Winter heating & powercuts

[MacAdder]

Winter heating & powercuts•   Rocks,decorative but also fantastic heat conductors which will release heat slowly
•   Wrap your viv in towels to keep heat in
•   Stock up on heat packs (always use caution as they can get quite hot)
•   keep plastic bottles handy,fill them with hot water and wrap in a towel for powercut

[David]

very good post! I will sticky this also. It will come in handy at some point.

[jusgus]

I usually turn the room thermostat up and get night bulbs for those who need. Also putting plastic wrap over most of the screen mesh for those who are in aquariums seems to help keep some heat in.

[KNOTAGAIN]

Hi all...I had an awful experience last winter, and learned some things I'd like to share.  We experienced an ice storm that knocked power out for days at best (I was lucky to be off for 4 days!) and weeks at worst.  I keep a number of snakes and we all came through it just fine, but it was a challenge.  When it first happened, I never expected it to go on for so long (what a rookie!) but I bagged up my snakes and put them in plastic ventilated boxes, then under my down comforter with me for warmth.  As the second day approached and the house was getting colder I knew I had to do more:  fortunately I have a gas hot water heater, and a number of styrofoam boxes/ice chests;  I put 2 or 3 bagged snakes per ice chest along with 2-3 jars of hot water and they stayed a balmy 78-85* for over 8 hours.  (I put the chests on the couch, with a little more insulation in the form of pillows, blankets)  Actually, everytime I changed the jars of water I wished I could have crawled inside!?!  The snakes came through without so much as an illness thankfully!  This year I have already upgraded my gas log fireplace for an unvented one...the old vented one put all the heat up the chimney!  And I also stocked up on disposable heat packs (from sporting goods store) as well as supplies more specific to my care (sterno, candles, crank style flashlite/radio etc.) but if you don't have some styrofoam boxes/coolers around, by all means get some.  Oftentimes petstores discard them (tropical fish etc. come shipped in them) or fancy foods/candy get shipped in them.  Have a ready supply of snake bags (pillow cases?) around too...I have heard of some who lost many if not all their reptiles from the storm...and that is really sad!