When the Lights Went Out
By Paym Bergson
A recent blackout in my province has prompted the inevitable questions after the fact – what do you do with your reptiles when the power goes out – and I mean for more than just a few hours.
As our family are seasoned campers from the old way (tents, campfires, and recently upgrading to Coleman/propane stoves), dealing with a power outage is no big deal. Small flashlights are always ready at the lizard tanks (to be able to do a quick nighttime check without disrupting them too much), candles are on standby and matches and lighters are in one cupboard. Freezer fall out is a necessary hazard, but can be cleaned up and food eventually replaced.
But lizards? Snakes? Baby Dragons? These need heat and UVB light to survive – and unless you are lucky enough to own/use generators, when the power goes out – you’ve got trouble.
Fortunately, as this happened in the summer – getting those all important rays was not too difficult – the sun was shining and the window provided a wonderful view for them while soaking up those rays. Had this been the winter – well, the sun still shines, and any rays will help.
(As an aside, you should make it a habit to give your reptile “sun time” all year round – there’s nothing like the real thing to keep your reptile family member happy and healthy).
But warmth? The heating blanket is obviously out of the question (but something to keep in mind if you travel with your cold-blooded friends). Our solution was a hot water bottle – water steamed to perfection on the Coleman stove (the BBQ works well too), poured into that proverbial soother, and wrapped in a towel. The lizards were placed on top.
WARNING – please remember – lizards and most other reptiles are used to judging how hot they are by the warmth on THEIR TOP (think desert sun), not their bottom – so you must be very careful and keep a close eye and hand on any reptile on a hot water bottle or heating blanket. Yes, I know reputable pet stores sell “hot rocks” – but they will also tell you the same thing – use carefully, as this is not a standard in their natural environment.
You’ve also got trouble with fish and turtles – no power, no pump for filtration and aerating. The filtration isn’t too bad, but the aeration can be adjusted by at least swishing the water around manually – not a great solution, but it kept our fish alive and our turtles less stressed and somewhat amused as we manually swished the water with our hands and they thought this was such a fun game!
We were lucky. Power was on relatively quickly compared to others (who are still without full power at the time of this writing). Our only damage was some food, a hot sleepness night, a couple of hot days, and one blown UVB fixture – which we will replace (along with our older ones) to the new-fangled “Reptile fixture and UVB 7 for Desert Reptiles” – which should work better than the older fixtures with the new type of bulb – the timers never turned them on properly, but did manage to turn them off. So all in all, this power outage was for the best – we learned what to do quickly for those dependent on us, and the reptiles are getting new fixtures. Not a bad deal at all.
About the Author:
As a professional writer and trainer, I find the hardest thing to write about is myself. Suite 101 has given me many opportunites and I have read with interest the various articles penned by Contributing Editors. Now it's payback time. Reading their personal submissions and sharing of information has given me the courage to be a Contributing Editor as well.
After 5 years of raising Bearded Dragons we (family) finally had a successful clutch (two in fact). The lack of proper information given us by retail reptile stores as well as the lack of substantial information on the Internet (with a few excellent exceptions) has prompted me to try and help others in all areas of reptiles. Our menagerie at the moment consists of 5 adult dragons, 4 juveniles, one bird, one hamster, 2 turtles, one fish - and a whole bunch of critters that make their home and nests in our woodpile, trees, and house (I just saw the baby bunnies having a chew on our garden).
Paym may be contacted by email at careeradvice@suite101.com.
Copyright Paym Bergson August 2003 All rights reserved.
Article courtesy of Suite101.com.
