# Power-cut protocol



## QWERTYOP (Apr 5, 2021)

Had a power-cut tonight. Thankfully it’s over and everything is ok before anyone worries that this might be a live situation. It’s not. But having an extended power-cut (a couple of hours tonight) did make me think about how I could possibly be better prepared if anything like this happens again.

My plan had this gone on for too long would have been to put my Cali King into his travel case and leave him at my sisters house at at least decent heated household temperature until power was restored, but is there anything I can do to better prepare for such situations myself in the future?

I’ve heard people mention things like hand warmers etc for example. To be clear, my entire home runs on electricity. No gas. So when the power goes, the heating goes. Obviously one of the worst days of the year for it to happen temperature wise. I didn’t even care that I might miss the England game! (power came back on literally minutes before KO as it happens). So yeah, open to all advice and tips. That said, I believe Cali Kings (the only reptile I have to be clear) can actually withstand pretty low temperatures well? And of course, wooden vivs do retain heat for quite some time too. I only actually lost about 8c in the viv in the end. Anyway I’m rambling now (still fairly shaken by the worry) so I’ll throw it open to the floor…


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## Elly66 (Feb 27, 2021)

We often have powercuts as I live in a rural place. Without electricity, the gas heating doesn't run either 😉
We cover the vivs with thick duvets. If prolonged we fill hot water bottles and place under substrate. 
I'd only consider moving the snakes if the powercut was expected to last 24 plus hours.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Well if it's just a king snake you're fine.... it may trigger a brumation stage, but it will survive the cold... If you kept pythons or boa's then that's a different issue altogether


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## QWERTYOP (Apr 5, 2021)

Malc said:


> Well if it's just a king snake you're fine.... it may trigger a brumation stage, but it will survive the cold... If you kept pythons or boa's then that's a different issue altogether


Realistically, what’s the lowest I could safely allow it to go in a power loss situation for a Cali King? He’s a coastal if that makes any difference. I know they can go low compared to many reptiles, but this seems like a wise time to nail exactly HOW low. I do have a ceramic in there alongside my heatlamp that I can set to come on overnight at a certain temperature point if I needed to.


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## peterson (Feb 28, 2018)

We had an email at work about potential powercuts for load shedding this winter. The odd thing, to me, was that they (the power company) would give a warning for the first power cut, but not for subsequent ones, as they couldn't predict when it would happen? 
As for heating, our house is insulated quite well, and a powercut of a few hours shouldn't be a problem.


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## Swindinian (May 4, 2020)

We had a couple of brief power cuts. I kept noticing timers were out of sync, and a stat went screwy, and a DHP stopped working.
Then we had a more substantial cut, something like 10pm to 4am. On New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day!
I went round covering all the vivs with towels. I think I might have unplugged their electrics as well.

The bigger stressor was my aquarium, it was heavily stocked, and heavily filtered. I ended up disassembling the 2 external filters and spreading out the bio filter media so it didn’t go anoxic. 
I think I had a mini air pump which could run off a usb charger, although it later broke.

For some herps, It might be an idea to get a stash of those travel heat packs for an emergency.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

QWERTYOP said:


> Realistically, what’s the lowest I could safely allow it to go in a power loss situation for a Cali King? He’s a coastal if that makes any difference. I know they can go low compared to many reptiles, but this seems like a wise time to nail exactly HOW low. I do have a ceramic in there alongside my heatlamp that I can set to come on overnight at a certain temperature point if I needed to.


There a temperate zone snake, so in theory it will survive temperatures in single digits. Obviously if the power was going to be out for days you would stop feeding and let the snake brumate. But in reality most power cuts will be just a few hours at a time.

I've had to replace all the ceramics with mats in all 9 Royal pythons viv, and reduce the time the central heating comes on. The rooms which house these vivs are currently 14.4c, so the ambient air temp in the viv is not far off. All the Royals sit on the mat for around 20 hours a day (each mat is thermostatically controlled), but so far they show no signs of ant health issues. So if Royals can withstand air temps of 15c rather than 27-30c which they are used to I'm sure your kingsnake will survive a few hours without heat


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## QWERTYOP (Apr 5, 2021)

Looks like I have an animal that can cope partially well with such situations. Absolutely fine this evening as you can see! Just resting on a raptor skull as you do… Appreciate the reassurance, everyone.


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## Sylvi (Dec 30, 2008)

I live on the end of a peninsular in SW Ireland and losing power for a couple of days in a storm is something we live with. We have a multi fuel stove so that gets lit and the snakes (Royals, Hondurans, Corn) get tubbed and moved into the lounge near the stove with thermometers attached to the tubs. At night I cover over with blankets and shut the door and the temperature tends to just drop off to their minimum level during the night. If all else fails I keep an emergency supply of travel heat packs and have a camping stove and hot water bottles.


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## Elly66 (Feb 27, 2021)

One thing to remember in a powercut is not to open the vivs unless essential. The moment you open the doors, any heat held starts to vanish. 
I also unplug everything to avoid a power surge blowing the items.


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## Bombjack (Jan 16, 2015)

There's only been a few power cuts in my area and they only last for about 1 hour and during warmer weather so to be honest i've got no plan.

Would heat packs be any good? i've heard different opinions on how much heat they give off.It's an open question and in different scenarios.


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