Overview

Its always a good idea to have a plan for unexpected circumstances, when looking after exotics there is a lot of care requirements that sometimes our local climates do not have. From my own experience living in the UK these are some of the precautions i personally take to combat unexpected circumstances.

Cold weather

The winter months are some of the more expensive months of the years in terms of energy consumptions for exotic pet owners, rooms get colder as the boiler works hard to keep up with the heat in the room, i personally keep my room at a constant of 22c all year round this gives a good buffer if there is ever a blackout as most species can deal with a drop down to 18c with no long term effects to there health. 

If you dont want to heat the room through radiators or the boiler breaks there are other solutions that can be undertaken to combat this, electric heaters are very handy they are usually 1500w in the uk and can heat a moderate size room even more so if the room has multiple terrariums.

Its important to remember to heat the room at night to a sensible degree to allow for the natural temprature drop that happens in nature.

Hot weather

This time of the year can be an absolute killer when it comes to exotics, alot of houses in the UK are built to keep the heat in due to the mild cold winters we get so when it comes to summer houses act like a greenhouse and can get to tempratures that far exceed that of outside which can be extreamly dangerous to exotics or any animal in general, to combat this i have various techniques, firstly is using fans to distribute the air around the room , this makes the air

Blackouts

Although rare its it important to have a plan for blackout events when they do happen, because i keep alot of desert dwelling species and tropical species i have a draw with the essentials i need to deal with this event, these are the following:

Heatpacks

Heatpacks are essential first line of defence for keeping your animals at the right tempratures, these are fairly cheap and there are reusable solutions avalable for a cheap price, the lowest cost way of doing this is to buy disposable one time use ones usually under a £1 each. They last well over 24 hours ususally but must be accompanied by a towel or cover to avoid overheating and burns.

The reusable type are a little more expensive between 5 - 10 pounds and dont last as long heat wise between 1-2 hours, they are good if you want to reuse but bad if you have a prolonged power outage. They run a bit cooler but i would still advise to use some kind of cover to block the heat from potential burns.

USB power packs and heat mats

These are some of my favorite solutions for power outages, A power pack used for mobile phones can be connected to a usb heat mat, these mats are usually padded with fabric which is really good for distributing the heat and protecting from burns, they usually have three modes low medium and high and use around 2 amps of energy so with a decent power pack you can get a few hours out of them. To top it off you can also get a 18350 battery pack and have pre charged battery cells to continue past the two hours for prolonged power cuts

Duvet covers and towels

Any standard duvet or towel can be a life saver in keeping heat in an enclosure when the power is out, the covers will keep the tempratures more stable reducing the chance of shock to the animal while without the power to heat there enclosure.

Plastic Rub containers

These are ideal for transporting lizards, snakes, invertibrates and others when you are in a bind, in my own energency plan i keep these storage bins around my house if incase of a prolonged power outage during the winter months, i am able to transport these temporary accomadations to friends and family who have a wood burner which can keep the animals at a stable temprature until the power is back on.

Further improvements

I plan to further keep improving my plan and when money allows these are some further systems i plan to obtain.

Petrol generator

These are an expensive system to buy outright generally on the cheaper end you are looking at £200+ but might be a worthy investment if you are stuck without power for a long period of time as they can last a long time on a single tank, i plan to invest in this when i renovate my garage to move all of my animals out into.