Ambient Temp Question

[werecat]

Hi All, I have a question regarding ambient temps. The room we keep our 2 year old panther in can get a little chilly in the cooler weather (and the heater in the room doesn't work). It drops down to the low to mid 60's at night and we've been turning on a small space heater in the mornings to get it warmed up to an ambient of 72-75 degrees for the day. My concern is that we are going out of town for about a week and will not be able to turn on the heater in the mornings or monitor the room temp. I'm sure the room will eventually warm up a little, but worst case scenario, would it be ok if the room temp stayed around the low to mid 60's during the day as long as his basking spot is available and there is a temp gradient?

The other option is to move him to another room where the heater is working and the ambient temp stays in the mid 70's. This would be a lot of work and I worry about stressing him out with new surroundings.

Just nervous. This is the first time leaving him for so long.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Ambient can be as low as 60 degrees as long as they have a basking spot. Also their night time temps can be as low as 45 for a couple nights.

 

[craig90]

Ambient can be as low as 60 degrees as long as they have a basking spot. Also their night time temps can be as low as 45 for a couple nights.

For a panther 45 sounds way too cold. It never gets that low in Madagascar. Average lows are mid 60s during the coldest months of the year. Ambilobe Madagascar: http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=151076&cityname=Ambilobe-Madagascar

 

[fluxlizard]

Also their night time temps can be as low as 45 for a couple nights.

Is this from personal exerience with pardalis?

I let my calyptratus go that low but haven't ever let my pardalis drop below 50. Mine do regularly drop near 50 in the colder months at night though. So I'm interested if you are talking from experience with pardalis or if you accidentally referenced calyptratus.

For the OP- it kind of depends on the general health of your chameleon. Mine have regularly had ambient temps in that range for a month or two mid-winter each year when most of my lizards are asleep and so the ambient temp in the lizard building is cool for the hibernators/brumators. The pardalis have done fine with their basking lights... I think though that for some owners here on the forums I would probably not recommend this just because the health of their animals is already probably walking the line.

I also provide thermal gradients with the lighting- not hot spots.

Watch your thermogradient if you use a hot spot rather than a true gradual thermogradient then a lizard might burn itself trying to use a hot spot in a digital must be warm/must be cool option... Go for analogue - a thermal gradient. With a thermogradient, the lizard can avoid the low temps in the room during the day, yet not be forced to burn under the hot spot either...

 

[CarlC]

Can you just put the space heater on a heavy duty timer to run for a few hours? I run a space heater everyday on a timer with no issue's.

Carl

 

[MSAquatics]

My free range room can get cool too, so I have a space heater plugged into an appliance timer so it only comes on during the day to eke the room in the low-mid 70's. This way the temp can cool down at night.

Leland

 

[NitroRoo]

I'm not much help on the temps (I'm new to this myself), but I was wondering if you could share what you are doing for food for a week?

 

[werecat]

For the OP- it kind of depends on the general health of your chameleon.

We have been treating this chameleon (under the guidance of our vet) on and off for a persistent eye issue for the past few months. Besides the one eye, he seems well and eats, drinks, and poops normally. Activity level is normal. This is another reason I'm nervous to leave him though. I will work on making sure there are no hot spots and work on ways of keeping the ambient temp up. I am working on setting up a web cam (cham cam ) to monitor him and to keep an eye on room temps. I have a neighbor that can come by in the event that something goes wrong with my automation.

Thank you to those who suggested a space heater on a timer. I had thought of that but wasn't sure it was safe to leave a space heater plugged in. The one I have says to unplug when not in use. Also, I'll have to buy a new one since the model I have has a reset when powered off. It will reset to fan only mode (no heat). I saw an interesting product that is a surge protector with two smart outlets that can be controlled remotely with an iPhone. I was thinking of trying it but it is a bit pricey.

I'm not much help on the temps (I'm new to this myself), but I was wondering if you could share what you are doing for food for a week?

My chameleon is an adult and eats only every two to three days. He also is never a big eater. I will feed him before I leave and will try to have a friend stop by half way through the week to give him another feeding, but I am also going to set up a little box in his cage with BB fly pupae which will "slow release" into his cage when they become flies. Also, adults can get by for a week without food so I'm not too worried about the feeding aspect.

Thank you everyone for the advice and input and I welcome any other ideas if someone else stumbles upon this thread!