disappointed..or is there a way??

[skully23]

Every summer I have an air conditioner in my room and it gets nice and cold when I sleep. I have to say its around the 50s(something like that) and I love it that way. My only problem is..I have reptiles. Charlie and Fred are in my room so I don't know if I can run one this year or the next few years since it will be cold for them every night.. Right now I have a fan on me which isn't quite cool and a ceiling fan. At night I cover Charlie's cage with a black sheet.

Is there a way to have an a/c in with these animals?

I'm disappointed that I don't get an a/c and the rest of the house does...I really look forward to a cold room every year.
(Charlie is a veiled, Fred is a bearded dragon)

 

[Lizardlover]

50 degrees is not too cold for a reptile, as long as they are able to regain their heat in the morning (bask) they will be fine. Just make sure its not dry & cold. A/Cs tend to suck the humidity out of the air.

 

[Olimpia]

For beardies that's really way too cold. 65 is the cut-off of what they can handle, and even that is too much. They will survive it but continuously it can really hurt them. Our beardies couldn't even sleep when the house got down to that cold back when the winter was at its coldest, they really hate it.

Think about it, that's an animal that considers "cool" 80 degrees. So I would either move them out of your bedroom or learn to live in a warmer room. Or I guess, add a night heat bulb for the beardies.

 

[Monkeykungphu]

You could always try some under tank heaters or a ceramic heater of some sort to keep your beardie warm at night.

Some say the night bulbs disturbs their sleep, not sure on this though. I'd rather not roll the dice...

 

[Olimpia]

Well animals can't see red wavelengths of light, so a red bulb will not disturb them at all.

 

[warpdrive]

Personally I do feel that the mid to low 50s is too low for an overnight temp for a veiled.
But is it really in the 50s in your room with the AC on?

With my AC on right now it is 71...at night it can drop to 66 if I keep it on.

Maybe it might feel cold to you, but I don't see your room really reaching into the 50s.
Do you really need to be that cold to sleep?
What do you do in the winter? Keep the windows open all night?

Harry

 

[draetish]

You could cover the cages with a thick blanket so at least they are insulated from the cold air. Check your temps with your digital gage and see where it's at both ways "inside" the enclosures.

 

[spadefish]

My house has central AC and it's my daughter's bedroom that houses most of the herps. The day geckos and anoles have heat lamps at night (blue or red) and the montanes have no added heat. Works out fine. We just make sure to keep the humidity up with a just-before-lights-out misting. Geckos love it because they are toasty overnight (high 70's to about 81) and the montanes are nice and cool at about 68. Fans are on but don't blow directly on any of the enclosures. So, there is plenty of air circulation.

 

[pssh]

Holy moly! My feet almost fall off in the winter when my house actually does dip into the 55 range for a week or two! I can't imagine it that way all the time. I would just move the beardie if it's too much for him. The veiled should be fine with 50s though.

 

[Monkeykungphu]

50s does sounds really low to me too. Are you gaging that with a thermometer?

For heat at night, have you thought about ceramic bulb heaters? Some say the night basking bulbs can disturb the sleep of your herps since they put off light... makes sense.

 

[holmesese]

I would recommend getting a thermometer to figure out exactly how cool your room is at night... you may be willing to reach a "compromise." You don't have to go without AC but maybe if you didn't let it dip below 60-65 F in your room your animals would appreciate it. Those temps are pretty cool and should keep you more than comfortable.

Secondly, if you allow temps to drop to 60 your veileds should be ok, but not the beardeds. If they are in an aquarium you should have no trouble finding heating options for them at night - incadescent black light, ceramic heat emitter, heating pad, or hot rock.

 

[fluxlizard]

I keep my animals in the 50s at night pretty often- that includes vieleds and beardeds. Especially the months of Dec-Feb when nights often drop to near 50 in my lizard building and Parts of May and Sept when my animals are outdoors in the late spring and early fall and night temps are in the 50s.

Beardeds and veileds can handle temps in the 50s no problem as long as they can warm up in the day. Your bearded may decide the night drop means it's time to brumate and find a dark corner of the cage and go to sleep for a few days or weeks.

Both species you have experience near freezing temperatures in the wild. Both species are known to seek ground heat (ground is always in the 50s below the frostline) during such times by crawling under rocks and such.

Temps below 50 are a bad idea for both- captivity isn't nature and temps lower than that invite respiratory infections and weakened immune systems. But temps in the 50s at night are fine for both species. I've been doing it the months I mentioned for years (at least since the latter 1990s- around 96 or 97 for bearded dragons, even longer for veileds). In the case of bearded dragons- many many many dragons because of babies as well as my breeding group and no problems.

Like the others here- I kind of doubt your temps are in the low 50s from your ac anyway.

Also, in spite of what I have just said, at least for your bearded dragon if you feel uncomfortable about the cool nights, you can always use a heating pad, possibly covering part of it with a cave so he has a warm cave with warmed air to sleep in at night.

Personally I have never used night heat for bearded dragons or veiled chameleons and I probably never will. They do fine.

 

[Carlton]

Every summer I have an air conditioner in my room and it gets nice and cold when I sleep. I have to say its around the 50s(something like that) and I love it that way. My only problem is..I have reptiles. Charlie and Fred are in my room so I don't know if I can run one this year or the next few years since it will be cold for them every night.. Right now I have a fan on me which isn't quite cool and a ceiling fan. At night I cover Charlie's cage with a black sheet.

Is there a way to have an a/c in with these animals?

I'm disappointed that I don't get an a/c and the rest of the house does...I really look forward to a cold room every year.
(Charlie is a veiled, Fred is a bearded dragon)

Rather than try to deal with the herps, I'd just move myself. Can you use a temporary bed in another cooled room for summer nights? Keep the thermometer at 60? That's got to be simpler and healthier for your animals. ACs dry out the air a lot! The beardies won't mind the dryness but the chams will.

 

[jr andrade]

reptiles seem to sleep better in cold temps especially chameleons the bearded dragon needs a heat pad under terrarium heater which is like 20 bucks or use a red nightbulb which is like 7-10$

 

[skully23]

Well during the winter my room is about as cold as it would be with an A/C.. Ya I relize 50 is cold.. I would have to say that its atleast like 58-70s. I can't test it because we don't have another A/C for me now..my sister gets it.

Im going to see if I can get my parents to buy a bigger A/C for the kitchen so I can have the one in the kitchen...the one in the kitchen has a digital thing where you can see the temp of the air it lets in...that would work?..I could set it to like 70.

My bearded dragons cage is wood and has a screen top. If covering the cages will help..can I get an air conditioner in that I can set to a certain temp? also I have a red bulb from when I first got my chameleon. I don't use it but if I have to..I can use it for the bearded?

Thanks guys

 

[Lizardlover]

Personally I do feel that the mid to low 50s is too low for an overnight temp for a veiled.
But is it really in the 50s in your room with the AC on?

With my AC on right now it is 71...at night it can drop to 66 if I keep it on.

Maybe it might feel cold to you, but I don't see your room really reaching into the 50s.
Do you really need to be that cold to sleep?
What do you do in the winter? Keep the windows open all night?

Harry

The other day the night time temp in Yemen was 44 degrees F. I also do not know much on beardies so Im glad someone corrected me. I just thought I'd add that although you don't need one, for future reference to all those who may want to provide their chams heat at night, chameleons can see red light.

 

[Olimpia]

I would try to find a heat source for your beardie. 70 isn't bad but below 60 is just not good for them. I tell you, during winter when our house heating would turn off and the house dropped to 64, they couldn't even sleep! They would sit there, huddled together, looking around at 4 in the morning.

Red bulbs or heat pads are excellent. But stay away from heat rocks.

 

[skully23]

I would try to find a heat source for your beardie. 70 isn't bad but below 60 is just not good for them. I tell you, during winter when our house heating would turn off and the house dropped to 64, they couldn't even sleep! They would sit there, huddled together, looking around at 4 in the morning.

Red bulbs or heat pads are excellent. But stay away from heat rocks.

So if I cover the cage will I have to use a bulb? If I get an A/C I will make sure I can do everything to keep the temp above 65. I can set the thing to 74 like it is now in the kitchen. If I find he isn't sleeping well I will put the red bulb on for him but Idc for a night light for me.