made the drive alright, but a little piece of her molting chamber wall had fallen in by the time we got to his house. I was able to just barely spy through the hole and see her with my phone—When I first saw her she looked much more pale and had her legs sticking up in the air. Over the next several days I peeked in on her many times and saw her in all sorts of odd positions, often chewing on some molted segments. For the first time in 2.5 months, I had confirmation that she was alive and moving. I can't describe how relieved I felt. Several days later, after my power had been restored and I had caught a glimpse of her above-ground on a webcam, I was able to bring her back home.
Her molt wasn't perfect, and there are definitely some slight creases and ruffled portions, but her movement seems fine, and all of her body functions seem to work just great. This is so much more than I was expecting. She's been eating like crazy since she came up, and I'm so delighted to have her back.
Thanks for reading! And thank you for providing me with the information I needed to save her life. That whole experience was terrible, and I'm so glad she made it out.
To give a brief timeline of the events, my house lost power at 2 in the morning while the temperatures were dropping to single-digits. The whole energy grid trash-fire has been documented well enough, so I wont go into how terribly the situation and communication was handled. The most important and damning element of the ordeal for me was that the energy company in my city kept holding this carrot-of-hope in front of our faces, saying they were hopeful power would be restored in 4, 8, 12 hours.
Let me also start by saying Marimba had been molting for about 2.5 months at this point. She had strangely chosen to barricade herself underneath a cork round this time around, so I had caught her building the chamber and actually knew an accurate start to her molt. Whenever I read about molting, I see people talking about a 1-2 month timeline. Marimba has taken a full 3 month hiatus in the past while molting, so while I was beginning to get worried, I certainly hadn't given up hope. However, coupled with the huge fungus gnat outbreak that happened around month 1.5 of her molt, it's safe to say I was wringing my hands.
So then the power drops.
The first night the power was out, I stayed up monitoring Marimba's tank. I had caught wind of power issues the day before, and had bought a supply of air-activated back-warmers, which I had stuck to the sides of her tank before covering it with several heavy blankets and boxing it all in with some insulated acoustic panels I have. This barely worked. As my room dropped from 70° to mid 50°s, I managed to keep her tank somewhere around 72°.
The next day, as the situation didn't improve and the temperature continued to drop, I knew that method wouldn't work for long, especially since I was already halfway through my supply of warmers. I saw this thread regarding the use of hot water in containers, and that, combined with the fact that my house has a gas-powered water heater, undoubtedly saved Marimba's life for the next 24 hours. In this case, it was a stroke of luck that she was molting, as I didn't have to worry too much about her coming in contact with the water containers. I set them directly in her tank, opposite the side she was on, and covered everything back up. I continued changing the water every hour or two, and was able to keep her tank around 77°. That being said, there were huge temperature swings every time I changed the water, and the humidity was out of control.
Still, my house didn't have power, my room was dropping to low 40°s, and I hadn't slept much at all in two days.
With the knowledge that my room would likely drop below freezing over the course of the next day, I reached out to a friend who had offered to come pick me up. The roads were covered in ice, but he had only recently moved to the south and had both the skill and 4WD that most Texans lack. I had put off this decision because of the danger presented by moving Marimba while she was molting. At this point I didn't think I had an option.
We made the drive alright, but a little piece of her molting chamber wall had fallen in by the time we got to his house. I was able to just barely spy through the hole and see her with my phone—When I first saw her she looked much more pale and had her legs sticking up in the air. Over the next several days I peeked in on her many times and saw her in all sorts of odd positions, often chewing on some molted segments. For the first time in 2.5 months, I had confirmation that she was alive and moving. I can't describe how relieved I felt. Several days later, after my power had been restored and I had caught a glimpse of her above-ground on a webcam, I was able to bring her back home.
Her molt wasn't perfect, and there are definitely some slight creases and ruffled portions, but her movement seems fine, and all of her body functions seem to work just great. This is so much more than I was expecting. She's been eating like crazy since she came up, and I'm so delighted to have her back.
Thanks for reading! And thank you for providing me with the information I needed to save her life. That whole experience was terrible, and I'm so glad she made it out.
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