What to do for a beardie in a power outage?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hello! ?
I'm sure the majority of people have heard about hurricane Irma possibly heading toward Florida. However, I'm really concerned about what to do for my beardie. I've of course read up on what to do and not what to do, but I wanted to see if there is still some any alternatives to do during a power outage if there is one. I have a self heating pad coming in the mail for him, but I'm unsure about what to do for food. I heard you can't really give them food for about 24 hours during a power outage due to food rotting. I just need overall help and reassurance please! Thank you.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Since he's still small I'd keep offering him food. If it's safe to bring him outside you can try that to get him some sunlight but only if it's safe. They are OK without lighting for a little while (more so with adults) but don't take unnecessary risks to try and get him light. I'd have a carrier ready to bring him away if quick evacuation is needed. The 72hr heat packs are good to have as well, although if the temps stay above 70 which is likely in Florida, they probably won't do much good. You could get a computer battery backup for the lights but those will only help during a short power outage. In the long term your best bet is to bring him outdoors or get him some natural sunlight as is safe to do. That said, I hope the storm carries out to sea. It's a really nasty one so far!
 
I was in a blackout with my 2 bearded dragons, but it was close to midnight so they were asleep.

Maybe you can buy more "self-heating" devices or batteries for your the terrarium? (If that's even possible). If your home wont get any damage and it's just the power, you can try taking your beardie outside (with extreme caution) or just have him/her at a window for natural sunlight. My two beardies are fine in my room to run around on the floor, as long as there's no small things like LEGO on the floor with them. Food and water wont really be a problem, but you should monitor your beardies behaviour and any signs of illness. A lack of heat, UVB, food, ect can cause illness (you probably already knew that) and during a hurricane after-math would be troublesome for a vet visit or a check-up. Again, if it's not roof-ripping or anything like a category 5 tornado sort of hurricane and only strong winds and rain, then your beardie should pull through well.

My beardies are totally fine to spend the day with me at my computer desk, only they get restless after a while, so you can stay with him/her or bring him/her with you around the house during the event of a blackout.

Good-luck, I hope you and your beardie survives, and no harm is done!
 

Arcturus

Member
We're in this together, sunskittle!! This is my first beardie and first hurricane with him, and I've been trying to think of everything I can to be prepared for the worst. I just ordered some bugs online so should get those before the storm hits and we can't get deliveries. In addition, which frankly I haven't thought about until you mentioned it, for their vegetables I think it might be best to just get a separate cooler or lunch box with a couple ice packs if you wanted to keep them cold. Hopefully if we do have power outages, it won't last more than a couple days (hopefully....) but maybe freezing their salads is an option? That way they have extra time to thaw and not go rotten as quickly (idk, I've only seen the idea of freezing their food mentioned once). Greens should be fine out of the fridge for a day or so anyways, as long as they aren't wilted or moldy or anything.
I've also prepared by getting a heating pad (which I probably won't need, but just in case), and a portable fold up pet playpen thing with a mesh top that I could stick him in outside to get some UVB. Obviously that wouldnt be until after the storm passed and in the case we lost power. But I think they'd be OK for a day or two without uvb if needed, but I'm not sure.
My step dad has a million generators just in case, but there are also adaptors for cars you can use to be able to plug in your regular wall plugs. The adaptors fit right into your car electrical outlet and convert that into a wall outlet plug. You could use that to hook up their lights if you wanted.
Anyways, not sure if any of that helped :p. I'm still trying to figure the details out myself so any more ideas would be helpful. But good luck to you and your beardie!
 

ClydesGirl

Sub-Adult Member
We had a terrible wind storm back in early March and our power was out for several days. For the first two days or so, my beardie and uromastyx suffered along with my SO and I, but once it got down to under 50 degrees in our condo, I was forced to relocate them to my sister's house where the power was back on. Their custom terrariums are HUGE and require professional movers to move, so we had to improvise. She had an old aquarium with a screen top she had kept a rat in. I put a cardboard divider in it and put Gertrude (my uro) in one half and Bert (my beardie in the other) with a 100 watt basking bulb in the middle. It was MUCH less than ideal. No UVB and they were undoubtedly very stressed in a weird environment and having to kind of share such a small space. But they made it through. They ended up having to stay there for four days.

Their usual homes:
41729-701370058.jpg

Their emergency shelter:
41729-7886737557.jpg
 

Arcturus

Member
Sunskittles, I also thought of another idea for food: baby food! You can get the vegetable ones with just carrots or peas or something and keep that on hand just on case all your veggies go bad. I'm not sure if my bearded dragon would like it but just throwing that idea out there xD.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
He'll be just fine , just keep him in a safe dry place (where he wont be drowned by a storm surge or storm water flooding).

It will still be very warm so heating is not going to a problem , he wont be frozen.

Mega high humidity might be an issue but there are battery powered dehumidifiers that can be placed in a beardie's viv , and if you place a timber lid over the top with just enough gap to allow air ventiliation (you can control the humidity reasonably well).

I've been through a category 5 tropical cyclone (TC John) and it had wind speads that were peaking 330km /hr before the Pt Hedland met office's instruments failed just before we copped the leading edge of the eye , was scary , fortunately it made landfall at low tide so the 10 m storm surge was no problem ( get tides up to 12 m at Pt Hedland ) .

Chances are he'll simply hunker down (curl up in his hide) and be asleep well before the hurricane makes landfall.

Food for extended power outages in summer , I'd get Repashi GrubPie and VegeBurger on hand as my backup beardie food bases.

If you need to evacuate to a storm shelter, a 100 - 150L tub set up like this viewtopic.php?f=34&t=233480 , even if you cant run the UV and basking globes is the best bet. They are sturdy, secure, other evacuated animals cant get in if you lock the lid's clips, and roomy enough to hold even a full grown adult beardie .
 

Jesusandme

New member
I have a generator that handles my snake and bearded dragon very easily. It sits outside my patio and just plug it works great. You can buy generators fairly reasonable these days.
 

Anglin237

Member
I just came across this and even though it's old, I had to comment because my husband and I were just discussing this issue. We recently had a 3 day power outage and the temps got down to the 40s at night. We got inventive. Since we don't have a generator or battery powered heat sources, we placed candles about a foot under the tanks directly under the sleep spots. That kept the tanks a balmy 70 at night. During the day, we opened the blinds and curtains and let our babies get some natural UV. While there wasn't much heat, they got lots of cuddles. Leo even got to sleep in our bed. Rocket benefitted from hand warmers. She got snuggles too, but due to her injuries, not as many.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Anglin237":1fsihb5q said:
I just came across this and even though it's old, I had to comment because my husband and I were just discussing this issue. We recently had a 3 day power outage and the temps got down to the 40s at night. We got inventive. Since we don't have a generator or battery powered heat sources, we placed candles about a foot under the tanks directly under the sleep spots. That kept the tanks a balmy 70 at night. During the day, we opened the blinds and curtains and let our babies get some natural UV. While there wasn't much heat, they got lots of cuddles. Leo even got to sleep in our bed. Rocket benefitted from hand warmers. She got snuggles too, but due to her injuries, not as many.

Glass will not allow the transmission of UV , so the dragons got light and some warmth from the sun coming in .
 

ncc74656

Hatchling Member
if i had a power outage i dont think my beardies life would change all that much in the short term. greens will keep for a couple days with out refrigeration, calcium/multi vitamin wont be effected. during the day she could easily sit out in the sun for UVB and at night she sleeps under blankets with me in bed anyway so staying warm wouldn't be an issue. the roach colony would probably live for quite some time unless it got below freezing (hard to kill those things).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Staff online

Members online

Still Needs Help

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

Forum statistics

Threads
155,897
Messages
1,255,656
Members
75,965
Latest member
williamyoung
Top Bottom