heating problems

[lysinlight87]

Hi,

I'm still having a hard time maintaining the the temperature of my veiled's basking spot. If I don't keep an eye on it it drops below 80, or above 86, so I'm constantly tweaking.

What are the dangers to his health? Other than burns when too hot and poor digestion when too cold. Will the constant fluctuations cause problems for him too? As stated, it fluctuates between 80-86 normally. occasionally dropping above or below.

I understand that opening his cage and misting will change the temperature, but this fluctuating also occurs when I leave him alone for several hours. For example, when I left the house at lunchtime, his basking temp was about 83, but when I returned 5 hours later it had dropped to 77. I have a thermostat and people have advised me to get rid of it, and control the temp by moving the bulb closer or further away, but I'd need to find a new way to suspend it above the cage.

 

[Rottsko]

i have my basking light sit on top of the cage. the way that i adjust the temp is to move the bendable branch/vine closer or further away from the basking light. the temp shouldn't vary that much if you're not moving anything. what kind of thermometer are you using? is there a draft or an AC vent that is blowing on the cage?

 

[Psychobunny]

With what are you monitoring the temps?

Yes, depending on what kind of thermostate you have, probable better off
w/o it. How does it raise or lower the heat if it's plugged into a lamp?

Are you using a therometer with a probe?

Thats what u want. Take several readings in the basking area with the
probe taped or tied to something.
You will need to try several bulbs, 25 40 50W incan's.
You can raise the light with pieces of wood of various size and may even have
to adust to height of the basking branch.

 

[lysinlight87]

I'm using a digital thermomoter/hygrometer from the petshop, postioned at his basking spot. I've heard that these are not the most accurate, but I can't afford a caliberated one just yet. If that happens to be a big problem, I can probably borrow a bit of money.

There's no A/C or fan near the cage.

My main concern is that the temperature fluctations will make him sick. He's currently very healthy, but prevention is better than a cure.

 

[lysinlight87]

With what are you monitoring the temps?

Yes, depending on what kind of thermostate you have, probable better off
w/o it. How does it raise or lower the heat if it's plugged into a lamp?

Are you using a therometer with a probe?

Thats what u want. Take several readings in the basking area with the
probe taped or tied to something.
You will need to try several bulbs, 25 40 50W incan's.
You can raise the light with pieces of wood of various size and may even have
to adust to height of the basking branch.

The thermostat has aprobe attached, located at the bottom of his cage, it dims or brightens the bulb accordingly. The digital thermometer I got to specifically to monitor his basking spot.

 

[Rottsko]

The thermostat has aprobe attached, located at the bottom of his cage, it dims or brightens the bulb accordingly. The digital thermometer I got to specifically to monitor his basking spot.

it's probably the thermostat probe adjusting the light bulb therefore fluctuating the basking temp. i would do away w/ that and get a thermometer w/ a probe like this one. it's not very expensive and i zip tie it to the basking spot branch. my basking light is on all day until night time. it's not dimmed or anything. it's a regular 60watt house light bulb.

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/thermometers-thermostats-and-timers/-/exo-terra-digital-thermometer-with-probe/

 

[Wykd]

Send me 50.00 i will send you calibrated thermometers/hygrometers all day long!

Or

Calibrating Hygrometers

Calibrating Thermometers

 

[lysinlight87]

it's probably the thermostat probe adjusting the light bulb therefore fluctuating the basking temp. i would do away w/ that and get a thermometer w/ a probe like this one. it's not very expensive and i zip tie it to the basking spot branch. my basking light is on all day until night time. it's not dimmed or anything. it's a regular 60watt house light bulb.

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/thermometers-thermostats-and-timers/-/exo-terra-digital-thermometer-with-probe/

oh cool, that's pretty much the one I've got, so I guess using it in conjunction with thermostat probe just isn't working. I hope I can sort this out soon.

What I'm finding frustrating at the moment, is that the petshop supplied me with all this expensive stuff that either doesn't do the job or isn't needed for a chameleon. live and learn! At least I didn't fall for the waterfall pitch.

 

[Psychobunny]

it's probably the thermostat probe adjusting the light bulb therefore fluctuating the basking temp. i would do away w/ that and get a thermometer w/ a probe like this one. it's not very expensive and i zip tie it to the basking spot branch. my basking light is on all day until night time. it's not dimmed or anything. it's a regular 60watt house light bulb.

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/thermometers-thermostats-and-timers/-/exo-terra-digital-thermometer-with-probe/

I agree, get rid of it.
For a 18 18 36'' cage, I settled on a 25W in my case. These bulbs get hotter then you may think.'
Stick your hand about 8'' from the lamp for a full few minutes and you can tell someting about what your cham may experience

 

[lysinlight87]

Okay, I moved the thermostat probe up to his basking spot and set it to 82, but the digital thermometer said the temp was 87! I think you're right that I should ditch the thermostat (maybe I can sell it on ebay).

The bulb is 60 watt, and without the thermostat to dim it, this would be far too hot. So I'm gonna try a lower wattage. I'm also going to look into ceramic heater for the bottom of his cage because it's hard to keep it above 70.

 

[Wykd]

heck i use a 25w in a 2x2x4 but the cham's not an adult yet so dont want to get to adult temps yet.

 

[lysinlight87]

heck i use a 25w in a 2x2x4 but the cham's not an adult yet so dont want to get to adult temps yet.

Mine's almost 5 months old. What's the ideal basking temp? about 83? I will sort out a more appropriate wattage bulb, but I have been getting conflicting advice about that.

 

[lysinlight87]

Mine's almost 5 months old. What's the ideal basking temp? about 83? I will sort out a more appropriate wattage bulb, but I have been getting conflicting advice about that.

on other threads, that is.

 

[Wykd]

I follow JannB's rule:

Bask at about 80 to 83 until 4 months old. Then you can start bumping up the temps about a degree each month until you reach 89 degrees.Veiled Adult bask at 88 or 89 for an adult panther 85 or 86.

 

[lysinlight87]

ok thanks. I'll get it up to 84, then put the increases in my diary