Hey guys! Its been a while but I hope I can start a pretty good conversation about this issue...
Background: I live just south of west palm beach in a town called Wellington...The temperature very very rarely drops into the 40s at night and almost never gets below 45. For instance, the following numbers are historical temperatures for the 3 coldest months down here:
Hi Avg Lo
NOVEMBER
Mean Temperature 76 °F 66 °F 59 °F
DECEMBER
Mean Temperature 79 °F 66 °F 52 °F
JANUARY
Mean Temperature 80 °F 73 °F 57 °F
I have a 60lb 4yr old sulcata named scooter who has a nice section of my yard with a deck box that I have installed a ceramic heat emitter on a timer. It did not survive the summer (it was off because the temp is always in the 70s-80s at night 9 months a year.
After doing some research on the Sahara desert I've noticed that the lows there are actually LOWER than the lows here in Wellington ranging from about 40-68 average nightly temps over the year.
MY MAIN THOUGHT: I am thinking about NOT heating the deck box this winter. The hole cut into the side for Scooter to get in and out is no bigger than necessary and I have about 8-10 inches of mulch in there for him to get nice and cozy when he digs in for the night.
MY MAIN QUESTION: What do you guys think about not heating him at night? It seems like that more closely mimics his natural environment and I have also read that it is not uncommon for them to deal with 20-30 F at night in their natural environment.
Background: I live just south of west palm beach in a town called Wellington...The temperature very very rarely drops into the 40s at night and almost never gets below 45. For instance, the following numbers are historical temperatures for the 3 coldest months down here:
Hi Avg Lo
NOVEMBER
Mean Temperature 76 °F 66 °F 59 °F
DECEMBER
Mean Temperature 79 °F 66 °F 52 °F
JANUARY
Mean Temperature 80 °F 73 °F 57 °F
I have a 60lb 4yr old sulcata named scooter who has a nice section of my yard with a deck box that I have installed a ceramic heat emitter on a timer. It did not survive the summer (it was off because the temp is always in the 70s-80s at night 9 months a year.
After doing some research on the Sahara desert I've noticed that the lows there are actually LOWER than the lows here in Wellington ranging from about 40-68 average nightly temps over the year.
MY MAIN THOUGHT: I am thinking about NOT heating the deck box this winter. The hole cut into the side for Scooter to get in and out is no bigger than necessary and I have about 8-10 inches of mulch in there for him to get nice and cozy when he digs in for the night.
MY MAIN QUESTION: What do you guys think about not heating him at night? It seems like that more closely mimics his natural environment and I have also read that it is not uncommon for them to deal with 20-30 F at night in their natural environment.