COerriccaRN
New member
Sorry in advance for the long post, but his issue has ALOT of factors...anyone with experience, tell me how you solved this problem...
I was getting our "Hurricane Kit" ready for another exiting season of Gulf Coast Storms this morning and started thinking about what to do with Erricca(My female Ultramel Corn) if a hurricane ever causes us to evacuate our home.
I couldn't leave Erricca here at home for a number of reasons. There would likely be no electricity so there would be no way to give her heat or regulate temperatures or feed her. This worries me because a friend down the road left for Hurricane Rita a few years back and when he returned all three of his corn snakes had died(it was HOT...100F outside and probably 105F inside) This also happened to my cousin, who lives next door. Also, when you evacuate, you have NO IDEA of how long you will be gone or how long you will be w/o electricity(also a concern, no way to keep frozen pinkies) During Rita we where gone almost a week before we could get home and it was almost two months before we got our lights back on. I doubt any corn would do well in these conditions.
My first plan of action was to get a "critter cage" and a UTH, along with a small bag of substrate, small water bowl and hide and put it in my suitcase so it would be there when I needed it. But as I thought about it, a found a few problems with my plan. Will a UTH melt the plastic critter cage? Is the critter cage even big enough to have a good hot side/cold side? Would the travel/temperature changes effect Erricca. How would I carry pinkies? Where would I buy pinkies after the hurricane since stores stay closed for months?
As most of you "Hurricane Runners" know, you can't pack heavy for an evacuation, so a whole ten gallon glass tank set up with lights and large heating mecanisms are out of the question. Also, you just have to get whatever hotel you can find(if you can even find one) so you probably won't get a pet friendly motel. So would Erricca be okay hidden in my suitcase or a bag for about an hour? Last year, we sat in a hotel lobby for almost 5 hours waiting for a room! Also, when a mandatory evac is called for, you just have to jump and run. There is NO time to run to the pet store and pick up anything, so I would have to have everything ready in advance.
My second plan of action was to get the largest critter cage that would fit in one of my luggage bags. (Still not very big...Glass if possible) and try to find a really small UTH. That way, Erricca could be in the critter cage the whole time, instead of being in the small plastic cup that I got her in. The only problem with this is that I wouldn't be able to change/monitor her temperature in the cage during the car ride. I can't plug the UTH in the car and sometimes evacuation routes take 14-24 hours to travel. During this time it is HOT. Our last evac. trip took 7 hours, and that was short compared to some of our friends.
My solution for the pinkies was to get a kids insulated lunch kit and put ice/frozen ice packs in it and keep the pinkies in there until we get to the motel(which may or may not have a freezer). I would probably keep about 50 pinkies in the "cooler" so that Erricca could eat after we returned home, although there will be no way to thaw the pinkies out(no running water)
I'm sure there are other problem factors, but these are the ones I am most worried about. We may also Evac. this year to a "local" church where we will stay a week+ without electricity ect...I just dont know what to do.
I know trips and things like that will stress out a snake, but I would rather have Erricca stressed than die...I think its a good thing to discuss, especially for people on the gulf coast.
I was getting our "Hurricane Kit" ready for another exiting season of Gulf Coast Storms this morning and started thinking about what to do with Erricca(My female Ultramel Corn) if a hurricane ever causes us to evacuate our home.
I couldn't leave Erricca here at home for a number of reasons. There would likely be no electricity so there would be no way to give her heat or regulate temperatures or feed her. This worries me because a friend down the road left for Hurricane Rita a few years back and when he returned all three of his corn snakes had died(it was HOT...100F outside and probably 105F inside) This also happened to my cousin, who lives next door. Also, when you evacuate, you have NO IDEA of how long you will be gone or how long you will be w/o electricity(also a concern, no way to keep frozen pinkies) During Rita we where gone almost a week before we could get home and it was almost two months before we got our lights back on. I doubt any corn would do well in these conditions.
My first plan of action was to get a "critter cage" and a UTH, along with a small bag of substrate, small water bowl and hide and put it in my suitcase so it would be there when I needed it. But as I thought about it, a found a few problems with my plan. Will a UTH melt the plastic critter cage? Is the critter cage even big enough to have a good hot side/cold side? Would the travel/temperature changes effect Erricca. How would I carry pinkies? Where would I buy pinkies after the hurricane since stores stay closed for months?
As most of you "Hurricane Runners" know, you can't pack heavy for an evacuation, so a whole ten gallon glass tank set up with lights and large heating mecanisms are out of the question. Also, you just have to get whatever hotel you can find(if you can even find one) so you probably won't get a pet friendly motel. So would Erricca be okay hidden in my suitcase or a bag for about an hour? Last year, we sat in a hotel lobby for almost 5 hours waiting for a room! Also, when a mandatory evac is called for, you just have to jump and run. There is NO time to run to the pet store and pick up anything, so I would have to have everything ready in advance.
My second plan of action was to get the largest critter cage that would fit in one of my luggage bags. (Still not very big...Glass if possible) and try to find a really small UTH. That way, Erricca could be in the critter cage the whole time, instead of being in the small plastic cup that I got her in. The only problem with this is that I wouldn't be able to change/monitor her temperature in the cage during the car ride. I can't plug the UTH in the car and sometimes evacuation routes take 14-24 hours to travel. During this time it is HOT. Our last evac. trip took 7 hours, and that was short compared to some of our friends.
My solution for the pinkies was to get a kids insulated lunch kit and put ice/frozen ice packs in it and keep the pinkies in there until we get to the motel(which may or may not have a freezer). I would probably keep about 50 pinkies in the "cooler" so that Erricca could eat after we returned home, although there will be no way to thaw the pinkies out(no running water)
I'm sure there are other problem factors, but these are the ones I am most worried about. We may also Evac. this year to a "local" church where we will stay a week+ without electricity ect...I just dont know what to do.
I know trips and things like that will stress out a snake, but I would rather have Erricca stressed than die...I think its a good thing to discuss, especially for people on the gulf coast.
