Due to a recent devastating tragedy, I wanted to mention what my plans are in case of a loss of power. My home has gas heat but the furnace needs electricity to run.

I have empty 1/2, 1 and 2 gallon empty jugs in the glider room. In the event of a power loss while I'm home, I can fill these with hot water. (My tank is 50 gal) Each cage will get as many jugs as I can fit (without compromising the cage bottom) covered by fleece. Each cage will then be covered by fleece, with regular blankets over that, to keep the heat in.

My winter pouches are all double layered.

Each pouch has a LOT of fleece blankies in it. By a LOT, I mean pretty much stuffed full. The gliders love having so many blankies and it helps keep them warm.

I have hand warmers, that I can slip into small zippered pouches, to put in each cage.

Are there any other ideas or concerns about what my plans are?

Great Post this will be a huge help.

I make sure that my cages are covered in fleece too and then layered with blankets. I keep many hand warmers spare so that I can place them is a zipper pouch and then place with the gliders. I have a generator so keeping a small heater and extension cords is a must. I know that many are against candles but last winter that saved my room from becoming a freezer. With have the cages covered the suggies were not a all bothered by them. I also keep heavy blankets nearby to place over the windows to keep cold air from slipping in. PLEASE NOTE: If you lose electric and the sun us shining through your window remove the blankets to allow heat to fill the room until the sun begins to go away.

Anymore recommendations?

Electricity tends to be out for several days at a time here in central OK so I ordered some more bonding pouches. I plan to keep all 12 of my babies on me for body heat until I can move them to a friends house if/when we lose electricity.

I forgot to mention. If you have your cages covered in the winter time, don't cover all four sides. The heat won't be able to get into the cage. Leave one side open.

Great post! I will have to get some fleece big enough for the cages. I have a wood burning stove so I can move the gliders in that room if need be.

Great post you ever know when the power will go out and when it does and your not prepared or home you will wind up in the position I am in & I hope no one ever has to lear the way I just did! I have now cut up some more blankies I am going to start looking for some EXTRA thick cage sets that I can afford and I have got blankets to cover the back and both sides of all my cages as well as hand warmers heating pads etc for emergencies! I hope newbies read this and take the advice because I could have never imagined what I came home to last night happening!

I'm so sorry, Alicia! First your Christmas money was stolen and now this!!!! That's more than any one person should bear.

Thank you for all the great tips. I'm spending my first winter away from Fl and learned a lot.

I have a generator and I have 3 large Avi-tech heat panels that I can set up on the cages. These are great panels and I used them the first year I got Peanut as Peanut is a wimp. He has toughened up now and doesn't need the heat panel.

I have enough panels to combine the parrots and warm them and the gliders.

The past few months have been nothing but terrible luck! But my babies knew mommy loved them and I would have NEVER left this house if I even had a feeling something bad would happen! You can bet I wont be going on any more over nighters unless someone is in my home at all times!

You never think it will happen to you, please be prepared for no heat! Our first bad weather experience was having a hurricane in KY at midnight and our neighbor at our door that our barn had blown away. the wind picked up the barn and exploded it. We were out in the mud and wind finding the horses which survived with no injuries.
Then the time we had freezing rain that covered everything taking out the electric for 5 very long days and nights. Again a neighbor saved us by bringing over a generator and hooking it up for a few hours every day so our pipes didn't freeze and break. I did loose some finches, there was no way to get them to a better place.
So now I have a generator, plenty of batteries, canned food, bottled water and keep the car full of gas.

My mind has been racing since reading of Alicia's tragedy. While in an accident like that where there was no one there to know the heat went out if you are home and the heat goes out, short of carrying all your babies in pouches on your body to keep them warm, and you will get cold too, there are instant heat packs that last up to 8 hours that while not designed for such use just might be able to be used in some capacity to keep the babies warm? Something I feel is worthwhile investigating?
Here is one kind I have found just as an example. I have never used it, have no idea of how hot it gets, if it gets too hot for gliders, if it is practical or not, just an example of what is out there
Thermo Pad
I am just thinking out loud here but wanted to plant a seed in everyone's mind here as the more ideas the better.

I had a question about what to do if the electricity goes out. Two years ago the ice storm hit here in KY and I lost power for a whole week. Thankfully I did not own any gliders at that time. I understand how to keep them warm in the pouch but they won't want to stay in their pouch all night when it is freezing in the house will they? How can I keep them warm at night when they want to play in the cage? Or will they naturally not stay out very long because it is cold and stay in the pouch more at night?

Several of my gliders passed away today from being in my home with no heat for 6 to 8 hrs due to a tripped breaker so I am not sure it looked as if mine came out to eat and have time to themselves and got too cold!

Becpop last year my hubby and I had to jump from home to home in October and it was 40's 30's here last year. The person who let us stay at his house the most wanted us to leave the gliders in his basement. NO HEAT. to say the least my hubby and I took turns wearing them. It was rather silly to say but I had a t-shirt on and 4 bonding pouches then 2 sweaters to make sure they were warm every 3-4 hrs we would change up who wore them. Thank god my hubby was willing to help.

Pat in Oz several wildcare groups keep thermal wraps in their autos as well as homes. They use different sized thermal/hypothermal wrap/blankets for kangaroo's, koala's, possum,wombats, etc... whom have been struck by autos & are in shock, etc in route into DVM's hands.
Am quite sure a size could be located for our glider's & kept in emergency kit as well as for a few just to keep in autos for our beloved hurt wildlife.

This is a tough one. We do the best we can to prepare, but can't always cover all the bases. I have 8 cages of gliders, 8 cages of reptiles, 3 cats and a dog. My first options if the power went out would be to check with family in town to see if we could move in for a while. I do have 7 travel cages for gliders and a tent. The reptiles could all be moved into smaller temp tanks. The thought of having to move everyone is overwhelming though. It's not just the animals, it's all of their food and necessary supplies. I might have to think on this one for a while and draw up an emergency evacuation plan.

Nice post!

We have friends and family in town should something happen. We also have a gas fireplace that we could use as needed.

I need to make a note to make some extra warm pouches, though, and pick up some of those hand warmers when we're at the store.. just in case something does happen.

My husband is wanting to know if we can use a small propane heater in the glider room if the electricity goes out. The heater has a propane tank like the ones on barbeque grills. Is propane safe this way? Would it cause toxic fumes?

I do have double pouches with lots of blankies, cubes full of little blankie squares and large fleece to cover over 3 sides of the cages. There are also bonding pouches for everyone to be in and worn for body heat. I have many friends here in our area and family 2 hours away if we need to move for a while. Another thing I always have on hand is baby food! It is a great source of food for the gliders should you have to evacuate or are left without power. I keep the stage 3 Gerber jars of sweet potatoes, squash, chicken, apples & chicken on hand at all times. Applesauce in the individual containers is good too! I keep the tropical dried fruit mix & bottled water is here as well and we have an emergency supply always ready!

I have baby foods that I can feed, in case we lose power. I keep handwarmers, the packs you break that heat up, like Connie has.

Lat year, when I lived in a much bigger, older house than this apartment, we had a gas furnace. My boyfriend and I woke up one morning and it was FREEZING in our room. The furnace had broken and it was litteraly 20 degrees in our bedroom. I rushed downstairs to check on Oreo and Skittles. They were fine. I had extra blankies for them, which they took and went right back to bed. I had a cover already on the cage, but I threw on extra blankets there. I started cooking in the stove. I made cornbread of all things, two batches, just so the stove could be providing some heat in the kitchen (room next to the gliders) while Lar's cousin fixed the furnace. It was easily 6+ hours that we did not have heat, and it did not get warm again until later that night. The furnace had a LOT to keep up with 2 floors and a basement to get back to 64 degrees. I think part of why the gliders did so well, is that my boyfriend was keeping the heat so low already. Their room also had two windows, and when the sun was up it was warming the room some. Then again until Oreo lost weight recently, they were both on the chunkier side for gliders, so maybe they had more natural insulation.

I think it's a good idea, when it is cold out, if you have any way of doing it, to keep 2 doors between your gliders and the outside. That way, when you come in from the cold, the draft doesn't rush into them or their cage. At the apartment, I've also installed the insulating plastic that sticks inside the windowsills, since we do not have double-paned windows. It keeps me warmer sitting on the couch so it has to be helping the babies!

I have to say i am not very prepaired. If we loose power in the winter i can move all the critters into the gorage where there is a wood burning stove. I norm have baby food on hand. After reading this i need to rethink and get prepaired.

With over 50 head of horses here we don't have the option of going to a friends house. Someone needs to be here 24/7. When I moved down here I brought the generator with me, so we have that now. The barns are on different lines than the house. Which has already come in handy as the new barn is on yet a 3rd line so when we lost power a couple winters ago in the old barn we were able to hook enough hoses together to fill a tank in the rough board area and it reached as far as the corner of the old dairy barn so I filled buckets two at a time while Jeff carried them and brought me more buckets to fill.

I think if it got bad enough I could talk the fire department into taking the parrots and gliders for a couple days. That is worst case as I will jump through what ever hoops I have to, to make things work here.

I am really glad I got on here tonight and saw this post. First of all, Alicia I am so sorry for your loss. The light at the end of the tunnel is that from this tragedy, others can be saved. I have water, frozen food (which I could keep cold outside in winter) baby food and mealies... but I never thought about the importance of having EXTRA pouches and blankies. I now, will be making double lined winter fleece pouches tomorrow for all of my cages. I know they will not look good since I am learning, but at least I will have them ready.

Connie, not only did I learn so much from you at the glider xmas about emergency preparedness, but I neve knew about the hot jug idea. That is a perfect and easy way to help with heat.

With everyones brainstorming, you have at least helped my glider family become more pepared in the winter.

I just went thru and gave each cage a nice big extra handful of blankies. My guys norm just take them out and throw them on the bottem of the cage but i figure that with so many in the pouch some have to stay in lol. I work long days and would never know if my power went out while i was gone but at least with the blankies and cages being covered on all 4 sides they would have a fighting chance. We have freezing rain tonight and i think i hate that above the snow. At least the snow for the most part does not build up on the power lines.

I think im going to make little bags i can put hand warmers in and put in pouches. It is a short term use but can make all the diff.


Since we are on the topic those of you who have birds how do you handle that situation? The stove in the gorage is ventalated well but there would still be some smoke from it. What do you do for heat for them. Kito is a sun conure and a good boy but he would chew thru a hand warmer in no time. My dogs and cats would be fine in the gorage and so would the suggies but with them i can put them in a pouch and he well i dont think he would care to much if i zipped him up in a pouch!

I just wanted to add that there are "instant" heat packs that actually last 36-64 hours. I have used them before when I worked with baby squirrels. They work very well, although they are a bit more expensive than the regular heat packs. I always keep several at home. I get them from Chris's Squirrels and more.

those heat packs are a good idea Pat, thanks.

Thank you to everyone for tossing ideas out there. Right now I live in an area pretty filled with people. Like many others I have gas heat but it needs electricity to kick on. One reason I NEVER have an electric stove (cooking) in the house is for that reason of loosing electricity. Even though it has an electric igniter, you can kick it on with a match or lighter. So it can create some heat for you. JUST NEVER GO TO BED WITH IT ON!!!! and dont leave it on constantly for heat. turn it on, take the chill out, turn it off. Dont use the top area for heat either. we turn on the oven, let it warm up, then crack open the door. After all you cook a turkey for 5 or 6 hours right? We had to do this last year when our heater died in the middle of January and was out for a week!

Using propane heaters or propane BBQs indoors is very dangerous. please dont do that.

Is it the big white tank, or the small green ones? We have a heater that takes the small green ones, and we used it for 5 days in the glider room a couple years ago when we had a big ice storm hit. The hardest part was finding more of the tanks, everyone was sold out. You have to make sure the heater is specifically designated safe for indoor use.

Ours is like this one, although a different, smaller model:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/p...p;cm_ite=173635

Also, disposable bowls of some sort is important for long-term power loss. And bottled water.