Temps questions

[sheldon1306]

So, I haven't been on here in a while, mostly due to the fact that sheldon has had a great life and everything seems textbook with him. Then I moved lol.

So Sheldon spent all summer on my patio, in his pen which is 5x6'. I occasionally let him run amuck in my living room, and he has a great outside enclosure. His inside enclosure simply used to move inside for the winter and I'd attach lighting over top with a hinged lid and things were good. With the addition of my fiancé, we now have a cat, which as you guessed prompted the I need to figure something out for Sheldon thoughts. So far I've had him in my outside closet, which is 8'x10' and holds his enclosure fine. The problem is, it is detached from my condo, and Isnt heated, aside from his lighting. So far it has only dropped to 55F ambient on a 28F night. During the day his basking is 95, cool side is 67ish, and ambient in the room rides between 60F and 68F since it does get direct sun.

My question is should I install a night time ceramic heater, to keep it around 55 ambient in his enclosure? We're not into the depth of winter and I don't think it should get much colder in the room than 40-45ish. My thought was a ceramic bulb on an opposite timer to his lights, to at least maintain some heat, until the spring comes back. His enclosure has a solid plywood top, with a few ventilation holes in it, but is mostly a closed chamber type design.

Any help is, as always greatly appreciated!

 

[wellington]

@HermanniChris should be able to help here. My guess is it is getting way too cold, but wait for Chris to answer.

 

[HermanniChris]

The issue is not with your nighttime temps, it's the daytime. During the night, Hermann's should always experience a cool down. Even though 55F is pretty low, it's certainly not low enough to cause issues for this species. However, it can certainly prompt him to go into hibernation mode. In nature, the first signal of the approaching cool season are the chilly nights. Then the days follow. So, you're basically making him think it's early to mid fall. During the day, the temps needs to come up to the 70s at least, low 80s preferably. At night I always suggest dropping to as low as 65 unless it's the peak of summer in which case warmer nights (not hot) are ok. I would install the CHE during the day for starters to help bring the daytime temps up. The basking area isn't enough by itself unless you are actually trying to prompt the animal to hibernate. Occasional nights hitting 55F are no issue whatsoever but if it's consistent then you might want to keep the CHE on at night too. However, do not aim the CHE too close because that will create a nighttime basking area which is not good. Instead, keep it back further to more or less warm the surrounding air instead. Hope this helps.

 

[sheldon1306]

Chris, thanks for the prompt reply! I may have another idea, and that is to install a space heater in said closet area for these next 3 months. I have one at work which should bring my ambient up to around 80ish degrees, and I have enough wiring skills since I'm in the heating trade to make it use a programmable stat. What's your opinion on this method? It'll be approximately 75-80 ambient in the room with a low of about 55-60?

 

[HermanniChris]

I use one in the room where we house Burmese stars and the thing works great for keeping the temps where I want them. I would suggest using it just be careful because they are a fire hazard. Try to get a good one.

 

[sheldon1306]

Right on. I have a few utility type at work, that I normally use to heat job sites where I ironically install heating systems. I'll give that a go, I figure even if I run it in spurts to maintain a good temp, to cut down on the hazard, that would be better than my cat constantly watching the poor guy. I feel bad enough he's not in the man room I used to have!

I can't wait until the spring when I plan to buy a house, I'm going to install a full on tortoise heating system. Radiant floors (80f soil temp evenly on the hot side, not close to a hot rock), basking lights, and a properly built enclosure instead of his plywood scrap special for a winter setup!

 

[sheldon1306]

So I'm up in temps. It's 75 ambient in the enclosure, outside in the room it's 72. The basking is about 100 but I can change that from light height easily. The space heater helped tremendously! I have it setup on a thermostat so that the space heater will run over night as necessary to maintain about 60-65. Thanks again for the replies Chris!