The Human Incubator!

Haha, alright, I think this one is going to put most of you over the line of either "Kylie, you truly are insane" or "Women you have waaaay too much time to think". I can't help but laugh as I write this, But I just have to ask or it will keep looming in my brain until I blurt it out to some unsuspecting bystander. So...

We live in the woods. I mean, there are trees EVERYWHERE. If one falls, 10 will fall on my house kind of deal, lol. As I sit here it is thunder storming outside, and the thought began to enter my mind... What if the power goes out? It is not cold here per say, so I wouldn't need to sleep with my snakes... but the thought crossed into my head, what if in a few weeks when I have eggs in the incubator, the power goes out? It is not uncommon for this to happen in a bad storm here, and although we are Right next to West Chester, it still is usually a good 2-3 hours before our power is restored AFTER a storm has passed. So I started contemplating to myself, "Gee, I wonder how long the incubator can hold a steady heat?" and the idea was disturbing. So, us being without a generator, I began to think of ideas of how I could keep those fragile little lives in balance should there be a power failure. My first thought of course... bring the gas grill inside and warm it up to a nice 89 degrees. Great, lets melt the floor and kill us all with the fumes, that will work Kylie! So I scratched that... Then, my mind hatched an idea. Humans hold a nice average body temperature of about 98.6 degrees, why can't I incubate them while we wait! Blurting this out to my husband.. he looked at me with that "You're going to sit on them?" look. No, although I am rather small, I would definitely crush them.. but I wonder if I put them between my legs or lay with them in a blanket, would they hold temperature? The idea still made me laugh, and I'm convinced it would never work.
So, what I'm really fishing for here is experiences. Has this ever happened to anyone? (the power failure with eggs in the incubator, not the egg sitting ) How long would your incubator hold the heat? Was all lost? Did your clutches perish? Did you think of something I didn't to save the little dears? Please share your stories with me! I would love to hear how this uncontrollable problem has been dealt with thus far. Being with Boas has not had me presented with a problem such as this before, and I'm beginning to see why I enjoyed Boas so much for so long
But the problems will be present now, so, please, humor me if nothing else.
Thank you for the time!

Kind Regards,
A thoughtful

Kylie Rae

Leave them in the incubator. Don't open it. Wait for the power to come back on.

My power was off for several hours one night last week (judging by the cage temps I was reading when I got home). The lowest temp recorded in my incubator was 87 degrees. **of course, that was MY incubator, in a normal temp room. With different equipment, different conditions, your results might be very different.**

If you just can't rest without a more proactive backup plan, you can buy a battery backup unit.

O.o never heard of them! Haha, thanks! I'll look into it! I was hoping I wouldn't have to sleep with them.. I'm a roller!

Why don't you bring your bator up to temp, unplug it, and see how long the temps take to drop.

(IMO, my portable 5500w gas generator rocks, I highly recommend one)

Some examples of battery backups: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati....asp?CatId=234

Generators are great...but I think it's probably overkill for an incubator, lol.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

Some examples of battery backups: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati....asp?CatId=234

Generators are great...but I think it's probably overkill for an incubator, lol.

Probably. I run my whole herp room on it when needed, plus the fish tanks. Super Bowl Sunday, we lost power for about an hour and a half. Guess who was still watching the Super Bowl!

Bottles and jugs of water in there if you have the room can help hold temps steady if power goes out. Also make sure it's well-insulated.

Back a few years ago I had some timor monitor eggs in the incubator that had been laid in late January. At the time the only incubator I had was a small Lyon model. I lose power in Feb due to a winter storm for what turns out to be about 12 hours. Keep in mind, Michigan in Feb can be brutal! After a couple of hours without power and estimations from Detroit Edison that it will be some time before power is restored, I finally end up taking the egg container out of the incubator and stuffing it underneath my sweatshirt and coat, carrying it with my the entire day in my house like an expectant mother until power is finally restored nine hours later . Happy ending to that story, as both eggs hatched without incident 4 months later .

The following spring I bought a back up generator......

Originally Posted by TheFragginDragon

After a couple of hours without power and estimations from Detroit Edison that it will be some time before power is restored, I finally end up taking the egg container out of the incubator and stuffing it underneath my sweatshirt and coat, carrying it with my the entire day in my house like an expectant mother until power is finally restored nine hours later . Happy ending to that story, as both eggs hatched without incident 4 months later .

The following spring I bought a back up generator......

That's great, so I guess I'm not too nuts after all. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
keep the stories and opinions coming!!

I got no insight one way or the other--mostly just because I was laughing so hard, and it only got worse when I got to John's response...Thanks for those posts!