Temperatures in Tank

I've been keeping an eye on Figment's temps lately, because I realized how hot the room he's in gets as a result of his bulbs. The problem is the door, which we usually keep closed to keep the cat out - when the door is closed, the ambient temps in the room and in the tank go up quite a bit.

As I write this, I've got the door open and a fan blowing in from our air conditioned bedroom and the temps are 88.2 by my probe/ 85.4 by my temp gun (cool side) and 105.1F by probe/ 97.2 by temp gun (basking area). Frankly, I'm not sure which to believe - the probe or the gun, which is a PE1 from Tempgun.com... the probe is a ZooMed digital probe.

I've been relying on the probe to track the daily fluctuations, as I cannot easily get my arm into the tank to take the readings with the temp gun... a small screen door in the top of the cage and a large arm don't cooperate well. :roll:

The basking area of the tank ranges from around 105F - 109F, under a 100w bulb. Figment prefers to bask on the tile floor of the tank, so that's where I'm taking the readings. I've got a perfectly good branch in there for him to bask on, but he prefers the floor or his hammock (which is closer to his UV strip but doesn't give me good readings tempwise).

The cool side of the tank ranges from 88F - 95F under a 60w plant incandescent bulb. I've been thinking about shifting to an LED bulb for the summer, since when the door to the room is closed, the cool side does get much warmer than I think it ought to be (90s). I tried turning off the light, and it evened out around 85-88F.

My question is, are my temps okay for my dragon, even if they fluctuate that way? I know that in nature, the temps ebb and flow throughout the day - but I just want to make sure that things aren't TOO hot for him.

Would your cat just jump a baby gate?

WinFam01":5wdc0nmr said:

Would your cat just jump a baby gate?

Click to expand...

:lol: Oh, yes. Most definitely. He isn't dangerous to my dragon; he'd just like to lie on the top of the tank, where it's toasty warm. Since that isn't wise, and since my son has his strategy board game set up in Figment's room and the cat likes to knock the little playing pieces all over the floor, we keep the door shut most of the day.

I would lower the wattage to a 75 watt bulb for basking--- and shut the extra bulb you have the 60 watt off- see how that works for temps- the pieces your using for basking often reflect different temps w/ different instruments your using- the basking piece now is a solid piece of decor or a hammock? Any chance of you moving him to a different room like where you are most of the day?
Karrie

KarrieRee":1i4sn4wc said:

I would lower the wattage to a 75 watt bulb for basking--- and shut the extra bulb you have the 60 watt off- see how that works for temps- the pieces your using for basking often reflect different temps w/ different instruments your using- the basking piece now is a solid piece of decor or a hammock? Any chance of you moving him to a different room like where you are most of the day?

Click to expand...

I wish I could move the tank, but unfortunately we have a very small house and no room in the living area for his hab. I'll try lowering the wattage of the basking bulb and putting an LED bulb, which won't give off much heat, on the cool side. The cool side is a bit dark without a bulb!

The surface of the tank floor is white tile, which is where he basks. I tried moving his branch under the light, but he didn't use it and tried to bask UNDER it. I think he likes to pancake out his body, and he can't do that on the branch we have at the moment. I'm looking for something a bit wider, but the best piece of Beardie decor I've found is a resin branch for $54, and I can't afford that right now. Wish I could pamper my boy like he deserves!

I'll also try keeping the room door open when the cat is outside, and see if that helps.

Get the piece of decor that I showed you from Petsmart its $20- and it works great -- check your PM
Karrie

KarrieRee":3vzxxzhx said:

Get the piece of decor that I showed you from Petsmart its $20- and it works great -- check your PM

Click to expand...

Planning on it! Our closest Petsmart is 40 minutes away, but it's in stock and it's a nice day for a drive.

ComicBookMama":354rtavr said:

WinFam01":354rtavr said:

Would your cat just jump a baby gate?

Click to expand...

:lol: Oh, yes. Most definitely. He isn't dangerous to my dragon; he'd just like to lie on the top of the tank, where it's toasty warm. Since that isn't wise, and since my son has his strategy board game set up in Figment's room and the cat likes to knock the little playing pieces all over the floor, we keep the door shut most of the day.

Click to expand...

Well, so much for that then. Couldn't be that easy! ?

WinFam01":3tqyvjbi said:

ComicBookMama":3tqyvjbi said:

WinFam01":3tqyvjbi said:

Would your cat just jump a baby gate?

Click to expand...

:lol: Oh, yes. Most definitely. He isn't dangerous to my dragon; he'd just like to lie on the top of the tank, where it's toasty warm. Since that isn't wise, and since my son has his strategy board game set up in Figment's room and the cat likes to knock the little playing pieces all over the floor, we keep the door shut most of the day.

Click to expand...

Well, so much for that then. Couldn't be that easy! ?

Click to expand...

It never is, is it? :lol: