Keeping it warm

[Jen0413]

Okie Dokie, so Colorado is on track to have one of the earliest snow falls on record. Because who needs summer? Lately the temps have been around the 50s to 60s outside and I'm having a hard time keeping Espio's basking temperature up. His basking spot is about 5 or so inches from the top of the terrarium. I used to keep his light set right on top of the terrarium which kept his basking temperature around 88 degrees, but he loves to climb around on the top of the screen and ended up burning his feet. (Espio is an 8 month old veiled boy.) So now I've raised the light a couple of inches off of the top of the terrarium with a clamp lamp and his basking temp has dropped to 81 degrees, I can get it up to 85 ish if I turn the base board heater next to his terrarium on. I've got a 100 watt normal light bulb for his basking light, and I can't find any higher that. Any suggestions on how to warm him up? Thanks guys!

I measure his temps with a temp gun so they're pretty accurate. His ambient temp is about 76 degrees. He's in a 2 X 2 X 4 reptibreeze screen enclosure, and he's still been pooping everyday so it hasn't screwed up his digestion yet.

 

[Carlton]

Okie Dokie, so Colorado is on track to have one of the earliest snow falls on record. Because who needs summer? Lately the temps have been around the 50s to 60s outside and I'm having a hard time keeping Espio's basking temperature up. His basking spot is about 5 or so inches from the top of the terrarium. I used to keep his light set right on top of the terrarium which kept his basking temperature around 88 degrees, but he loves to climb around on the top of the screen and ended up burning his feet. (Espio is an 8 month old veiled boy.) So now I've raised the light a couple of inches off of the top of the terrarium with a clamp lamp and his basking temp has dropped to 81 degrees, I can get it up to 85 ish if I turn the base board heater next to his terrarium on. I've got a 100 watt normal light bulb for his basking light, and I can't find any higher that. Any suggestions on how to warm him up? Thanks guys!

I measure his temps with a temp gun so they're pretty accurate. His ambient temp is about 76 degrees. He's in a 2 X 2 X 4 reptibreeze screen enclosure, and he's still been pooping everyday so it hasn't screwed up his digestion yet.

What about a second lower watt bulb shining through the upper portion of one cage side? Are your cage sides all uncovered screen? You may need to close in the upper part of a couple of the sides to help hold in some heat (it will raise the air temp but not create so much heat that he burns himself like a higher watt bulb could). If the cage temp drops off a lot outside the basking area he may tend to sit directly in the basking area longer, and that could be why he burned himself. Maybe try a basking bulb that has a different coverage area. What I mean is...a "spot" type bulb provides a focused narrower beam. A "flood" bulb has a wider beam and this might help because it will warm up more of the cage contents. I like using halogen exterior porch floodlights for basking lights on larger cages. They are sturdy and tend to last longer too. The UV output of the basking bulb isn't an issue...your UV bulb takes care of that.

 

[Jen0413]

Cartlon- Thanks for the ideas! 2 sides of his cage are covered in shower curtain for humidity, but I don't know if that does anything for heat. Maybe I'll try to put a fleece blanket around the cage as well. This weekend I will head to the store to find a second basking light and get some flood bulbs.