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load shedding

funnynonsense

funnynonsense

New member
Hi guys -
I have a slight problem - The powers that be in South Africa have allowed us to get into a situation, where our one electricity supplier can’t supply the country.

The solution - Load Shedding (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_load-shedding)

This leaves me with a dilemma - Winter is on its way, and we can expect to be without power in our homes for a couple of hours every day. Supposed to be four hours at most - but I've been out for up to eight hours at a time already during these scheduled power cuts.:laugh01: (can only laugh, and bare with it)

Without getting into more of a rant or political debate.
Do you guys have any suggestions on what I could do to keep the temps in my snakes viv up during these times - I can't imagine the up and down temps will be good for her.

And I’m also worried about feeding - I fed her last night and when I woke up - to my surprise *cough* no power , and temps at around 70F on the warm side.

If anyone has any ideas on how I could keep things warm when the power goes out I'd greatly appreciate it.
 
You could buy some of them pads, the type you boil to keep your hands warm in winter ( you know the type that has a silver disc in it, when you bend the disc you activate the pad). That way you could boil them when you do have power, and save them for when your without. The only thing i could envisage would be that you couldn't control what temperature they got to, although if they get to hot, you could insulate against them by wrapping them in a towel or something.

Thats all i could think of :shrugs:

That electricity situation is shocking though :uhoh:

All the best
Tom
 
i went through something like that except it was my fault we didnt have power, so what i did was i mad a lil shelf with pretty much no bottom and lit candles under neath on the warm side im not saying that its was a good idea and that you should def. try it...also i had my no good brother go in every half hour or so and blow them out cause of school and work if it eached higher then 85* it worked and the powers bak and they are both still live
 
That sounds cool - I've never seen that though - do you know what they're called?
My best bet in finding that will probably be at the chemist - will go through after work and see if i find something like that.

That electricity situation is shocking though
Click to expand...
it is, sigh - to be fair its not everyday - but now that winter is coming it'll be more of a frequent thing. The problem has already bought the economy to its knees, can't wait to see what happens next.
 
I think those are all good suggestions so far. I am seriously looking into getting a small gas heater to heat the room rather than the individual tubs. I am not sure about the snakes and gas though, thoughts anyone? Will only use this as an emergency precaution though, preferrably when I am there.

Honestly I don't know what we are going to do this winter...I have already moved my snakes into the warmest part of the house, so even if the power goes off for an hour or two, the temps shouldn't drop too much.

My bigger snakes aren't a problem as they will be brummated anyway...
 
Hi.
As a fellow South African, I've also been wondering. Recently in Cape Town, there was a fault in the transmission lines and power was off for a full 8 hours. Anyway, I don't see using a gas heater as a problem, if the room has some ventilation, I know it kind of defeats the purpose, but should be warmer than without heater? Don't need too much ventilation don't think, just enough so that carbon monoxide not build up.
FunnyNonsense, the bags you put in the microwave, i know you can get them Clicks, last i checked about R100, quite a while back.
What makes it difficult to plan these things is that you never know when power going to go off.
I also think a portable back-up battery would be the best option, or some kind of Uninterupted Power Supply. I've seen lights that charge when power on and come on when its off, maybe can rig something so that when power goes off, the back-up system kicks-in. Just throwing out thoughts.
 
hey - thanks guys -
I was looking around yesterday and called a few I.T friends - they seem to have some old UPS's laying around I can get for cheap - I think I'll look into that.

Was supposed to buy another snake but the budget has to be moved to keeping the one I have alive.lol
I'm not sure how bad the problem will be this winter - its just a rather safe than sorry thing.
 
Just thought I'd clarify the problem quick -
It 10h00 and i'm sitting at work - the power just went off and is scheduled to be back on at 14h00.
this could be the case almost everyday depending on the load the supplier (ESKOM) can handle.

I will be getting a UPS - not much choice i guess
 
my dad has these hand warmers that you light them and put the cap on and but it is the cloth cover and it keeps burning and warms your hands, you could try that, but it might be too hot for the snake?
 
Do you have an electric or gas water heater?
You could fill a hot water bottle and use that to keep heat in your viv till the electric comes on or until the bottle cools off. I know it's not the best solution but may work in a pinch.

Good luck in whatever way you choose to go.
 
This must stink to have to deal with. I am sorry. I think everyone has good suggestions, I can't think of anything that the others haven't said already.

I just wanted to say I am sorry for your situation.
 
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