Bearded dragons in a hurricane

[stinkysmommy]

Hey guys! As some of you may know, Hurricane Matthew is currently heading towards the east coast of the U.S, and my county is directly along the coast, in it's path. In the case of power outages and such, how should I care for my dragons? I haven't been through extreme weather with them before, but I'd like to be prepared.

EDIT: The storm may not hit our coast directly, but that could change quickly and we'll have some crappy weather, regardless.

 

[CooperDragon]

As long as it stays relatively warm indoors, they will be fine for a while without lights. You can stock up on hand warmers to put under towels/blankets to provide additional heat if you want to, but I usually only bother with that during the winter months when the house can get quite cold. I have a computer server style battery backup for my lighting but that's a luxury and really only helpful during small power outages of hours rather than days. They can do quite well without lighting or proper heat for a bit. They're very tough little ones =).

 

[stinkysmommy]

As long as it stays relatively warm indoors, they will be fine for a while without lights. You can stock up on hand warmers to put under towels/blankets to provide additional heat if you want to, but I usually only bother with that during the winter months when the house can get quite cold. I have a computer server style battery backup for my lighting but that's a luxury and really only helpful during small power outages of hours rather than days. They can do quite well without lighting or proper heat for a bit. They're very tough little ones =).

Wow! If you don't mind my asking, how'd you set that battery backup up :lol:? That's pretty nifty.

Bless these hardy lizards :lol:. I guess we'll all just wait out the storm if it makes it's way over here. I was worried I'd have to take them on an impromptu vacation out of state :lol: Though it's probably more comfortable for them to be at home, anyways. Thank you so much, as always, for your counsel .

 

[CooperDragon]

If you need shelter you're welcome in Iowa. No risk of hurricanes here and it's pretty late in the season for twisters!

I have a setup very similar to this http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/APC-Smart-UPS-1500VA-LCD-RM-2U-120V/P-SMT1500RM2U sitting under the table the tank sits on. All of the lighting just plugs into it and that plugs into the wall. It's designed to keep servers running during power outages and provides several hours of power for the tank lights during an outage. Essentially just a big battery with a computer interface.

 

[Akgrear]

I was just coming here to post the same topic. I too am on the east coast of Florida just above the Palm Beaches and this also is my first time through a hurricane with a bearded dragon. I was wondering about the heat and them being able to digest their food if they don't have the UVB light if the power were to go out.

 

[AHBD]

You don't feed them anywhere near their usual large meals, and if possible, try to get them out in the sun once the storm is past if the weather clears up. Other than that, large juvenile + adult lizards will be fine with little or no food for a few days if need be.

 

[MsCarter]

Glad to see this post, I'm on the east coast as well and have often wondered what I'd do if we lost power. Thanks Cooper and AHBD you two are so helpful

 

[kyleena29]

I have one of those little inverters in my car. It plugs into the cigarette lighter and has two plug in ports for electrical. The only downside would be running a cord from the car to the light and making sure your car battery doesn't die.

 

[SpacialCoogs]

I have a stack of UNiheat 40+ hour heat packs. I keep them and a go bag for my Scaley by her habitat. If there's a fire or the power goes out I can pack her up quickly and head out the door.

My go bag is my basic camping bag and can be seen on my Free Range Scaley thread. I feel safer knowing I have options for her in an emergency.

 

[toucan1234]

I live in the North East and during those Weird october winter storms and hurricane sandy a few years back we would lose power for weeks. Luckily my friend has a generator and she lets me bring my guy to her house. But while we wait to see if the power will come back on, Taz has endured some pretty cold temperatures. I either put him under my shirt or put blankets from next to the fire on him . If its regular room temp. when there's a hurricane, then definitely no sweat

 

[CooperDragon]

They can probably sense these storms coming to some extent. Their instinct will be to slow their systems down to ride out the bad weather (similar to brumation during the winter). Kingofnobbys described his clan doing that when they had the nasty storms in New South Wales a few months back. If they slow down they won't require much in terms of food or heat.

 

[stinkysmommy]

Both Stink and Bean have lost their appetites recently so you may have just hit the nail on the head, CooperDragon :lol: It's amazing that these reptiles are able to adapt so well- you'd think that being cold-blooded would make them delicate little things but they're so resilient...
Glad to know that they'll be fine through these storms Thanks for all of the good info, guys!

 

[kingofnobbys]

They do survive huge tropical cyclones (backwards hurricanes) in their natural range as big and often bigger than the hurricane you have heading your way. And quite a few aussie beardie keepers live in areas at risk of being hit by powerful tropical cyclones.

If you are likely to be required to evacuate, have a 100L tub ready to use as a temp moveable enclosure - BUT you are probably unlikely to be allowed access to a power point or to take generator or powertank + inverter in with you , when evaculating use a pillow case to place beardie into while going to the shelter.

They will survive OK without UV for a couple of days, and at least you'll know beardie is safe with you rather than having take it's chances at home (of flooding, wind damage, looter, thieves).

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

They will be fine, but they can definitely sense various weather changes. The changes or drop in barometric pressure right as a hurricane comes is very common & they often will be very restless. We lived in Key West for 7 years with dragons. They did get restless oftentimes but were fine. Basically I just didn't feed them so they wouldn't have to attempt to digest if they weren't basking.
We went through 4 in one season, the year of Wilma! We didn't lose power hardly at all, but it was Key West & that island is built up very well.
Dragons are sturdy & able to be very tolerant of extreme weather to a point, so if they are with you they will be fine.

Tracie

 

[SDragons]

I hope everyone is safe during the upcoming storms.