Panther’s Night Time Temp

[Andrew1283]

I just wanted to note that my ambilobe male, Herbert does not do well with night time temp drops to 66 degrees. I’ve noticed every time I give him that exact night time temp drop (or less), he doesn’t come out of his sleep spot the following day until he is prompted to do so. Meanwhile the Nosey Be right next to him is going about his day with no problem. On the first occasion I didn’t notice it until the afternoon and honestly I thought he might be dead in the thick pothos. Since then, I’ve been vigilant and have noticed this behavior every time the temp drops to 65-66. When this happens, I have to gently rub the base of his tail and his hind legs to move him upwards toward warmth. His eyes are sunken like he’s in a deep sleep but when he warms up, he’s normal Herbert. This is not for lack of hydration. I don’t like the look of this and will drop temps no lower than 70 to see what happens.

If anyone has had issues with similar night time temp drops and behavior please let me know. This may just be his physiology. He’s 8 months old and his casque is showing some signs of being slightly overweight. My fault!

 

[Beman]

So if you are fogging at night you have to have that temp drop. Beman has only ever had slower starts to getting up when temps get below 60. But at 65 at night and a hybrid enclosure his cage heats up pretty quickly in the morning. How long is it taking for ambient temps to rise the next morning? If they are staying cool then he is not going to want to get up.

 

[Andrew1283]

I do not fog. I mist after lights are off in the PM and before the lights turn on in the AM. That’s a great point about temps warming up in the room. I’ll note the temp in the room vs. his activity. He really buries himself in that pothos so maybe that delays his start. Hes so insulated. The nosey doesn’t mind any of this but his pothos is less full.

 

[Beman]

I do not fog. I mist after lights are off in the PM and before the lights turn on in the AM. That’s a great point about temps warming up in the room. I’ll note the temp in the room vs. his activity. He really buries himself in that pothos so maybe that delays his start. Hes so insulated. The nosey doesn’t mind any of this but his pothos is less full.

Is he in a full screen cage or did you add solid panels to make it more like a hybrid?

 

[Andrew1283]

Is he in a full screen cage or did you add solid panels to make it more like a hybrid?

Two sides are covered in coroplast

 

[elizaann2]

My panther does this too when temps are colder.

 

[Beman]

Two sides are covered in coroplast

Yeah I would see if you can get your ambient room temps to rise a bit faster in the morning so it warms up the cage quicker.

 

[elizaann2]

Yeah I would see if you can get your ambient room temps to rise a bit faster in the morning so it warms up the cage quicker.

I use a space heater for about an hour to help my ambient temps warm up quicker.

 

[Jeevesieb]

I use a space heater for about an hour to help my ambient temps warm up quicker.

I do this too. Ours is set to 75 to keep his area of the room warmer than our ambient temp. I turn it down at night.

 

[Andrew1283]

This is how I imagine some of your setups

 

[Andrew1283]

Well as an update I went to 68 at night and Herbert woke up just fine without any additional external heater in the morning. I think I’ll just stick with that. Why 66 is too cold and 68 is just fine is beyond me!

 

[Andrew1283]

And just to be clear, I only experimented with lower temps because I was fostering a Jackson’s for a short time. I always kept the low night temps within the parameters on the chameleon academy care sheet for panther chameleons. That’s for any lurkers or newbies who are curious