In today’s modern world, everything is running on electricity. It’s hard to imagine it being otherwise. But however, disaster can strike anytime, leaving you without electricity for hours or even days. How to care for your bearded dragon during a power outage or emergency?
Power outage in winter is especially dangerous, because you will need to keep your bearded dragon warm. In some emergencies (such as hurricane, storm), you won’t be able to leave your house, either.
In this post, we will discuss how care for your bearded dragon during a power outage or other emergency, and what to do with if power goes out.
How to prepare yourself and your bearded dragon for a power outage or other emergency?
- Food and water planning – a very important aspect of emergency planning.
- Keeping your bearded dragon warm – with no electricity, you won’t be able to use heating devices to heat the tank, or sometimes even a house.
- Lights for your dragon – your bearded dragon basking/heat lights, and they need electricity to work.
- Carrier/plastic container or an extra tank for evacuation planning – in case you will need to leave the house or move your bearded dragon to another location.
What are optimal day and night temperatures in a bearded dragon’s tank?
During the day, the warm side of the tank should be 92-105 degrees Fahrenheit (33-40.5 Celsius), and the cool side – 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit (23.8-26.6 Celsius). Temperatures during the night should be around 65-70 F (18.3-21 Celsius).
How to care for your bearded dragon during a power outage?
Step 1: Stock up on one week’s bearded dragon food and water supply
If there is a power outage, most probably you won’t be able to keep live feeder insects. This is because they often need heating and fresh feed, especially in winter.
Plan on a week’s extra food and water supplies in case of a power outage. Good news is, your bearded dragon can eat both vegetables and freeze dried insects to survive.
In case of a power outage, your bearded dragon can fast for a day or two if you don’t have any food at all (adults 18 months+ only).
What is more, you can feed it vegetables, greens, flowers and some fruits that you would eat yourself. You can feed your bearded dragon thawed vegetables, but these won’t last long. Fresh vegetables and fruits are also not likely to last long.
If you think that you will be without electricity for a long time, your vegetables and fruits might go bad quickly, especially in summer. For emergency situations, you can get some vegetable baby food cans that contain some of the staple vegetables, and nothing else.
These can be some cans with squash, beans or sweet potato. Vegetables are also easier to digest with less heat.
Always have an extra pack of bearded dragon treats, for example this buffet blend, that you can offer your dragon if there’s no food. You can also get freeze dried crickets and other insects, that have a long shelf life.
However, it wouldn’t be a good idea to have cans of bearded dragon food for an emergency, because you need to refrigerate them after opening. Stock up on dry food instead. If you have extra packs of freeze dried feeder insects, you can freeze them for situations like this.
Don’t feed your bearded dragon much food, because it needs a lot of heat to digest it. Cut the portion in half and feed more vegetables ( especially adults) that are easier to digest.
Don’t also forget that pellet foods are usually dry and you will need to provide your bearded dragon with fresh drinking water to keep it hydrated. You will also need water to bathe your dragon or mist it for extra hydration. Make sure you always have extra gallons of water in case of an emergency.
You can also prepare plastic dishes/plates for providing water/food, instead of using regular bowls that are harder to wash and clean. You can throw away these plastic dishes once they are dirty. 
Step 2: Keeping your bearded dragon warm during a power outage
You will need to keep your bearded dragon warm, especially in winter. If the temperature outside the tank is under 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.8 Celsius), you will need to keep your bearded dragon warm using some supplies.
- To keep your bearded dragon warm, you can put your it in a blanket/pillowcase and have it close to your body. Body heat will keep your dragon warm. Make sure to watch it, so it doesn’t suffocate.
- But more importantly, you can use heat packs that will emit heat for up to 8 hours. Heat packs that you can use are hand warmers (2 might be enough for a day or two) or medicinal heat pads. You can put small hand warmers in a sock, to avoid burning your dragon. Be careful with heat packs, as they can get hot – don’t place them directly on bearded dragon’s skin. You can also place the heating packs under the tank to mimic an under tank heating pad.
- Another great choice is a self-heating pad, such as these for cats, that hold and reflects body’s own heat. Wrap your bearded dragon in a blanket or self-heating pad, and then use a heat pack for extra warmth.
- What is more, you can also use a gas stove (if you have one) to boil water in the kettle, and then fill a water bottle or two that you will put around the tank. You can even use a BBQ (using gas or charcoal) and heat water on it. Another great solution is to have a gas generator that will power your home during an outage.
- Another tip is to get in the car, if you have one. Turn the car’s heating on, wrap your bearded dragon and put it under the heating. It should get very warm in the car.
- You can also get a rechargeable heat bag/bottle like this, that you can charge somewhere and bring home to heat your dragon’s tank. This heat bag should stay warm for around 5-8 hours or so indoors.
- Another way to keep your dragon warm is to place it in a small box with Styrofoam around it. Styrofoam acts as an insulator. Place your bearded dragon in a pillowcase and then in a box. Make around 10-15 holes in the box and place a hand warmer/heating pack between the box/foam. This is how reptiles are also shipped. Then, place a probe of a digital thermometer inside the box so you don’t need to open it every time. Make sure to ventilate the box from time to time. You can find more info on this in this post.
- These are tips for keeping your bearded dragon warm during a power outage in winter, during a storm, heavy rainfall or hurricane. If a power outage happens in summer and it is hot outside (80 F, 26 Celsius and above in the shade), you can take your bearded dragon outside to warm up and get natural sunlight. Or, place it near a window so it can get natural unfiltered sunlight and stay warm.
Step 3: Lights for your bearded dragon
During a power outage, you won’t be able to have the lights on for your bearded dragon. Probably one of the best ways to prepare for a power outage is to invest in a power generator like this, which will run your electrical supplies. Another way to turn on lights for your bearded dragon is to plug them to your car using a car inverter/adapter.
Step 4: Preparing an extra tank or a carrier in case you need to move your bearded dragon
A power outage can sometimes last only few hours, but sometimes, it can take a full day or even few days. This is a long time, and you might consider moving your bearded dragon somewhere else for this period. Having a spare tank that is smaller will have few benefits.
First of all, small tank (around 20 gallons) will be much easier to heat or move around. You can also prepare a carrier (basket, small animal soft carrier or plastic carrier).
In a carrier or small tank, you will be able to move your bearded dragon to a friend’s house, to work or somewhere else where you can plug its supplies to electricity. This soft carrier, for example is 24″ L, 16″ H and 16″ deep.
If you are planning to stay at home, don’t move your bearded dragon out of the tank straight away. It is a better idea to put a blanket over a terrarium and heat it with water bottles and heat packs.
If you don’t open the terrarium doors, the heat can stay inside for an hour or so. And if you place the blanket to make it dark inside the terrarium, your bearded dragon will sleep through the day.
When bearded dragons sleep, they need lower temperatures and don’t need to eat much. You can keep your bearded dragon inactive like this for up to 2 days, but keep the temperatures optimal. Your bearded dragon will slow down and sleep most of the time. Don’t do this with young bearded dragons under 12 moths.