When the power goes out...lighting?

[Lemonpie]

I live in an area where there are isolated wild storms and have yet to experience one in the past 6 weeks since I have had my beardie but am very concerned about the power going out in the future for extended periods of time. Is there any way to have the lights set up to work without power? I live in an apartment so I can't use a generator. I am worried since the power has gone out 5 times in the last year for more than a day (one time 4 days!) and am concerned for my baby as it will inevitably happen again.

 

[BeardieBaby]

I am worried about the same exact thing! One thing that I am going to do is buy hand warmers and if I have to go to work and I know there is going to be a storm I am going to put some hand warmers in a towel and put them on my beardie because my power seems to go out easily as well. It actually just went out today and I have no idea how long it was out for, but when I got home all the clocks were flashing and I think it scared my baby because his lights obviously went off and on and that probably confused him because he wouldn't eat anything for me when I got home. I can't afford a generator myself, so the only thing I can think of, especially now that the weather is getting cooler is to keep a warm blanket in the tank or use hand warmers when you know it's going to be cold or we are about to get a bad storm. I hope this works, because I am depending on it as well!!

 

[Lemonpie]

Thanks BeardieBaby! What exactly are hand warmers? And where do you buy them?

 

[BeardieBaby]

Hand warmers are things that people like skiers use in the winter months to put under their gloves.....you can buy them anywhere like Target or Walmart, places like that, and they sell them in different sizes as well. When you use them though you want to make sure you use a blanket or towel because they get REALLY hot and it would be TOO hot for the beardie

 

[sircactuscat]

Umm, record the temps next time the power goes out, if the temp stays above 26•C don't worry but if it goes lower then you may want to look into hand warmers. I believe you can get a little gadget that when the temp goes lower than a set temp it will sound an alarm! But sometimes a cooler night temp can help. Good luck

 

[Aleena]

You can try using a small generator or if all else fails, sounds like germ has taken them to keep warm in his car before... but the UVB will be okay for short periods of time. Unfortunately, it's a tough one to get past.

 

[Lemonpie]

Does anyone know if a high powered flashlight might work? I have one with a 12 hour battery life so i could use it for 3 days with new batteries. how hot does a flashlight get? And would the light be any stronger than his basking bulb?

 

[sircactuscat]

Does anyone know if a high powered flashlight might work? I have one with a 12 hour battery life so i could use it for 3 days with new batteries. how hot does a flashlight get? And would the light be any stronger than his basking bulb?

Good thinking but I think it depends on the bulb type. Ifs it LED it won't get hot at all, but if its a normal bulb then it should get hot!

 

[Noella]

Hmm. That sounds like a great idea!

 

[Chris Baez Jr.]

If you go to aquabid.com - 'shipping supplies', you can find some 72 hour heat packs that we use to ship fish during the winter time. They get up to 100 degrees, and are pretty inexpensive. You can put a couple of them near the basking spot.

Also, I'm not sure about this, but you can check with Radio Shack, I believe there is a device that you can hook up to a car battery that will turn 120 volts.

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

...Also, I'm not sure about this, but you can check with Radio Shack, I believe there is a device that you can hook up to a car battery that will turn 120 volts.

They are called Inverters and come in a wide range of wattage output...some of them can be plugged up to a car cigarette lighter and some have to be connected directly to the battery...You can find Inverters at Walmart and most Auto Supply places but the best place to buy them would be an RV supplier or better yet a Truckstop...I have been a longhaul trucker for over **cough cough mutter** 25 years and Inverters are almost a necessity in a rig...lol
Just make sure when you look at them that the one you are looking to purchase puts out enough watts to more than cover the total wattage of the bulbs you want to run off of them...the wattage output on those things have 2 numbers...one is a Continuous output and the other will be a peak output or burst output. The Continuous output is the important one so if for instance you have a 75 watt basking bulb and a 15watt UV bulb and say a 100 watt CHE...you would have a total need of 75+15+ 100=185watts..you would need a inverter that puts out at least 200 watts continuous power and preferably 300 watts....you can usually buy a good 300 watt Inverter at most Truckstops for about 30-40 bucks that will give you a couple of outlets and plugs into a car cigarette lighter and that comes in a nice hardshell case for storing when you aren't using it.
Just beware that when using an Inverter you will need to idle your car periodically at least or you will end up with a very dead battery in a short amount of time.