Basking temps (!?)

[Lizard95]

Hello wonderful people of Chameleon Forums!

I've had my Cham, Erebus (Panther), for about a month now. Everything has been wonderful, except i've noticed that on some days, his basking area (normally 90-95°) will rise up to 110°! I raise the lights over his cage, sometimes up to a foot and a half over him, and the temperature will still be around 105°. However i've found that putting a fan, on oscillation, about 5ft from his cage, will bring the temp back to where it should be. (oscillation so that it's only blowing on him for a few seconds every few second. Not constantly as I feared that could interfere with his ability to thermoregulate - also it seems like it would be unpleasant)

My question is, why is this happening? My room is always at 70, give you take a few degrees. Could it be the humidity? As my room is small and his cage is pretty big, the cage is pretty much the deciding factor in the climate of my room. I haven't observed and correlation between humidity and temp, but I still need to study it closer.

But this also prompts a second, maybe obvious seeming, question... If a basking area is too hot, will he bask in it? I have every intention to fix this problem, but I just want to make sure the heat does not pose and immediate threat.




Edit: I should add that these fluctuations only on random days, for the entire day. So the lights will come on one morning, and stay at the normal temp all day, and on some other day, they will turn on and reach those highs, all day... Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that i'm in a basement?




Normal cage temp: 65-75°

Normal basking are temp: 89-96°

Event temp: 110°

Misting schedule: 3x Per day, in 7min sessions.

Humidity: 70%-90% when, and just after misting. Normal 55% between misting, and 45% at night.

Thanks! -Alex

 

[NHenn]

Glad to hear you noticed a problem and are trying to get it corrected. A jump that high does seem strange, what watt basking bulb are you use? Also have you tested it with two different thermometers?

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

I would first check the thermometer your using. 110 degrees can cause problems. If your ambient temp stays the same I don't see how your temp could fluctuate that much.

 

[Lizard95]

Glad to hear you noticed a problem and are trying to get it corrected. A jump that high does seem strange, what watt basking bulb are you use? Also have you tested it with two different thermometers?

Right, I forgot the wattage of the bulbs, thanks. I have 2 basking spots 1 has 100 watt bulb and a 75 watt bulb. Both provide the same normal temp and both produce the same spike.

And I have both digital and an analog thermometer under those spots. Both, when the lights are off, show the same temp as the thermostat.

 

[Lizard95]

I should add that these fluctuations only on random days, for the entire day. So the lights will come on one morning, and stay at the normal temp all day, and on some other day, they will turn on and reach those highs, all day... Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that i'm in a basement?