Pets rescued from tornados

[Catherine]

That is a good evacuation plan. I have portable guinea pig cages. They wouldn't like it, but they could be moved fairly quickly. I have plastic containers and pillow cases for the reptiles. The smaller containers stack and have air holes. Bigger snakes are better in pillow cases, placed in a travel box. They can do without water for longer than a mammal. The lizards would go in plastic boxes as well, but they would need water and bedding. The snakes would be fine with paper towels. In a desperate evacuation I would use more pillow cases and put them in my shavings bin for transport.

I hope never to need any of my plans, but I feel better for thinking it through. I did have to evacuate once during a winter power outage. The house got down to 9 C and it was -20 C outside. I was able to go to a nearby neighbour and had a lot of teenagers to help me. It was scary. I was packing animals for travel and the girls were going out the door with them. I cried because I was so scared for them even though they only went a few doors away.(they had power, I didn't)
My first snake died just after everything went back to normal and I think it was the move. It was stressful for him.