Our Power is Out ?

tpence1991

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Joined
Sep 5, 2019
Messages
75
Location (City and/or State)
Coppell, TX
Our power is out in Texas thanks to the bizarre weather. It almost never gets this cold here so we don't have back up generator or anything to keep the enclosure warm

We had to wrap up tortellini just in case. It's already 60 degrees in her enclosure. There's no telling when the power will come back on

Wish us luck! 20210215_102418.jpg
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2020
Messages
36
Location (City and/or State)
Texas
Our power is out in Texas thanks to the bizarre weather. It almost never gets this cold here so we don't have back up generator or anything to keep the enclosure warm

We had to wrap up tortellini just in case. It's already 60 degrees in her enclosure. There's no telling when the power will come back on

Wish us luck! View attachment 318338
Good luck! I’m in texas too and in a similar boat, so far we’ve just had rolling outages. Enclosure has dipped down to 70, then power kicks on for 30 min.

If it’s out for more than an hour I plan to drive my sulcata baby to someone’s house that does have power.
 

Yossarian

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Nov 21, 2015
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813
Location (City and/or State)
Wales
Good luck! I’m in texas too and in a similar boat, so far we’ve just had rolling outages. Enclosure has dipped down to 70, then power kicks on for 30 min.

If it’s out for more than an hour I plan to drive my sulcata baby to someone’s house that does have power.

Its not a cheap way to do it and its not great for the car, but you can run the engine with the heat on if its life or death emergency.
 

Cleopatra 2020

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Feb 1, 2020
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El Mirage. Az
I would make a fire outside with rocks get them nice and warm in wrap them in towels or put them in the end where she won't touch them and put them inside her enclosure to help heat it up
You can heat rocks or bricks in your oven as well. This way you can also control the temperature.
Yeah but the power is out and you need electric to make a gas stove work as well
 

Ink

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Good luck I had to deal with that yesterday. No power. I however have a wood burning fireplace which heats up the entire living room where my tortoises are. I still covered all of there enclosures up with towels just to make sure that they would stay warm. Mine was out for 4.5 hours or so. I think my tortoises live me more because I kept them warm? lol. Ice storm in virginia
 

Gillian M

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Aug 28, 2014
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15,417
Location (City and/or State)
Jordan
Our power is out in Texas thanks to the bizarre weather. It almost never gets this cold here so we don't have back up generator or anything to keep the enclosure warm

We had to wrap up tortellini just in case. It's already 60 degrees in her enclosure. There's no telling when the power will come back on

Wish us luck! View attachment 318338
Sorry to hear that. We are expecting a snowstorm here in Jordan this Wednesday. It keeps me so worried: freezing cold weather (too cold for torts), power is another issue.

Anything new back there? Good luck.
 

Canadian Mojo

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Jun 23, 2019
Messages
211
Location (City and/or State)
Ontario
So the basics (from a northerner):

keep the container up off the ground or insulate underneath it
close in the container to stop air movement -- don't open it a lot you're just letting heat out
insulate the the sides and top too -- blankets or towels will work
warm thermal mass inside the container that will stay warm for a long time -- rocks, water bottles, (safe) oil bottle, etc.
stay away from drafts
stay away from windows after the sun goes down (but you might be able to use it like a greenhouse while it's up)
blankets around the tort won't warm it up, it will only help keep what heat it already has in
you're warm enough in a pinch -- have you hugged your tort today?
 

tpence1991

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2019
Messages
75
Location (City and/or State)
Coppell, TX
So the basics (from a northerner):

keep the container up off the ground or insulate underneath it
close in the container to stop air movement -- don't open it a lot you're just letting heat out
insulate the the sides and top too -- blankets or towels will work
warm thermal mass inside the container that will stay warm for a long time -- rocks, water bottles, (safe) oil bottle, etc.
stay away from drafts
stay away from windows after the sun goes down (but you might be able to use it like a greenhouse while it's up)
blankets around the tort won't warm it up, it will only help keep what heat it already has in
you're warm enough in a pinch -- have you hugged your tort today?
Thanks for the advice. We moved her to our coffee table in the middle of the living room in a smaller tub with a warm water bottle and some towels on top to trap the heat. She's currently at ~72 degrees
 

Canadian Mojo

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Jun 23, 2019
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Location (City and/or State)
Ontario
Ugh, I just saw a local report about the storm you guys are having down there.

I would suggest for the people, find your candles and flashlights now, draw the curtains to keep the heat in, stuff a towel against the outside doors if they are drafty, and if it's going to stay freezing for a long time, keep your water taps dripping so the lines don't freeze (but that's only if there is a danger of freezing in the house itself).

And DON'T use your gas BBQ's for heating the house.
 

jaizei

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Earth
Rumor floating around here in Texas is that houses located close to a hospital or nursing home are avoiding the black-outs. Hmmmmmm..........

What's the rumor? Part of the point of rolling blackouts is to control where power is lost vs overload that could cascade uncontrolled into something else.
 

Relic

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Sep 8, 2018
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Location (City and/or State)
Here
What's the rumor? Part of the point of rolling blackouts is to control where power is lost vs overload that could cascade uncontrolled into something else.
Yeah...no. Rolling black-outs here are a control mechanism to disperse the limited power firstly to critical customers, i.e. hospitals, nursing homes, etc., and then secondly controlling the remaining power by shuffling it around the grid equitably. Meaning limited power outages on a rolling basis, typically not to exceed 1 hour. That's not what's happening. Generating plants have gone offline, unable to return. Wind turbines are frozen. Natural gas supplies are limited for generating plants. There has been a huge loss of generating capacity. Water supplies are now in danger as pumping capacity decreases, which in turn, becomes a rather critical fire hazard.

The point was: Those lucky enough to have a house very close to a hospital or nursing home have - so far - avoided outages.
 
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