UTH placement

LIZARDLOVER

New Member
Messages
514
Location
Colorado
Hey guys; instead of setting up a typical 10 or 20 gallon tank for my cresties I'm in the process of creating a 55 gal breeder for 3-4 adults. My question is: I've never had a group tank that large, and I'm not sure whether I should put the heat mat on the underside, or if it should be along the back/side. What is your oppinion? The temp is around 62-64 in mid winter and 75-80 in summer. Any thoughts would be welcomed!
 

LIZARDLOVER

New Member
Messages
514
Location
Colorado
I didn't think I would but I figured it's better to be safe than sorry when winter really settles in. I'm in the basement now and all my reptiles moved with me, so I wanna make sure they survive the winter.
 

touch 13

Euble_Rhac_Gekko
Messages
316
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Instead of risking the temperatures of the tank, try to regulate the temperatures of your basement. My basement sits around 62-66 all year round. I purchased a $20 room heater from Walmart and I can raise the room temperature by about 10F by keeping it on medium at all times. then at night i turn it to low and this allows them to recive their nightly temperature drop. It's a WIN WIN ! :)
 

lisa127

New Member
Messages
777
Location
NE Ohio
Wouldn't the room heater cost more to run than just gently heating the enclosure, since they don't need high temps? Unless of course you are running it for yourself anyway!

If I were going to heat the tank I would probably just put a very low wattage night bulb on one side instead of using the heat matt anyway.
 

cassicat4

Member
Messages
151
Location
Alberta, Canada
I would agree with using a low wattage night bulb - such as a 50w night black heat light. The UTH isn't really designed to heat up the entire enclosure or ambient temp, it's more to provide a warmer "basking" spot, so I don't think you'd benefit too much from one.

Another option that I found works well is to throw a blanket over the enclosure at night. My one 40gal sectioned tank for my skinks would drop to around 60F at night until I started putting a blanket over it, and now it stays around 68-70F.
 

touch 13

Euble_Rhac_Gekko
Messages
316
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
I do not take any credit for the reseach provided:




Something to think about when considering night lights for geckos:

Nocturnal colour vision in geckos
Lina S. V. Roth and Almut Kelber
University of Lund, Department of Cell and Organism Biology,
Vision Group, Helgonava¨gen 3, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden
Author for correspondence ([email protected]).

PDF "Quick view" in Google:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cac ... jLUaVScy8w

Our results show that nocturnal geckos are able to dis-
criminate colours in very dim light. Exactly what they use
this ability for and precisely how well they see colour,
remains to be investigated. Geckos are only the second ani-
mal group after a nocturnal hawkmoth (Kelber et al. 2002)
that have been proved to see colour when we are colour-
blind. However, this remarkable ability may be more com-
mon than we thought.

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The pupils and optical systems of gecko eyes

Lina S. V. Roth
Linda Lundström
Almut Kelber
Ronald H. H. Kröger and
Peter Unsbo

http://www.journalofvision.org/content/9/3/27.full


During the evolution of the diurnal lizards, their eyes have lost the typical vertebrate duplex retina with both rods and cones
and are instead left only with different types of single and double cones (Röll, 2000; Underwood, 1970; Walls, 1942). However,
at some point in evolution a group of lizards, the geckos, turned to a nocturnal lifestyle. In response to the demands of nocturnal
vision without rods, the cones of nocturnal geckos have become much larger and more light-sensitive than those of their diurnal
relatives (Röll, 2000). Nocturnal geckos have retained three different photopigments sensitive to UV, blue, and green (Loew, 1994)
and their eyes are sensitive enough to obtain color information at night (Roth & Kelber, 2004). At intensities corresponding to dim
moonlight (0.002 cd m−2), the nocturnal helmet geckos, Tarentola chazaliae, could discriminate colors in a behavioral dual choice experiment.


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http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/nge ... ticle.html

National Geographic Society


Night Vision


A gecko also can see in the dark. How did it develop this super adaptation? Scientists think that long ago, geckos were mostly active during the day.
Most lizards are. Today, most geckos are nocturnal, or active at night. Being active at night led to other adaptations.

The gecko's eyes changed. The pupils, or openings in the center of the eye, became bigger to let in more light at night. Deep inside the gecko's eye,
other changes slowly happened, too. The result? Nocturnal geckos can do something few living creatures can—they see colors in the dark.

A nocturnal gecko's eye structure is different from that of other lizards. Most vertebrates, or animals with backbones, have two kinds of cells in their
eyes that sense light. These are called rods and cones. Rods pick up only black and white. Cones detect colors, but only when there's lots of light.

Lizards do not have rods, only cones. Geckos that come out at night have three kinds of super-size cones. These cones give nocturnal geckos
their super color vision.

They can indeed see these red and blue lights and I personally don't reccomend them. This is my only reasoning to the room heater. Just imputting :)
 
Last edited:

lisa127

New Member
Messages
777
Location
NE Ohio
I've used night glo bulbs for 15 years. I've never had a problem with them, and my geckos still act normal. As in sleep most of the day and most active at dawn/dusk. Awake during the night....

I've read this before. I still choose to use the night glo bulbs. Or if you can find a ceramic heat emitter in a low enough wattage you might be more comfortable with that.
 

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