BTS Emergency Preparedness

[Susann]

I have posted this before, but with all the natural catastrophes happening, not only here in the U.S. but across the world, I thought this might be a good one to have us all be thinking about.

If, heaven forbid, something happens, and you need to run out of your house at moment's notice, IF there is time for you to grab your skink, how would you do it?
This is something that worries me, because I live in a place where in 6 months we can go from far below zero to well above a hundred degrees F, and I have 6 big Meraukes (and at the moment 6 little babies). In the winter time, sure, I could throw a skink inside the shirts of everyone in my family and do rock-paper-scissors who has to carry two inside their shirt, but I really don't want to. And how long might they have to be inside your shirt? What about if you have to go stay somewhere, like a motel, a friend's house, a shelter, where would you keep your skink?

So I put together little emergency tubs, one for each skink.
I got these cheap-o cake carrying containers from Walmart. Drilled holes in the sides and a few in the lids.

IMG_1035 - Copy.JPG

IMG_1038 - Copy.JPG

On the lids I wrote "I am a HARMLESS PET REPTILE"

IMG_1039 - Copy.JPG

Inside each I placed some substrate or shredded paper towels, a water bottle, a small dish to put water in, a small can of dog food, and some emergency heat pouches.

IMG_1041 - Copy.JPG

I keep these containers underneath the reptile tanks, ready to go at all times; so if there's time, I can just chuck a skink into each little tub and run.

[Dakota]

Oh wow! I didn't think about this! I am moving to Florida today, and although our city is not know for hurricanes, it could happen.. I am going to do this soon.

[juliec1]

i love this idea... guess whos going to walmart tonight...i always stuff ready for my cats, now i better get stuff ready for the skinks as well

[Katydid11]

Susann, That is a wonderful idea. I deal with a lot of animal shelter preparedness/emergency management plans, so I am always looking for ideas like this. Having a prepared kit is much more simple than having items sorted out separately.

For people who are not prepared...(although you should be!) or in situations where you make only have seconds to grab animals (fire, unexpected evacuation), putting each animal in a pillowcase and tying the end in a knot, is an option to get a number of animals out quickly. Again, each animal should be in it's own pillowcase, but it's an easy way to carry 10-20 animals out at once. At that point, you will wish you had prepared bins like Susann's because you will be carrying around your reptile pillowcases until you figure out a solution for temporary housing!

[Alioop]

Great post Susann.

My emergency "kit" isn't quite so advanced as yours... but I do have one pillowcase for each reptile, and a couple cheap-o styrofoam coolers (labled- harmless reptile pet, etc). I keep these right next to the enclosures, just incase we ever needed to get out quickly.

[Emz3]

Love this post! I teach an American Red Cross Pet First Aid class and we talk about evacuation plans and natural disasters! I use a small dog crate with lots of towels, a heating pad (used on low of course), and an extra thermometer. I haven't included water or food - I will do that. I also love the idea of the "hot hands" in the event there is no electricity! And I think the words "Harmless Pet Lizard" are really important as many people have no idea what a BTS is or if they are dangerous. I know in Indonesia some of the locals believe they are poisonous and kill them.

Last year I had to "evacuate" my condo due to a potential gas leak. You should have seen us. Two humans, two dogs, two parrots and two BTS in my truck. It's funny now!

Again, really great and important post!

[ljhinders]

Thank you for putting this post back up! We have already had two tornado warnings this year and expect more during the course of the summer. I'm going to get Soren a Harmless reptile temp home kit made TODAY. thanks again

[Susann]

I was hoping this topic would cause some people to think about being prepared when it comes to their pets; and it seems to have done that, that's awesome!

Just a word of caution about the HotHands. They are not meant for pet use. Some of them can get as hot as 160 degrees F, which is hot enough to cause burns, even on our thick-scaled lizards. So be extremely careful if you put it somewhere where your BTS can get in direct contact with it.
The times I've had to use them I usually set one end of the pet container on top of the heat pouch, so they remain on the outside and not in direct contact. The times when that hasn't been enough, I've sewed these thick fleece "pockets" to put the pouch in, so there's still a layer between the pouch and any lizard that lays on top of it. Or pushes themselves underneath it.

[Katydid11]

Yes, the hot hands can get very hot. Sometimes they will also fluctuate in temperature greatly over the course of a few hours. I use them regularly and have found that sometimes they will get even hotter after a few hours of activation, or may even start to cool down and then warm up again. Don't underestimate their power to give a thermal burn!

[juliec1]

just thought i would mention that i had a dream about having an emergency and that i was not prepared.... and in my dream i was telling my hubby " Susann told me to be ready, and i didnt listen" lol i will be ready for anything... lol

[Spindown]

Hey, thats great! Thanks for sharing, I will be getting this as soon as I can!

ETA: I am going to have a hard time not writing "I am a SUPER CUTE Harmless Reptile" LOL and a note that says "OMG why is my tongue blue!!" ROFL

[Susann]

and a note that says "OMG why is my tongue blue!!" ROFL

You should put in a not that says: If my tongue is blue, give me mouth-to-mouth ASAP!"

[Dakota]

and a note that says "OMG why is my tongue blue!!" ROFL

You should put in a not that says: If my tongue is blue, give me mouth-to-mouth ASAP!"

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Warning: Contagious disease carrying vermin.

[Susann]

The tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, etc. continue across the world.
Thank you to everyone who has given us some good ideas.
Thanks to what Alioop told us she does, I now have little reptile-bags in a cooler for the babies. Thank you for the pillowcase idea! (from Katydid11 too!)
I would love to see pictures if someone else has put together an emergency "plan" for their reptiles.

[hurricanejen]

Just wanted to add - I have this set up for my reptiles, as I've had to evacuate for fires before. Use shipping heat packs instead of hot hands! They last 40 hours, so you don't have to have as many, and they don't get so hot. We ship using thousands of the things and I've never heard of one being hot enough to burn. For brushfires I know sometimes I can't get home for up to a week at a time, so I keep 2 packs per animal in case it takes me that long to find a place with electricity to camp out at.

Of course I get them through work, but you may be able to find something cheaper/similar/lacking in shipping near you. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/rep ... heat-pack/

Excellent idea, thanks for sharing!

-Jen

[Vengeance]

Excellent idea. We've got three snakes and a blue tongue, while we can just take the snakes enclosures (20ltr Kritter Keepers) in a rush, Gizmo's enclosure is far too heavy and impractical to move. While I do have several tubs of varying sizes suitable for keeping reptiles (holes in the sides to allow for ventilation), none of them are prepared in such a way that all it would take is for the reptile to be put in and moved. I'll have to remedy that, especially if I plan on getting more reptiles. Thank you for this informative thread, even if the event of an emergency is unlikely, it's piece of mind knowing you're prepared.

[Zalder]

Of course I get them through work, but you may be able to find something cheaper/similar/lacking in shipping near you. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/rep ... heat-pack/

This is brilliant, thanks for opening my eyes. I thought I'd be stuck to the whole shirt spiel, but I guess I'm buying some materials for preparedness now.

And thanks hurricanejen, those heat packs will be great I'm sure. Especially seeing as that's what they're designed for.