Too Hot Hide?

[ben awes]

Hi all, I've got a couple questions regarding temp for my Aldabra Uncle Bri. I've got his humid hide set up with a ceramic heat emitter and a mercury vapor bulb. I live up here in Minnesota so its very difficult to keep the humidity up and with temps below zero for the past 6 weeks, I tend towards keeping the enclosure pretty warm. Right now the natural humidity level in the house is like below the charts (dry as a bone). I pump humidity into his humid hide and can get it up to about 45%. I'm working on a longer term solution with a misting system but have not dropped the $300+ yet. I tried a $100 unit from Big Apple Herp, but it was crap and I sent it back. It did not even have enough power to spray mist from two nozzles.

Anyway, Uncle Bri spends most of his time snoozing in the corner of his humid hide. I just added one of those freezer flap doors so that he can come and go as he pleases and the flaps keep the humidity and heat in. Here is the question - the coolest temp in the humid hide (where he sleeps) is around 89/90 degrees at night. The CHE is on 24/7, the MVB is on during the day. If is was too hot for him I would think that he would leave, but maybe not? I wonder if I should also set the CHE on a timer so that it went off during the day when the MVB was on? I can also use a lower watt CHE.

What do you think a good nighttime sleeping temp is?

What are the signs of tort that is too hot? My leopards tend to sweat around the eyes when they are overheated and yesterday I found Uncle Bri with wet eyes.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks,Ben

 

[ascott]

I would work it so that your tort has temps more like 83 ish during the night...with high humidity of 55+...if you are running lower humidity then the temps can drop to like 80 ish....

Again, this is what I would do....wait round a bit for folks who have hands on direct successful experience with this species....

 

[wellington]

Put your CHE on a thermostat not a timer. Set the thermostat to 75-78 for night time. I would turn it off during the day. As long as the mvb keeps it around 80. I wouldn't think a constant of 89/90 would be good for a hide. Hopefully Greg, our Aldabra guy will get in on this thread.

 

[ben awes]

Thanks for the feedback folks. Will reduce those temps a bit and get a thermostat for the CHE

What about the eye thing? water eyes = overheated?

 

[mikeh]

Re: RE: Too Hot Hide?

Thanks for the feedback folks. Will reduce those temps a bit and get a thermostat for the CHE

What about the eye thing? water eyes = overheated?

Don't know about Aldabra Ben, but very dry air could be the culprit.

When I take my Burmese Browns from their moist chamber outdoors, in a drier weather their eyes start to water immediately. It almost looks like they are crying.

 

[edwardbo]

When my torts are too hot they hang all the why out of their sheels, they sprawl out ,limbs akimbo...

 

[marty4dive]

When my torts are too hot they hang all the why out of their sheels, they sprawl out ,limbs akimbo...
[/quoteYes seems to be very common that in humidity challenged environments Aldabrans, as well as most other species display wet eyes; my two adult Sulcatas, and my two Aldabrans quite commonly have watery eyes. Here in Northern California the humidity sucks. I will eventually have a misting system up; still have one of those Big Apple ones. In the meantime the Aldabrans get daily soacks. The adult Sulcatas get soaks in the summer; right now they have a large water dish in their barn which helps somewhat with humidity. It seems that both of these species are very tolerant to variables in humidity, as long as there are water sources available. Toothless and Jett have their own pond with pretty much daily access. You have to be pretty vigilant to catch them using it though. More pics