Bulb wattage?

[NomadOfTheHills]

Nomad, I have to say that 115 scares the crap out of me. Any number of bad things could happen. That's hot, man. Even if there's a cool side.

I understand, but there is not much that could happen IMO. My room is in the basement, and stays in the low 70's without AC despite outside temperature. My basking light is arranged so that it only effects the cool side by 3 or 4 degrees. Even if my room were to somehow jump to 85 degrees, his cool spot would still be under 90.

[Geoff Gates]

[I slowly dim the lights down as night comes, and the blueys become more active during the dim -- almost like once the heat of the day is gone, the blueys come out to hunt and forage around.

Sounds like its too hot in the tank.

I would say the same, only their hot rocks are around 90-92, and they're constantly laying on them. One time when we first had Slurpy, his tank would get too hot as the temperature rose in this makeshift room we were living in (in a converted garage with no insulation) and all he did was sit on the cool end.

You can also feel how hot they are simply by handling them -- do you agree with that Geoff? Sometimes their bodies can REALLY heat up -- it's not a 100% accurate way to measure if they're too hot or not, but a luke warm skink to the touch compared to REALLY hot says a lot I think..

Yes, agree with that Zach.

Just another thought is that I sometimes suspect is that it is too bright in the cage so the blueys burrow into the substrate to get away from blinding light. Once the heat lamp gets turned off they become active.

[Leigh]

Geoff, do you think the light could be too bright from the spot or the uv? as I use a UVB 10 and a 60w spot, when I come in from being out doors, the tanks{blues and beardy}seem no where near as bright as natural sunlight, I feel guilty as you can see the looks of "this is crap after being out there" from both my lizards.

[Geoff Gates]

Geoff, do you think the light could be too bright from the spot or the uv? as I use a UVB 10 and a 60w spot, when I come in from being out doors, the tanks{blues and beardy}seem no where near as bright as natural sunlight, I feel guilty as you can see the looks of "this is crap after being out there" from both my lizards.

Leigh,

From the spot lamp. it's just an intense glow from 2 feet away.

I often watch wild blueys and they tend to bask in direct sunlight only early / late in the day when the sunlight is not as intense. During the middle of the day they bask in dappled light or remain amongst leaf litter often exposing only portions of their body.

... and you live in Britain. If you want to see harsh natural light come out to Oz for a visit and don't forget your sunnies.

[Leigh]

Our lack of ozone would suprise you, as for the suns brightness, its just never constant, we were in Newquay last year and a couple of sheilas got burnt legs after an hour out in the pub garden, then they moaned for half hour about never being burnt before back home in Oz.

[NomadOfTheHills]

Nomad, I have to say that 115 scares the crap out of me. Any number of bad things could happen. That's hot, man. Even if there's a cool side.

I understand, but there is not much that could happen IMO. My room is in the basement, and stays in the low 70's without AC despite outside temperature. My basking light is arranged so that it only effects the cool side by 3 or 4 degrees. Even if my room were to somehow jump to 85 degrees, his cool spot would still be under 90.

Also, I have been experimenting temp wise with Dwight, and making comparisons to Neo. Dwight seems to prefer slightly cooler temps, As he has two basking rocks, one reaches 89-91, and the other, a piece of shale, reaches over 110.

He will sit on both, as well as burrow next to the shale.

This differs from Neo, who would bask at 125, with a cool side in the low 70s. He had access to 90-0 areas, but would consistently sit at 125.

[Blotch]

around 30oC - Perfect!

says who.

Says me.

[Geoff Gates]

around 30oC - Perfect!

says who.

Says me.

well their preferred body temperature is 32 degrees... so 30 degrees is not perfect is it?

[Blotch]

hahaha - from 28 - 32 is actually classified as acceptable range.

so split the diff and 30 is perfect.

[Zach]

This differs from Neo, who would bask at 125, with a cool side in the low 70s. He had access to 90-0 areas, but would consistently sit at 125.

I think you're crazy. No offense. That's just an enormous risk, no argument.

[NomadOfTheHills]

He could have choosen to bask at 90, or 95, or 100, or 105. (My temp gun showed all these places available).

His cage was over 8 square feet, he had tons of room. One of his basking spots was elevated, allowing for the high temp.

Dwight doesn't seem to appreciate as high temps, so I dropped his down to 105 at the hottest, with areas from 70.6- 105ish. He will sit in the 105 area for a bit, before moving to the 89ish -95 area. He isn't forced to higher temps.

[Zach]

8 square feet makes the situation much better.

[NomadOfTheHills]

Haha yup. His cage was 4 point something by 2 point something.

[Zach]

Just be careful, man!

[KyleWeiss]

Dimmers rule.

KW

[Leigh]

Stop biggin yourself up mate, hee hee