Any Tips for prolonged power outages?

sagemoon2004

Established Member
Sunday we were without electricity for about 10 1/2 hours, during which I started to panic, since it got below 60 degrees in the house. Was ready to scoop up my Cham and my 4 yr old daughter and try to trek to town, but roads were really bad, and obviously walking if stranded would kill my cham. We have a generator that will be ready in case this happens again, but I wondered what other people have done when faced with a similar situation? I did have the burners going on our gas stove to help, but winter storms here can be cold, and power outages can occur regularly. Any thoughts or tips?
 
I live in Florida and when all the hurricanes hit about 6 years ago, I went without power for about 3 weeks! It was insane!! I did not own a cham then but our generator was a godsend!!! We ran the fridge, tvs, (no hot water, cold showers) some lights, no ac, it was brutally hot but we survived!!! I would rather have the heat then the cold though.So I would say a generator. You said you have one right???
 
With a bunch of chams in Montana I could not be without a generator I would take all of them to the small room downstairs where the montanes live, as I can maintain the temp steady in the small room as is very well insulated, better than upstairs where the heat rises to but then escapes. I always hope I don't need it.:eek:
 
We have a generator,but have only lived here a little over a year, and my fiancee does all of that "manly" stuff :) He is gone to work 4 hrs away, and I was all alone, and do not watch the news, and was caught unaware of the storm brewing. Next time it will be fueled and ready. Also, how long can a Cham go w/o uv lights?
 
It's always a good idea to keep some heat packs on hand for emergencies. If your house is on fire, put the chameleons in their emergency boxes with a heat pack and a cloth so they stay warm and go to sleep. If the power is out for too long and you can't bring the temp up, put them in their emergency boxes with a heat pack and cloth to keep them warm.
 
The back up power sources for computers work really well to run some heat lamps off of to keep it in an acceptable range.
 
definitely a generator solves this problem, thankfully i have one for this winter, but the last two i had to emergency evacuate my reptiles to whatever hotel was closest with power and let me tell you that was not fun....not fun at all *shivers* and heat packs saved their lives for those trips! heat packs by the dozens! also what you are doing now is being preemptive! having a plan makes all the difference!
 
You can move your critters to small cages and keep heat packs (that you use to keep hands and feet warm or put in with chameleons when shipping on hand to put beside the cages and wrap the cages with a towel to keep the cage warm. Just make sure you leave a bit of ventilation so the chameleon won't suffocate and the excess heat can dissipate.
 
if you have a basement, most will stay 50 or above, or at least some part of it will for many hours during a power outage. That is enough heat for a while.

I have some old kerosene heaters as a backup, but have never had to use them and in my situation I doubt I ever will. I know these heaters are bad for birds, but as a kid my used one around an iguana and other various lizards without apparant ill-effect for several years as this was our primary heat source during the winter. I have no idea how this would effect chameleons though- anyone use one of these in their home and keep chameleons? I imagine the lung structure of chameleons might be more sensitive than other lizards...
 
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