So i just got one of those digital thermometer/hygrometer probe thing and i put the probe under his basking area and i only registers about 87 fahrenheit or 31 celsius while usually when use my temp gun i get reading between 89 and 95 or 30 to 35 celsius. Am i doing something wrong becuse i am confused? How long does it need to be placed before you get an accurate reading?
Thermometer under basking
- Thread starter yay14
- Start date
So i just got one of those digital thermometer/hygrometer probe thing and i put the probe under his basking area and i only registers about 87 fahrenheit or 31 celsius while usually when use my temp gun i get reading between 89 and 95 or 30 to 35 celsius. Am i doing something wrong becuse I am confused? How long does it need to be placed before you get an accurate reading?
Not sure if this belongs here but don't know where else.
Not sure if this belongs here but don't know where else.
I like to rest the probe or digital thermometer on something that is about tortoise height. Then let it bake under the light for an hour or more. This will tell you how hot your tortoise's carapace will get if it sits under that bulb for a long time.
You are reading two different things with a thermometer vs a IR Heat gun. The thermometer is reading air temperatures where the probe is. The IR heat gun is reading the temperature of the object you are pointing the gun at. An object placed under a basking light is going to absorb heat from the basking light and get hotter than the air temperature around it. Depending upon how open, and how much air circulation is around your basking area, this difference can be quite a bit. In a good, closed chamber, the difference will be much less as the objects under the basking light and the basking light itself is also heating the air in the enclosure and that air stays in the enclosure. The thermometer is best to measure and monitor your ambient temperatures in your enclosure. Your heat gun gives you an idea of how much a tortoise sitting under the basking light can heat to.
Tortoises use this as a means to warm up warmer than air temperatures. That's why on a sunny 75° day a tortoise basking in full sun can raise their body temperature to 95° and more even thought the air temperature a thermometer will read is 75°.
Tortoises use this as a means to warm up warmer than air temperatures. That's why on a sunny 75° day a tortoise basking in full sun can raise their body temperature to 95° and more even thought the air temperature a thermometer will read is 75°.
Oh okay so the IR gun is better for reading basking temps while thermometer is better to measure just overall in the enclosure.
The difference is if you are reading something that is getting direct exposure to IR radiation. When you are reading an object with the IR heat gun that is not directly under a light, or CHE, the temperature of the objects you are reading are going to be very close to the air temperature. So you will get the same reading. In fact, checking the temperatures in the corners of you enclosure is good to do with a heat gun as the corners can be cooler than the air temperature there as they can be cooled by the temperature outside the enclosure. Try this in your own home: Use your IR heat gun and check the temperatures around your home. The walls and floors on the interior of your home will measure very close to or identical to your room temperature (air temperature). Now check the floors near the outside walls and the floor near the outside corner of your home. You will see the ground temps outside are cooling the floor well below room temperature. Depending upon how well insulated your home is, the inside of the outside walls may be cooler while the interior walls will be the same as air temp.
So a heat gun is a very useful tool to check actual temperatures your tortoise may be subjected to. The corners where the tortoise like to hide can be substantially cooler than air temperature, and your tortoise is designed to pick up those ground temperatures more so than air temperature. And your tortoise will also pick up much more IR from lights, CHEs, etc and can easily warm above air temperatures.
To give you a vivid illustration, here is one of my tortoises who was basking outdoors on a sunny 60° day when I took these photos in November.
Here is the reading of the ground temperature in the shade next to the tortoise:
Here is the reading of the tortoise's shell at the same time:
Knowing the air temperature with a thermometer would have not told me any of that. My weather station showed 61° at that time.
An IR gun is an indispensable tool if you really want to monitor all the temperatures your tortoise is really exposed to.
