3 days with no power:(

[danielle]

Friday night our power went out which means the snakes have lived in extremely low temps for the last 72 hours. Our generator ran out of gas, we discovered our gas tanks had slow leaks in them, I ran out of heat packs early in, and the list goes on. On a positive note ALL reptiles have made it through, but many do not look so hot so now what. They are all in their cages with heat and thank god no one had eaten so no food in belly, but they are sluggish and cold my boa especially and younger corns. Is there anything I can do now? When is it okay to try and feed again they were due to eat Friday, but the storm canceled that meal?

 

[Nroc]

So is your power back on. I think your post implies this, but I wanted to be sure.

 

[wade]

Danielle, I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time. I think I would wait a week and let them warm up before you try to feed them.

I'm thinking warm thoughts of you, of course I often do.

 

[danielle]

Wade,lol I want to scream and then just finally sleep. My son has a high fever and no one can get in or out of my neighborhood until they finish plowing. The heat is now on thank god but I wasn't sure how long it took for them to perk up. Some of them seem like nothing happened, but my boa is definitely pissed and cold still. They haven't eaten in 8 days as it is since I skipped their meal due to not having heat so I should wait an entire week? Man that sounds long.

On a side note everytime my heat turns on it smells like dead animal. Where could that be coming from....seriously. I thought one of the animals had died, but that wasn't the case and the smell is killing me

 

[wade]

That doesn't sound good Danielle. Is your heat gas or electric or coal or oil or nuclear? Could an animal have gotten into your vents some how? IDK what to tell you.

How is your son, are you worried? Will your streets be plowed soon?

 

[wstphal]

Danielle, I am sorry you had such a hard time. I am glad, however, that the power is back on. Hopefully all the reptiles will recover. I am hopeful, at least for the colubrids. And most of all I hope your son feels better fast!

 

[medusacoils]

Danielle, last year in December we went through this very same thing. We lost power for almost a week and the average temp in my snakes vivs was around 55-60F. I was very concerned, but as soon as the power came back on and the temps came back up, everyone slowly began to recover. One of the things that I think helped was when I realized that the power was going to be out for a while, I filled all the vivs up about half way with carefresh so they could dig in. I know your past that, but thought I would share.

I really hope everyone pulls through and suspect that as soon as temps come up and the grogginess wears off, it will.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Wayne

 

[Nanci]

I'd watch everyone, especially the boa, really carefully for RI. Maybe put the boa's temp up a little bit higher than normal. I wouldn't feed until they are acting normal.

 

[vetusvates]

Good luck, Sweetie. I don't have anything to add, but wanted you to know I read your thread and wish you well.
One or two missed weeks won't hurt. Low temp merely means little energy/resources used. But I'm sure you already know all that.

NOTE : I have experimented in the past (1970's, 80's) with temps and periods of non-eating, and your north american snakes' resilience will surprise you.

 

[danielle]

Everything in the home is electric so we have a furnace and heat pump. The heat pump is outside and all the outdoor vents are up off the ground so not too many animals could veeeeen get in there, but the smell is nausiating. On the upside the animals are perking up and mobil

 

[ratsncorns]

Due to my house being so cold (poor insulation) there was at least 3 weeks this winter where my snake room would barely get above 60 degrees. After it warmed up, I thought for sure at least one of my snakes would have an RI. They were completely fine and its been about a month.

That is lame that it took 3 days before your power got turned back on. I probably would have stayed at a hotel!

 

[wade]

Danielle, I don't know what would smell like a dead animal. If it persists, you might what to ask somebody to come look at it. Maybe the power fluctuation has caused a problem with the blower motor. Maybe some kind of mold or fungus grew in the vents while there was no air movement.

Now that I think about it, with no air movement you could have had condensation in the vents that then grew a mold. That sounds kind of likely to me. ????

 

[danielle]

It smelle like funky rotting death in there its no mold. I have looked in as far as I can see which isn't far, but I see nada. The crappy thing is many people still have no power at all and our's was knocked out first by a fallen tree, fixed, and then taken out an hour later when some jackass thought a corvette could take on 3 ft. of snow. It was 7 degrees at nights and in the teens during the day but with many layers on we weren't all that cold and used the grills to cook. The whole neighborhood pitched in and we all cooked in the parkinglot sharing our food, wine, and other comforting things

 

[wade]

That sound like a nice time if nobody dies in the process.

 

[danielle]

10-24 inches coming between tomorrow and Wednesday I can only pray our power stays this time.

 

[stephen]

WOW!

Sorry to hear that,hope your son feels better soon.
Dont feed at all,snakes can go over six months without food easy,especially when they are hybernating.I would just wait till your weather forecast looks good for at least a week or more hope they all do good.Hope your weather gets better soon!

 

[Aislin]

I'm sorry you're going through this Danielle. How stressful for all of you. How is your son? Is his fever gone?

This smell? Does it only come around when the heat kicks in? If not..how about your sewage? Could you have a burst pipe? I know that can really stink a place up. Even a toilet that has no water in it can start to smell up a room. (Yes we had this happen, a toilet that had a leak so we turned the water off to it and were no longer using it until we could a) fix it or b) replace the toilette. When the water evaporated from the bowl..ugh..it was an awefull smell.)

 

[wasuslitherin]

What are signs for RI?

 

[oldsnow]

I'm sorry you're going through this Danielle. How stressful for all of you. How is your son? Is his fever gone?

This smell? Does it only come around when the heat kicks in? If not..how about your sewage? Could you have a burst pipe? I know that can really stink a place up. Even a toilet that has no water in it can start to smell up a room. (Yes we had this happen, a toilet that had a leak so we turned the water off to it and were no longer using it until we could a) fix it or b) replace the toilette. When the water evaporated from the bowl..ugh..it was an awefull smell.)

The water evaporating is what caused your wonderful odor. You probably already had someone tell you that, but the trap in the bottom keeps that wonderful smell in the sewer. Just jumped in on the thread but figured I would put that little piece of info in JIC. lol

 

[Caryl]

Oh Danielle, I'm sorry for all these stresses! I just read the thread. I hope that your son is better by now. We had a similar situation (trapped by snow, sick child) years ago and I remember well how frustrated and helpless I felt.

Have you figured out yet what the smell is?

Your corns should be fine since they didn't have any food in their bellies. They just had a brief, unplanned brumation. Mine got colder than that a few nights during brumation and are fine. The wild corns in my local area have had to deal with crazy weather this year. We've have record cold spells followed by temps in the 70s, followed by freezing temps again, repeat ad nauseum. Somehow the animals adjust, so long as they were healthy to begin with.

I don't know anything about boas and low temps, but I'm sending warm thoughts & prayers your way.