Ideal Day/Night Temp for Veiled and Cage Question
- Thread starter AdamBrown
- Start date
fluxlizard
Avid Member
Veileds are very adaptable. Anything up around 100 under the basking area days down to 50 nights (even lower 40s on cold nights will work fine with healthy adults). Coming from Yemen, they endure scorching hot summers as well as night frosts at night in parts of their range.
If anyone is interested you can see what temps they are experiencing right at this moment in their native home as well as forcasts for the next several days in the lizard blog on my site if you click the link in my signature below. I've got the same information for ambilobe panther chameleons as well. Keep in mind if you look at the temps on my site that it is now winter in Yemen where veileds are from so temps are low and it is summer in madagascar where panthers are from.
Ideal temperature though- that's a little more narrow and slightly up for debate.
I provide true thermal gradients ranging from room temperature up to around 100+ (I suppose if they are climbing on the screen right beneath the light- not the branches below where temps are in the 90s) in the very warmest part of the enclosures even for babies and let them choose for themselves what they want to be and what their bodies have evolved to have and crave to have. I feel this equals quality of life and yes- even babies thrive in such an environment where they can choose for themselves. (choice is key- a true thermal gradient allows selection from a range of temperatures, not a black and white choice of whatever I decide the temperature should be right under the spot light and another cool temperature for the rest of the cage. Wild lizards don't live like that- they have a range of choices available at any given moment and choose the temperature they need at that moment.)
Others (majority here on the forums) with understandable reasoning believe quality of life equals limiting heat and/or limiting options (even to the point of having rheostats on the basking light to get an exact temp at the basking site). Limiting heat can shut down female reproductive system which in turn lengthens life span. Not sure if it has similar effect on males. With babies the reasoning is they dry out faster and heat up faster, so limiting heat is to avoid that. In a properly designed enclosure (which is really simple to do) they will not dry out or cook even when exposed to adult basking temperatures (which I provide mine from hatch day without problem and which are higher than others here as I mentioned).
And yes- your big mesh cage is fine for a baby as long as he/she can get close enough to uvb and heat during the day and as long as he/she can locate food (you can bring food to baby if you need to) and water. It is easier to do this in a smaller enclosure though.
And unless it gets really cold in your home, night temps down to 50 are safe for babies (mine are exposed without problem even on hatching day and cooler temps at night are thought to be better for rest and recharging (probably longevity too).
If anyone is interested you can see what temps they are experiencing right at this moment in their native home as well as forcasts for the next several days in the lizard blog on my site if you click the link in my signature below. I've got the same information for ambilobe panther chameleons as well. Keep in mind if you look at the temps on my site that it is now winter in Yemen where veileds are from so temps are low and it is summer in madagascar where panthers are from.
Ideal temperature though- that's a little more narrow and slightly up for debate.
I provide true thermal gradients ranging from room temperature up to around 100+ (I suppose if they are climbing on the screen right beneath the light- not the branches below where temps are in the 90s) in the very warmest part of the enclosures even for babies and let them choose for themselves what they want to be and what their bodies have evolved to have and crave to have. I feel this equals quality of life and yes- even babies thrive in such an environment where they can choose for themselves. (choice is key- a true thermal gradient allows selection from a range of temperatures, not a black and white choice of whatever I decide the temperature should be right under the spot light and another cool temperature for the rest of the cage. Wild lizards don't live like that- they have a range of choices available at any given moment and choose the temperature they need at that moment.)
Others (majority here on the forums) with understandable reasoning believe quality of life equals limiting heat and/or limiting options (even to the point of having rheostats on the basking light to get an exact temp at the basking site). Limiting heat can shut down female reproductive system which in turn lengthens life span. Not sure if it has similar effect on males. With babies the reasoning is they dry out faster and heat up faster, so limiting heat is to avoid that. In a properly designed enclosure (which is really simple to do) they will not dry out or cook even when exposed to adult basking temperatures (which I provide mine from hatch day without problem and which are higher than others here as I mentioned).
And yes- your big mesh cage is fine for a baby as long as he/she can get close enough to uvb and heat during the day and as long as he/she can locate food (you can bring food to baby if you need to) and water. It is easier to do this in a smaller enclosure though.
And unless it gets really cold in your home, night temps down to 50 are safe for babies (mine are exposed without problem even on hatching day and cooler temps at night are thought to be better for rest and recharging (probably longevity too).
