What would you do?

[Tbrock91]

So I live in NC and today we had a pretty bad ice storm come through. We lost power for about 4-5 hours. My problem was my Chameleon's cage was getting cold. So when I saw it was don to 64F I took my Chameleon to work, right up the street. I work at an Animal Hospital (Not exotic animals, unfortunately) so it's important that we have power, we were running on a generator. But I now have power and my Chameleon warm and happy.

I started this discussion in hopes to know what plan you have for power outage and if you don't have one let me encourage you to make a back up plan for you Chameleon friends. I did not have a backup plan till today but I wish I had plan for it way before now.

 

[DirtyDubbz]

I would suggest buying a small generator to power his appliances that's what I do I live in newjersey

 

[kplatvoet]

I had emergency kits for my reptiles - thankfully I haven't had to use them but it consists of zipped up laundry baskets and shipping boxes heat packs - I planned my boxes for an event that I would need to move them in the winter and they wouldn't be home for 3 days - & packs in a plastic tub that when unpacked can be used as a temp home for one of the beardy - but since I did it I've gotten one more chameleon and one more beardy in the household so I really need to upgrade -

 

[carol5208]

That is one plan I do not have to worry about living in Florida! I think he would have still been fine at home. 64 is not really all that cold.

 

[ridgebax1]

I had a similar problem in early January after the first of several cold spells rolled through Pittsburgh. I lost my furnace! It took about a week to get it replaced so I had several days where the ambient temp in my living room was between 35 and 60 or so degrees. So while I had electricity I did not have heat. I made two "sleeping boxes" for my boys. I used a medium size clear storage container with areas cut out and covered with screen for ventilation. I glued some branches inside each one. Then I put some terrycloth towels in the bottom with shipping heat packs underneath and once I put the boys to bed, I placed a ceramic heat emitter over one end of both containers so they would have a bit of a gradient to choose from for sleep. Their daytime temps were very cool (50-60s) so I limited their food intake a bit and put in stronger wattage light bulbs for basking. Each had two 150 watt bulbs over the basking area and it was between 75 and 80 degrees. I also have a fireplace in my living room and built a couple fires but then I bought a ventless propane heater (30,000btu) which helped keep the room a little warmer, more toward 68 degrees. I lost a lot of bugs but the boys are fine.

 

[Tbrock91]

I would suggest buying a small generator to power his appliances that's what I do I live in new jersey

It's a good idea. But 2 problems with that. One I live in an apartment and I think generators are not allowed. Second generators are pretty expensive. Though if I didn't live in an apartment my father-in-law has an extra generator.

 

[Carlton]

It's a good idea. But 2 problems with that. One I live in an apartment and I think generators are not allowed. Second generators are pretty expensive. Though if I didn't live in an apartment my father-in-law has an extra generator.

If you really have no options for heat in your apartment find a friend who does (such as a fireplace, wood stove, or some way to heat water and fill hot water bottles for emergency boxes) and take your cham there.

 

[amalthea23]

We lost power last year for 10 days, and I moved all of my reptiles to a new location. After the 5th day, I moved my cats too. It got COLD. If it's a short term outtage (a couple of hours,) I put blankets on tanks. Any more than that, I look for a new location to take them to.