how do you manage your summer lights ?

little leaf

Avid Member
it was 87 here today, YAY - I took the chams ( Jax, and 1 panther ) out for the AM, but I think this is just a bit to hot for them in the afternoon, even the panther was hiding in the shade, but - I have turned off the basking lights because... its HOT- lol but when I brought them in , around 3- they all went to bed ! the UVB are all still on- but they still went to bed early- how do I keep them up until bed time ( 8 pm ) ? this is the 2nd day now they have done this -

thanks
 
Hello, are they going to sleep or are they just assuming their sleep spots and chilling out? My two panthers usually get into a sleep spot about an hour or hour and a half before lights out but they aren't sleeping. Are you giving them late day water? After being out they may be thirsty too :)
 
Sorry, i cannot help much but it sounds a bit strange to me. If he is an adult, the temperature should not be a problem for a panther. Mine tolerates temperatures up to 90, even enjoys it. He should not go to sleep at 3 pm. For a Jackson it could be really too hot especially if the humidity is low. As the previous post suggested , the hotter it is outside, more misting could help.
 
yes, they get misted about every hr or so outside, and get a good mistking when they come in, but w/ the bask light off, its kinda dark in there- every one of them does it- but only if the basking light are off- but today was just to hot this afternoon, the panther is a bit young - but he was wanting out of the sun - so I just took them all in -
 
hmmmm. I don't know the particulars about your cage setup but if you shut the basking light off and it gets dark that may trigger sleepiness. If you have sufficient "hiding spots" from the basking lamp and a good temp drop from the basking spot to another lower spot in the cage then I would leave light on. They will self regulate their heat by moving about.
 
Are you taking them out to the morning sun earlier than their normal waking time in the AM?

In my case my inside light cycle is 10-10. On the days I took them outside, I would take them out with the sun rise at 7AM. on those days they would go to bed earlier once they were back inside, basically at 7PM.

My tended to have a 12 hour cycle. It took a few days to get them back on the interior cycle once it got to hot outside.

HTH,
 
Picasso free ranges in our sun room and some days it will get very warm in there,but he seems to like it that way and will still wander over to his basking light for a little more heat, then around 6 pm he will find his sleeping limb and just chill on it until all lights are out at 7pm......still plenty light outside but getting dim in the sun room.....on cloudy rainy days he will sometimes look for his sleeping spot around 4pm or sooner.
 
Ripley goes to her 'sleeping branch' about 5-6 pm every day (with a rare exception), the lights go off at 8pm.. I wouldn't worry, they just don't really have much else to do:)
 
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