Summer temps and basking bulbs

[Orchidartist]

It is beyond HOT here right now, and we are expecting over 30C for the next week....not that I am complaining, I hate winter -BUT- it is way too hot in my room(where my two chams are)
Is it really necessary to have both of their basking bulbs going all day long? I mean, they cant really need them with these temps, right? I was wondering if anyone shuts theirs off at a certain ambient temp? Thanks

 

[merumontanus]

It is beyond HOT here right now, and we are expecting over 30C for the next week....not that I am complaining, I hate winter -BUT- it is way too hot in my room(where my two chams are)
Is it really necessary to have both of their basking bulbs going all day long? I mean, they cant really need them with these temps, right? I was wondering if anyone shuts theirs off at a certain ambient temp? Thanks

We are experiencing a drastic heat wave here and we expect temperatures close to 40˚C this weekend so it's a challenge to keep the montane room in the low 70s. As a result, I've programmed all the basking lights to come on for a few hours in the morning, and then again for about an hour in the late afternoon.

You should be fine turning them off altogether for a few weeks if the temperatures are too hot to allow even a couple hours of basking in the morning, so long as you still provide them with plenty of light (and their normal UV).

Cheers,

Fabián

 

[toddmkeller]

Well, I have AC on all the time but I am guessing you don't need it most of the time there so you probably don't have it or have it running. However, you could probably shut them off in the middle of the day with no problem. In the wild the chams bask first thing in the morning and hide out from the super intense sun during the middle of the day, so I would assume that would be perfectly fine. Thats just what I think

See ya,

Todd

 

[xanthoman]

lighting

it depends on your other lighting , linear flourescents put out the least heat , if you also have linear uva/uvb then you should be ok temporarily but, remember even aside from uv requirements , basking is a necessary and benificial ingrained behavior that you will be denying them, if its really that hot and that big of a problem, then why not build a simple outside day basking cage and skip the lights altogether ? (i know , it makes too much sense) ps you could use shade top (maybe even one of the sides) and mister to keep the temps down

 

[laurie]

From my own expeirence, it will work out fine. It gets way hot here in the summer so I turn all my basking lights off. Even the bearded dragons lights are turned off. If the top of the cage is near 90 F they don't need anything to warm they up. Since warming them up is the entire purpose of a basking light so they are actually better off without it as that could cause them to overheat

 

[Orchidartist]

Thanks

I'll leave them on in the morning for a couple of hours then, thank you!!

 

[dodolah]

I feel your dilemma.
California share some crazy heat wave last couple of years.
And, yes.. I turn off the basking lamp when the ambient temp gets too high.
They'll be fine.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Turning off the bulbs for a time shouldnt hurt.
I have down graded to use a 10watt bulb on occassions of great heat (a rare occurrence here). That way they still move upwards to the light as is natural, and while the 10Watt bulb gives off little heat, the room is warmer up high so the same effect.