# Subzero Weather



## Chihirolee3 (Nov 27, 2012)

I live in the heart of the Midwest, and this winter has been pretty cold. We have LP heat and because it's so expensive for us, we keep our house at 58 degrees, the lowest our thermostat will go just to prevent freezing water pipes. We've been in the negative teens and twenty's lately, but starting tomorrow, they are talking -50 to -60. We already have our washing machine out of commission because the pipes froze (It's in a stupidly uninsulated part of the house, courtesy of the previous owners) so I'm storing up jugs of water for use/consumption so we use the pipes as little as possible. Turning up the thermostat won't help because all the water pipes are in a very poor area of the house where the foundation is very weak (It's a fix-er-upper of a house, but at least it's dry). I am fully expecting our pipes to freeze, and seeing the potential of our home to get very cold because of how drafty it is. I have already 'winterized' Pindsvin's cage with extra thick liners, back-up CHE's since the 2 I'm currently using haven't had a break. The outside of his cage is lined with wool blankets and he gets extra blankets to sleep under (he doesn't use a sleeping bag or an igloo, been that way since I first got him so I have used just large sqaures of fleece/hedgie tie blankets and he likes that). however, I don't think this will be enough since in our town, it's almost guaranteed the electricity will go out (it happens during storms and bad cold spells), so I have prepared a super insulated kennel (lots of fleece) for him and have about 4 days worth of heating pads and a temp reader (though, it's too small for a wheel) to get us through. If push comes to shove, my husband and I will abandon our house and huddle at his parents' farm where they have an old pig nursery turned workshop where there is a good woodstove that'll keep it 80. If that happens, I'll be taking our two cats and Pindsvin with us. I am not sure if I've thought of everything. I want him to have all he needs, although to maintain warmth he'll be pretty bored since heating a cage big enough for his wheel is out of question. I have a food bag and water bottles just for him prepared (he gets distilled water since our tap water is extremely rusty). I hope I am ready, but I am not sure. I don't want to lose Pindsvin; I'm still not over losing Rhododendron, but I am so scared of losing my other beloved hedgehog. :-?


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## Annie&Tibbers (Apr 16, 2013)

I think you've done an excellent job preparing. Maybe pick up a water bottle that can be used as a heat source if the chemical heat packs run out?

Here's Nancy's sticky on Emergency Power Outage Heating if you want to read it over, make sure you didn't miss anything.


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## Chihirolee3 (Nov 27, 2012)

thanks. It's warming up now (so they say). and Pindsvin is doing just fine.  I will look at that link, because winter or summer, power outages happen and it's good to be prepared


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