Uh Oh Power's out.

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

I think we got the outskirts of this big tropical storm that hit New York. It's been raining since like 9am, so, 12hrs. And the wind has knocked out power all over town. Well lucky it's still summer, so no need to panic. Plus we got a generator since the house has a sump pump and we've had our basement flood on smaller storms in the past.

Anyway, the generator is also powering the fridge and the Internet. But my fishes are getting to room temp and especially Zuko is not pleased. He's pressed up against the heater willing it to work. The vermin were promised free roam time but I can't supervise rats in pitch black. Heck I'll never find em again.

Gah, electricity is more important than I realized. My fishes really depend on it I'm scared whatll happen if we ever had another ice storm. How do you keep your tropical buddies warm in such situations?  

[Vanilla eXee]

Blankets over the tank. if you have a gas stove, warm some water and put it in bottles just like the ice trick to cool down a too hot tank.  

[SmoothSavage]

We actually had this happen in February! The power was out for about 12 hours, snow on the ground, freezing temperatures. I immediately threw comforters around the tanks and wrapped them tight- that actually made a big difference. But I also got some of those hand warmers you stick in gloves, put them in Ziploc bags, and floated them in the tank.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Oh good, neat ideas. I actually DONT have a gas stove but, I have a camping stove, which apparently I'm not allowed to use inside the house though. And I do have mit warmers.

Back in 98, we had a power outage that lasted, for us, about a month. The temperatures were well below freezing, and driving was extremely dangerous there was literally a coat of ice over EVERYTHING. School was closed for a while, I had to go live with my grandmother who had power. It was lucky we only had a dog to worry about back then. At least now with the generator and the fireplace we could survive without leaving our home. We only have to worry about flooding, not so much from the surrounding lakes but just from heavy rain not draining fast enough or snow melting too fast.  

[kage no neko]

When we lived in the apartment, we actually had the opposite problem. It got so hot, our fish started dying off. I was trying to do cool water changes, but apparently I couldn't keep up with the heat. It got to 110 in the living room, and I ended up with a heat rash.
It made me so sad. I ended up holding one of the loaches upright in a cool container for an hour before it finally passed.

My biggest fear about losing power during the winter isn't the fish, but instead the birds. While we have a gas fireplace, I'm not sure it would be the safest for them, especially having to keep them near it to stay warm enough.  

[Vanilla eXee]

kage no neko

When we lived in the apartment, we actually had the opposite problem. It got so hot, our fish started dying off. I was trying to do cool water changes, but apparently I couldn't keep up with the heat. It got to 110 in the living room, and I ended up with a heat rash.
It made me so sad. I ended up holding one of the loaches upright in a cool container for an hour before it finally passed.

My biggest fear about losing power during the winter isn't the fish, but instead the birds. While we have a gas fireplace, I'm not sure it would be the safest for them, especially having to keep them near it to stay warm enough.

When it's too hot you do frozen water water bottles in the tank. Usually a good idea to keep a few stocked up just in case if you live in a warmer climate.  

[kage no neko]

Vanilla eXee

kage no neko

When we lived in the apartment, we actually had the opposite problem. It got so hot, our fish started dying off. I was trying to do cool water changes, but apparently I couldn't keep up with the heat. It got to 110 in the living room, and I ended up with a heat rash.
It made me so sad. I ended up holding one of the loaches upright in a cool container for an hour before it finally passed.

My biggest fear about losing power during the winter isn't the fish, but instead the birds. While we have a gas fireplace, I'm not sure it would be the safest for them, especially having to keep them near it to stay warm enough.

When it's too hot you do frozen water water bottles in the tank. Usually a good idea to keep a few stocked up just in case if you live in a warmer climate.

Thankfully we live in a nice house with central AC now. smile At the apartment, the AC unit was in the bedroom, and half the time didn't work anyway. But it's good to know, just in case the AC dies here.  

[Kipluck]

I really really rely on my power too. The fish are probably okay for a little while, but I worry about how long Stanley, Tortuga, and Bratanik could go with out UVA/B. Granted for SUMMER time I could just take them outside more often. But here in Utah winter is a lot scarier to me.

Although in summer if we didn't have AC... or fans... I would worry very most about Baby Fable. Chinchillas are SO sensitive to heat, it can kill them easy. I get so scared about that. I think if we lost power I would move her into the basement storage room. I think she would be cool enough there. If not I would have to fins here shelter somewhere with AC, out of town with a friend or something.

I try to plan for emergencies, and include my pets. I keep pop out kennels in the same closet I keep my 72 hour kit. And I have baby food stored for the gliders in an emergency. But Baby Fable's intolerance to heat scares me the very most.