Night temps for dwarf chameleons?

Vetekudden

New Member
Hello, I'm new here!
Looking for a smaller chameleon species and is interested in Bradypodion thamnobates, Furcifer lateralis, Trioceros "rudis".
But many of them require so much cooler temps in the night, than normally room temps (20-24 celcius) how do you cool them off at nigts? Is a fan at night a must or what? :\
 
what happens to them if they have too warm during the nights?
According to most sources they die - at least it drastically reduces their already short lifespans.

I recently acquired 2 Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus and cool them down at night by having them near open windows (nights are cool here in Denmark) and additionally placing cooler-box freezer elements over the chameleons once they´re asleep. This provides some colder air flow down over them during the night.

Spike.
 
First of all, they dont have "short" lifespans. Even species of Bradypodion can live 6 or more years. I think Ive read of a 7 year old captive Bradypodion. Other species like jacksonii can live even longer. I have kept some of my Bradypodion for 2 years and during the summer months where I live, the night time temp may only get down to 68 and sometimes only in the low 70s. It seems to have had no negative affects on them.
 
First of all, they dont have "short" lifespans. Even species of Bradypodion can live 6 or more years. I think Ive read of a 7 year old captive Bradypodion. Other species like jacksonii can live even longer. I have kept some of my Bradypodion for 2 years and during the summer months where I live, the night time temp may only get down to 68 and sometimes only in the low 70s. It seems to have had no negative affects on them.

Thank you for your answer and that's sounds great!
I live in Sweden, so it's not easy to find some dwarf chameleons for sale, so I'm looking to find some to the Hamm show ^^
 
Contact Julle on here (Juha) he lives in Finland and keeps and breeds a lot of Bradypodion and has great success keeping them! Good luck.
 
Just to answer your original question of 'How' to lower temps at night.

I use a window AC unit that I adjust the thermostat up to about 74 in the day time and then down to 60 degrees at night.

Again, it may not be necessary and this may not be an option for you, but just wanted to share the experience.
 
I recently heard from a hoehnelii keeper that adding a fan over the cage can cause eye problems and infections, somebody who has experienced that?
 
That would be correct as the fans overhead will constantly dry the surface of the eye that is exposed to the air. The eye is initially coated so that it can prevent infections and to help remove small particles/substances that can get into the eye. If the eye is constantly dried out you will therefore encounter these problems.

Just imagine the concept with humans, we can get keratoconjunctivitis sicca - dry eye syndrome - that is caused by the eyes not developing enough tear or the tear evaporates too quickly. Permanent damage may result.
 
Just to answer your original question of 'How' to lower temps at night.

I use a window AC unit that I adjust the thermostat up to about 74 in the day time and then down to 60 degrees at night.

Again, it may not be necessary and this may not be an option for you, but just wanted to share the experience.

This works well for me. However I do have the luxury of cool mountain weather at nights, so I do not need it most of the time. I got my ac for 40$ at a local pawn shop. I do not know your local weather but where I live ezpawn lowers the price of their AC units to try and sell them before the weather cools down. I am fairly confident that this is typical in most places of the world.

Like they ^ have said about fans or any air blowing directly at them, that is not good. The ac should be placed in a window that will not blow the cool air directly at the enclosure
 
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