How to keep the tank warm during a power outage

[Shawn]

My question is: We have a heater for the living room which is where we stayed all together for that horrible freezing week. Would it be best to move them in there with the heater?

I have 13 hermies and I am unable to move the 29 gallon by myself but I can move the 10 gallon, but all of them in a ten gallon... Could I make that work somehow if I have several places for them to hide and climb?

A ten would be cramped but better than them freezing. A 29gal tank should not be too heavy for two teens or adults to carry. Could one of your parents help you move it?

When our furnace went out for a few hours we still had gas and power so it wasn't much to add a light and some hot water bottles to the tank. I never thought of putting the tank in the car. I'll have to keep that in mind for the future.

[Snook]

Great ideas. One problem what if we don't have hot water when it goes out ??? If I lose power I lose heat and water as well. No warm things here at all might have lost a crab today due to cold

[MuseCrazy]

Do you have a fire place or fire pit? I would even use candles and surround the tank with them, that should produce some enough heat.

[Snook]

No fireplace literally we lose power we are screwed. I was tempted to put them in a small butter container and snuggle the container with holes in the lid

[MuseCrazy]

If it got that bad id probably use a plastic tote and put it in bed with me lol

[Hermycrabitat21]

I usually just keep a bunch of hand warmers around just incase, as well as one of those security blankets, you could tape some around the tank then use the security blanket to surround the tank. I haven't actually used this method but it could work

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[mom23]

I'm very thankful I have a generator and a gas fireplace because I don't think I could move the 150 or the 56. Luckily they are in the room with the fireplace. I think I'll get some hand warmers though just in case.


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[Snook]

I boiled hot water and put it in a glass jar and put miss around it and my crabs love it. Still warm 6 hours later.

[IBlab crab]

If it got that bad id probably use a plastic tote and put it in bed with me lol

My husband and I were on red alert with the ice storm in Raleigh. I have 3 down molting so no evacuating them. The last ice storm I put them in a KK and slept with them under a pile of blankets,I love my crabs like most people love their dogs.
My tanks are on a shelf like cubby so I placed 2 heavy furniture pads on and around them plus blankets. My husband has a backup battery for the computer that we plugged into the ultratherms that last for about an hour.I had handwarmers but did not use them.We also had the bathroom prepped incase we needed to move tanks and warm them with steam from shower.I would like to have several of these batteries for next year.We were so lucky that the ice was not so bad in the trees and only lost power for a couple hours.We have a fireplace but it is useless for heat and is basically for looks.I want to mention that I taped up the windows for better insulation in the crabs room.If you have central heat and air that runs under the house in a crawl space be sure to cover the vents on the floor with towels or blankets when the power goes off because cold air from crawlspace will come inside house.
The computer batteries cost around $80. and they even make large heavy duty ones for around $3,000.I am thinking of getting a built in generator because we get alot of ice storms here in NC.Sorry for the long post but this was a stressful situation.
Has anyone actually used the handwarmers for an extended period?TIA
I love the body warmer idea to wrap around tanks and then insulate with blankets,I will keep these on hand for emergencies,thanks! The computer batteries worked great.

[cassiedj]

Sorry to resurrect this, but I am flipping out right now because it's the first snow of the year and the power at my apartment is out. I am not home right now, my roommates told me about it, but I'm really concerned if the power doesn't come back on that my hermie will freeze. The heat is barely on in our apartment and I have a heat lamp and a UTH to keep him warm, but if the power is out it's gonna get mighty chilly.

I am EXTREMELY hesitant to tell my roommates to put a blanket on him or something because they might not remember to take it off if the power comes on, and it would start a fire with my lamp.

AGH!! This is too stressful. I'm gonna give him some serious hermie love tonight to make up for the chilliness he is probably experiencing. Air kisses galore.

[Ryry]

That's what I would do is ask them to place blankets around the tank, if you can't trust them to take it off then maybe not. That's what I would do in that situation. Try to hold the existing heat in as long as possible

[Jessikanesis]

If it got that bad id probably use a plastic tote and put it in bed with me lol

Okay, don't make fun of me, but... I've done this. My smallest girl was molting and in the ISO critter keeper, it was January, and I could not for the life of me get the temp in that critter keeper where it needed to be. So at night her place would be under the covers, tote and all.

The molt was successful, although I don't know if it was because of this tactic, or in spite of.

[judywapner]

We had a power outage a few days back, for about 5 hours. By the time I realized it was off, the temp was at 75 I wrapped the tank in a feather duvet with other blankets on top and then "breathed into" the tank for about a minute by lifting back the blankets and the corner of the glass top. The temp went right back to 83 and stayed that way every time I checked it for another 3 hours.

When our power is out, we don't have hot water, so I think the hand warmer packs are probably the best option! Good thinking!

[Laurie LeAnn]

We just had a first winter storm Saturday was with out power from 8:30a.m. -3p.m. house got about 60..I just threw heavy blankets over the tank..that's all I could do..when the power did come on it wasn't that bad in the tank.next time I think I will throw them in small container and take them upstairs..it was warmer

[S.C.]

This just happened to me here in the Northeast USA. Our power came on this morning. It had been out since early Monday morning. At first I taped hand warmers to the outside of the corner where they usually hang out in their 20 gallon. I covered them with aluminum foil and taped it down. It kept that corner between 72 and 78 degrees until the temperature in the house dropped even more. The coldest part of the tank went down to 67 degrees, so I moved them (I have 3) to a 5 gallon tank in the living room where the wood stove is kept. It gets pretty hot in there. The temp tank has coconut fiber and sand substrate like their normal tank, 2 small pools (salt and fresh), and a coconut fiber background rolled up for hiding and climbing. I covered half of the outside of the temp tank with the hand warmers and aluminum foil. Between that and the warmth from the stove, the tank stayed between 78 and 82. I covered most of the top with plastic wrap and a large book. The humidity stayed between 85 and 90. I took this as a practice for winter when I know I'll lose power again. It worked for me so I thought I'd share it here in case it might help someone else.