Midnight Power Outage

We had quite the night here at Animal Wonders. A storm rolled in at 5pm and poured rain int onto the night. Around midnight we were woken up by our power outage alarm. It's a wonderful gift from my brother, Jake, that will beep for up to 4 minutes when it loses its power. We scrambled to find a flashlight and then starting making the plan; the animals needed heat asap. Surprisingly, this is the first time the power has gone out in the 2 years we've been in Montana, but we've been prepared. Right now we are still only 1/2 way done with the Animal Compound, the birds are in the Mammal Room with the mammal and the Reptiles have taken over a room in the house. So, we had 2 spaces that needed to be heated by the generator. We decided to quickly build a fire in the house's backup wood stove to temporarily heat the house and keep the reptile room warm. We put some gas in the emergency generator (a very kind donation from Rick and Sue Knudsen) and she roared to life. We strung an extension cord through the window of Tango the Patagonian Cavy's dirt floored enclosure and through his doggy door into the Animal Compound. We were very concerned about heat loss since it was raining and cold and we weren't sure how long the power would be out. Tango was transferred into his crate with a blanket for the night, so he wouldn't mess with the extension cord. All the animals were very interested in what we were doing in their room at midnight with a flashlight. Kemosabe the porcupine, who is nocturnal, thought we were there to give him extra treats and followed us as we walked back and forth. After the heater in the Mammal Room had power we started crating the sensitive reptiles to move them closer to the heat. Thankfully, the power came back on after about an hour. It could have been a very long night.

We are very thankful that we have not had more serious power outages, but are relieved that we were as well prepared for one as we are.  Since most of our animal residents are non-native species, it is very important to make sure it is the right temperature for them. The birds can easily get sick if they spend a night under 60 degrees. The reptiles could become very sick or even die if they get too cold for several hours. So, we are extremely careful about their heating. One of our goals is to purchase a generator that is triggered to come on when the power goes out. That way, there would be no delay to the heat.In a few months the Animal Compound will be complete and all the animal will be in one building, which will make heating easier and safer. Until then, at least now we have a plan for next time.