Too hot too long? Thermostat advice.

[RBFesquire]

Hi Guys!

I have had a few issues with my little lizard. Mainly getting the bloody thing to eat!

When we got the viv set up,we plumped for the little dial style thermometer, and I guess that might be where the problem lies. They were reading around 90F or so, dipping at night. Fine, I thought. Until A/ I heard they are utter rubbish and B/ when we get the little girl out into a box, after about 10 minutes or so, she seems to behave differently. In a good way.

In the tank she is skittish, shy and just can't be arsed with anything. In the box however the thing climbs all over your hand, looks at you and crawls happily around. So I thought, is she cooling down and getting happier? Even after 20 minutes or so she is crawling around the tank when put back in, then back to 'normal'.

TO THE PET SHOP! I bought a digital thermometer and guess what? 96 degrees! The bloody disc things were 90, the digital... 96 DEGREES! FFS.

Now it is night time, it is still around the 95 mark.

tl;dr is the tank being 95 degress 24/7 causing her not to eat?

Also, some advice on a thermostat. We have an UTH, and was considering one that dims, and one that you can set a night time temp to too.

I live in the UK.

Thanks guys. You really are swell :main_thumbsup:

 

[rchase54]

I highly doubt that's it, unless it's that temp throughout the whole tank. Mine spikes at around 102 on the hot side when I have the heat lamp and UTH on. Make sure you have an even temp gradient throughout the tank. It may not be the temp thats bothering her, its that she can't cool off at all

 

[RBFesquire]

I highly doubt that's it, unless it's that temp throughout the whole tank. Mine spikes at around 102 on the hot side when I have the heat lamp and UTH on. Make sure you have an even temp gradient throughout the tank. It may not be the temp thats bothering her, its that she can't cool off at all

Mmm she has a gradient, however I am yet to do a proper reading on that side. Too busy focusing on it being too hot I suppose. The crappy thermometer read about 75 degrees, and now knowing it was 6 degrees out, it must have been around 81 or so.

I am still thinking on getting a thermostat to get the temp down to about 92 ish. Then apart from that, I am well and truly stumped!

edit: Maybe her heat mat is too big? It covers probably over half of the tank floor with only a narrow strip to cool down on. The temp seems to be ok, but maybe most places she walks on are warm? Just a thought...

 

[acpart]

It could be the heat. It could also be that the tank is open (as opposed to the box) and she feels more threatened. It could also be that whenever she goes into a new space, she spends time exploring and then settles down and you only have her in the box long enough for her to explore.

I assume your temps are floor temps, not air temps. For best results, use a digital thermometer with probe on the ground. Get a rheostat (dimmer) or thermostat. I use Alife or ESU but you'd have to ask on UK reptile forums to find the equivalent for you. I look to spend around $30 for the thermostat.

Aliza