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Sinosauropterix JackAsp Sinosauropterix |
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Sinosauropterix View Profile |
Average ambient temperature
I would like to know what would be a better average ambient temperature for my fire skink. I realize they spend most of their time underground but I am not sure how I could measure substrate heat. I suppose I could just bury the sensor for my digital thermometer into the substrate but then I would need to take it out and put it back in often and I would rather not spend more money on a second thermometer. Those things aren’t exactly cheap. Anyway, right now I have a heat lamp with a 75 watt heat bulb in it along with the UVA and two UVB compact fluorescents and the large heat mat. On a rainy or cloudy day with the heat lamp on, the air temperature in the terrarium will be in the low to mid 80’s. Which is good. But on a warm, sunny day the temperature will go into the mid 90’s and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. If I take the heat lamp out, the temperature drops to the mid 80’s but then when it cools down it goes into the low 80’s or high 70’s. So do you think I should leave the heat lamp on or off? Would my skink be better off in temperatures as low as the high 70’s or as high as the low to mid 90’s? The heat lamp in question does not have a switch so I need to unplug it to turn it off. I would prefer a long-term solution instead of having to plug and unplug the heat lamp many times a day. |
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| 07/07/09 12:51am |
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JackAsp View Profile |
Message To: Sinosauropterix In reference to Message Id: 2035331 Average ambient temperature
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| 07/08/09 12:19am |
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Sinosauropterix View Profile |
Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 2035932 Average ambient temperature
The terrarium I am using has a floor space of 36" by 12.5" and the substrate is 2" to 3" deep (depending on the area). Ideally I would have gotten a minimum width of 18" but I couldn’t find any terraria that approximated those dimensions so I went with the largest 36" terrarium I could find. The sunstrate is a combination of Eco-Earth plantation soil (the stuff in the brick) and Reptibark so it holds in moisture well. I still don’t understand how increasing the depth of the substrate will solve my problem because the reduced distance to the heat bulb will counteract (or be counteracted by) the amount of moisture that the increased substrate volume will release. I can see how increasing the overall size could lower the temperature by increasing the amount of air that needs to be heated. Unfortunately I don’t have the money to spend on a bigger terrarium, nor do I have the resources to build one. I am also currently in the process of modifying my basilisk enclosure so I’m not sure if I would have the time either. This does sound like an interesting and feasible idea but it looks like right now I am still stuck with the either-or option. |
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| 07/09/09 01:06am |
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