Heating problem

[peera]

So it's actually kind of getting warm here in WA, and I'm getting a little heated myself. I accidentally broke Ms Priss's cage while attempting to move it to a better location recently, and I've been forced to put her temporarily into the 60 gallon I received Gibby in... The dimensions are horrid (48 x 13 x 24, and they had a full grown male in this for nearly 6 years!!!) but since she's small I figured it was a decent solution until I could find a deal on a better tank. She never has gotten up to her full potential, despite my best efforts- When I rescued her at 9 months, she was 9 inches long and 40 grams. She's now 15 months, 13 1/2 inches long and 130 grams. Don't bother with the husbandry quiz, I've been over it a thousand times myself and everything's perfect. I've just come to accept that she was never meant to get huge, and her early neglect stunted the little size she was meant to have. She's completely healthy despite her size.

Anyhow, my issue is the lighting/heating. This tank's stupid dimensions are making it nearly impossible to heat one end without heating the other... I started out with a 150w flood light... It got the warm end up to a lovely 106*. However, it pumped up the "cool" end to 89*. So I switched it out with a 100w household bulb... Cool end... 76*, good... Hot end... 83*. Grr. I'm not sure what to do. With the UVB on there, there's not a lot of room on the top of this narrow tank to put additional lights, and they would probably just overheat the other end again. So does anyone have any idea how I can get the cool end down to the proper temps if I use the floodlight? I've got the room as cool as I can without making it uncomfortable for human folk.

 

[spurlee01]

I'm having heating issues too. 75w reptile bulb is a bit cool and 100w is way too hot. So I'm going to get a dimmer and *hopefully* adjust the 100w to the right temps. I'm also using a small tank 36x 13 x 24 I believe until I can find a place for a bigger one.
Just and idea,
Sara

 

[peera]

That's a good idea, but I'm not sure it'll work in this case, since the hot end is the temp I want already and I don't want to cool it off to much. Maybe I can try to make the basking area a little higher and see if that works with the 100 w... She's a really good jumper though, so I'm scared to make it too high.

 

[spurlee01]

It's so interesting how temps work lol. My cool side has not been a problem. Whether I have a 75w, 100w, or no bulb on the temp stays at 78-83. My basking side is the difficult one. It doesn't help that my little one seems to think I put the probe on the basking spot for her to lay on. Good luck, though, that's really all I can say!
Sara

 

[diamc]

Getting the right temps can certainly be difficult. :roll: I suggest you go back to the 100 watt bulb and make the basking area higher. You could actually use a pile of bricks with a slate or ceramic tile on the top and use a ladder for her to climb to it. That's what I did and it works very well. I bought a wooden parrot ladder and cover it with spongy type non-adhesive shelf liner. Another thought would be to pick up a 125 watt household bulb and see what the temps are then. Even if your cool side heats up to 82, that is still fine. Let us know how you make out & good luck.