Help and ideas for heating

[Lady_Kiya]

Okay, so recently it seems Ares has lost his appetite. I am thinking it could be due to the temperature rising past 95 degrees. Mainly because he would usually spend most of his time in his warm hide, and now you can usually find him on the cool side. With the winter weather slowing going away and the days getting warmer it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep a constant temperature in the enclosures. I do not have air conditioning in my home, and so as the weather outside gets warmer, the temperature in the house and for them are going to get worse.

I am currently using a rheostat to monitor temperatures. However, both enclosures are turned down as low as the dials can go without turning them off. the Rheostat I have is this one here... ZooMed Reptitemp Rheostat 150 Watt.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do, or possibly something I can get with better controls to monitor the temperature?

 

[Guillaume-G]

I'm curently having the same problem but I don't have a rheostat so I just ordered one today. I hope it'll work since I just need to drop 4-5 degrees. If It's still to hot with the rheostat try using a smaller untertank mat (less "wattages"). Also try to use regular smaller light bulp since they don't actually need UVA-UVB bulp. Finally, you could try to light your terrarium without the ciramic spot light.

 

[GeckoGathering]

Adjusting To Canada

Okay, so recently it seems Ares has lost his appetite. I am thinking it could be due to the temperature rising past 95 degrees. Mainly because he would usually spend most of his time in his warm hide, and now you can usually find him on the cool side. With the winter weather slowing going away and the days getting warmer it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep a constant temperature in the enclosures. I do not have air conditioning in my home, and so as the weather outside gets warmer, the temperature in the house and for them are going to get worse.

I am currently using a rheostat to monitor temperatures. However, both enclosures are turned down as low as the dials can go without turning them off. the Rheostat I have is this one here... ZooMed Reptitemp Rheostat 150 Watt.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do, or possibly something I can get with better controls to monitor the temperature?

Hi Jessie and Canada.
Kinda assuming

I am thinking it could be due to the temperature rising past 95 degrees.

this is your hot spot of UNH and not Canada's weather right now.
Any chance of fans to help move the air around?
I have an area where I hatch eggs that I need heat but control
somewhat with a ceiling fan in that location.
Any possibility of ice to help cool your enclosures?
On the eating... Try a change to livelier prey.
If feeding prey Worms, add
orange peel to their diet.
Offer a few wax worms.
Rub worm inners on your geckos mouth to get the appetite
going again...............................
but unless you notice a large weight loss, I wouldn't worry too much. Many of mine have cut back on eating. But it is reason to check
weights often........
Too much weight loss and you may need to
force feed daily until appetite returns.
Take care. HJ

 

[Haligren]

Hi Jessie and Canada.
Kinda assuming
this is your hot spot of UNH and not Canada's weather right now.
Any chance of fans to help move the air around?
I have an area where I hatch eggs that I need heat but control
somewhat with a ceiling fan in that location.
Any possibility of ice to help cool your enclosures?
On the eating... Try a change to livelier prey.
If feeding prey Worms, add
orange peel to their diet.
Offer a few wax worms.
Rub worm inners on your geckos mouth to get the appetite
going again...............................
but unless you notice a large weight loss, I wouldn't worry too much. Many of mine have cut back on eating. But it is reason to check
weights often........
Too much weight loss and you may need to
force feed daily until appetite returns.
Take care. HJ

Why would adding orange peel to the worms' diet help? Does it make them tastier? :3

 

[Redleg]

Correct me if I am wrong, but a rheostat made for the reptile industry is nothing more then a fancy dimmer that you otherwise can purchase from a hardware store. With that said......

That means, regardless, there is still electricity going to your heat source (pad, tape, UTH, etc). However low you have the setting, there is still current going into your heat source and with ambient temperature on the rise, so will the temperature in your leos cage.

A rheostat would be great if you have a constant air temperature, but when that changes (room temp increases), you can only set the rheostat so low.

What you need is a proportional thermostat(highly recommended). They will turn off ALL current going to your heat source (heat tape, UTH, pad, etc) when a preset temperature has been reached and turn on when it falls below that temperature as well.

Hope this all helps.

 

[GeckoGathering]

taste tests

Why would adding orange peel to the worms' diet help? Does it make them tastier? :3

In taste tests I have done
with feeding worm prey many household foods.......
fresh.pineapple skin and orange peel had the best
gecko reactions when fed that worm prey.
Pineapple #1, but it causes many pest fruit flies ( knats ) to appear.
Take care. HJ

 

[Lady_Kiya]

Hi Jessie and Canada.
Kinda assuming
this is your hot spot of UNH and not Canada's weather right now.
Any chance of fans to help move the air around?
I have an area where I hatch eggs that I need heat but control
somewhat with a ceiling fan in that location.
Any possibility of ice to help cool your enclosures?
On the eating... Try a change to livelier prey.
If feeding prey Worms, add
orange peel to their diet.
Offer a few wax worms.
Rub worm inners on your geckos mouth to get the appetite
going again...............................
but unless you notice a large weight loss, I wouldn't worry too much. Many of mine have cut back on eating. But it is reason to check
weights often........
Too much weight loss and you may need to
force feed daily until appetite returns.
Take care. HJ

I have ordered some waxies, they have not come in yet, with the Easter weekend and all. I am thinking it may be that he is annoyed with the food choices. I have recently cut out cricets and so I have been feeding him supers. The other day he did look like he was going to eat some mealies. He got into the stance and everything, licked and then walked away. LoL, so picky.
Spreading inners of the worms are a good idea. I may try that, I have used orange peels once. I think I will try that again once the stores are open. :main_rolleyes:

 

[Lady_Kiya]

Correct me if I am wrong, but a rheostat made for the reptile industry is nothing more then a fancy dimmer that you otherwise can purchase from a hardware store. With that said......

That means, regardless, there is still electricity going to your heat source (pad, tape, UTH, etc). However low you have the setting, there is still current going into your heat source and with ambient temperature on the rise, so will the temperature in your leos cage.

A rheostat would be great if you have a constant air temperature, but when that changes (room temp increases), you can only set the rheostat so low.

What you need is a proportional thermostat(highly recommended). They will turn off ALL current going to your heat source (heat tape, UTH, pad, etc) when a preset temperature has been reached and turn on when it falls below that temperature as well.

Hope this all helps.

That is a good idea, do you recommend a certain place to get one?

 

[Haligren]

In taste tests I have done
with feeding worm prey many household foods.......
fresh.pineapple skin and orange peel had the best
gecko reactions when fed that worm prey.
Pineapple #1, but it causes many pest fruit flies ( knats ) to appear.
Take care. HJ

Come to think of it since I stopped putting in orange peels for the supers, Tiamat has become more difficult to feed recently. Maybe I should try that again? Whole pineapples are expensive up here though. What about grapefruit skin? Would that work too?

Sorry to hijack the thread! >.< But this thread's helping me too!

 

[Lady_Kiya]

Lmao, no problem Cass, Its here to help everyone

 

[Redleg]

There are several types of proportional thermostat available. I have the Herpstat ND. I love it, it has the night drop feature. During day time, I have it set at 91 and drop the temp to 82 in the evening. Once I find that my leos start to emerge from their hides as if the sun came down and temps have fallen a bit, I begin to feed them. Similar to what they would do in the wild, hunt in the cooler evenings. Worth very penny.

You can start with The Bean Farm as a source to purchase your proportional thermostat.

 

[Lady_Kiya]

Thank you so much!