Basking temps/surface temps

[Jeddolls]

Hey guys, just a quick question because I’m constantly paranoid that I’m gettin something wrong, when it comes to basking temps, I use an IR gun on the peak of the basking rock(just under where he sits) and a digital probe which as in the picture is generally level with where Kits body would be while basking, the IR gun measures 104-107 dependant on warmer/colder days and the probe measures 93-96 is this setup correct or am I getting it wrong? He (although I think Is a she) is 4 months and 220 grams,

Sorry for the ramble,

Thanks,

Josh

 

[KarrieRee]

Temp guns can be off -- the temp gun can be off because of material used for the basking decor piece - your more inclined to go w the digital probe ---watch his poop and if your getting undigested food then basking temp needs to be higher
Karrie

 

[Jeddolls]

Temp guns can be off -- the temp gun can be off because of material used for the basking decor piece - your more inclined to go w the digital probe ---watch his poop and if your getting undigested food then basking temp needs to be higher
Karrie

Thankyou for the quick response, and being naive can I put the probe against the basking surface to then measure the basking temp or still keep it where it is and go with the air temperature?? There’s some food undigested but the majority like 80% or so is fully digested, additionally since we bought him from the breeder, we had a fecal done and he had a v high count of Coccidia so is currently on Sulfatrim 2x day .15ml doses, could this be the reason?

 

[KarrieRee]

The medicine question needs to be answered by our vet tech Tracie Drache613 --- the basking probe needs to be set on the spot where he is sitting and that will give you an accurate temp --- the undigested food is telling me basking temps need to be higher even partially undigested -- raise them to 100 -105 and see what happens -- you do not want air temp you want surface temp --- Tracie is on late nite ---
Karrie

 

[Jeddolls]

The medicine question needs to be answered by our vet tech Tracie Drache613 --- the basking probe needs to be set on the spot where he is sitting and that will give you an accurate temp --- the undigested food is telling me basking temps need to be higher even partially undigested -- raise them to 100 -105 and see what happens -- you do not want air temp you want surface temp --- Tracie is on late nite ---
Karrie

Thanks again, and I thought it would be worth mentioning as before the Sulfatrim his poop was fully digested, as well as a loss of appetite once we started the course but that seems rather common. When you say set, as long as the end of the probe is touching the basking spot the basking surface that will give an accurate reading? In which case I have done this before and it was around 100 Fahrenheit

Thanks for all the help!

Josh

 

[KarrieRee]

Yes leave on that spot for 10 min then get the temp
Karrie

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry you had to put your girl on sulfatrim!
Do you know the strength of the solution of the medication? He is taking .15ml twice
per day? What is his weight?
I can definitely double check the dose for you if you need.
For now, be sure to keep him a little warmer overnight right now since he is on meds.
A good temperature is 78-80 to help boost his immune system while he is on those
meds.

Tracie

 

[Jeddolls]

Hello,

Sorry you had to put your girl on sulfatrim!
Do you know the strength of the solution of the medication? He is taking .15ml twice
per day? What is his weight?
I can definitely double check the dose for you if you need.
For now, be sure to keep him a little warmer overnight right now since he is on meds.
A good temperature is 78-

80 to help boost his immune system while he is on those
meds.

Tracie

Looking now, and I may be reading the wrong bit but on the box it says 16mg/ml + 80mg/ml trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole and you are correct, 2x 0.15ml doses originally .1ml but he is very stubborn and will nose dive into the carpet/bed to rub off excess droplets so the extra 0.05 is to make up for that lost amount, this being ok’Ed by the vet.

He weighs between 210-225g dependant on whether he’s passed bowel movements.

In terms of night temps, it’s pretty hot in my room already at night, with the temp dropping to 75 in there after about 5 hours of no lights and when I wake up it’s usually around that, sometimes 73 or 74 if colder day, will the 5 degree difference change much?

And since Karrie suggested I used the exo terra digital probe for his spot rather than IR gun I have since move it as shown in the picture and after having lights turned on two hours ago it is at 102 already and still slowly rising.

A couple reasons why I decided to ask was due to him being lethargic and hiding in the day for maybe an hour or more/and seemingly gets tired a good hour before lights out as well as as I said 20% of his faeces not being fully digested. I had been putting this down to being on Sulfatrim/the Coccidia itself then I started reading all these debates on how and where to measure basking temps so I thought I’d just double check them and make sure I was doing it 100% correctly so as stress free as possible,


Thanks for all your help, you and Karrie are amazing!

josh