Basking temp in warm room

[financier]

I live in So Cal and don't have A?C, so the temps in the summer during the day can get into the high 80s. Do I still need a basking area of 100 since the ambient air is that warm?

I am using a flat piece of cork bark for basking cause I found the rock gives off more of the heat that is absorbed by the light. I have hides on both sides. And in one on the cooler I have damp sphagnum in it.

Thanks

[Jeff]

You want to make sure you don't raise the cool side any higher because that is already warmer than is ideal, but your skink should have access to higher temperatures than the upper 80's.

Have you measured the temperatures with a temperature gun? It is possible that the surface temperature of the damp moss is lower than the air temperature, which would be good.

I would try to create a basking spot at least in the mid 90's, just don't raise that minimum temperature if it is truly in the upper 80's.

[financier]

i have snakes also, so always using a temp gun. we get these days a few times a summer. the moss is cooler. I put the basking at 95 until hot days are over.
to keep my snakes cooler i put an re-usuable ice pack on one of the hides. my big northern pine was in it yesterday and was at a temp of 78. so may do that to have a cool area. I just got the baby a few days ago, so he is still exploring,,and eating.

thanks

[Richard.C]

If its only select days getting temps up thetes nothing wrong with shutting heating off,saves risk of over heating ,plus varies things up,like in nature

[financier]

that is what i am doing..i have my light on a times to come on in the morning,,then shut off,,then back on later in the day....

[Richard.C]

Thats the go,sometimes we get hotspells and i have to shut heating off all week,uninsulated tin shed,sometimes needing to resort to having oedestal fans on to avoid cages getting to hot

[Lea]

In the summer, in SA, the temperatures will often exceed 40 degrees C, for day sat a time. The ambient temperatures often only just shy of that, making basking spotsa bit tricky. When I ekeep skinks inside, I get around this by making sure the temperature gradient within the enclosure was enough to provide them with a good cool spot, even if the basking area got slightly too toasty. I always keep the UV running, but with good ventilation, it never raised the temperature too much, certainly not to basking levels and so provided, as you do, a globe on a timer, for some extra heat. I would generally have it on a 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off cycle, leaving it off completely during the middle 5 or 6 hours during the day.

I have also switched their day and night circles on their heads, making night time the time for lights and heat, with a more reliable, less hazardous, fluctuation in temperatures. But, that depends if you can tolerate their lights on when you sleep! I work a lot of nights, so generally, it isn't an issue for me.

To ensure they always had a reliable cool spot, I obtained some natural slate and large river pebbles and put them in the cool end, sheltered from the beam of the heat globe by a larger piece of natural stone. While stone will absorb heat well from direct heat sources, it's very slow to warm up just with ambient heat and will remain cool to touch even if the hottest ambient temperatures, cooling at night enough not to then overheat the following day. Making a shallow depression or semicircle of stones/rock, like a rock bed and building it up slightly, like a stone wall, further reduces the inner stones ability to absorb the ambient heat. A stone/thick walled ceramic pot, can also be a good insulator against heat, using the same pebble flooring inside the upturned pot. Just keep it out of the basking globe and it will be fine. An ice block in the water dish also help lower the cool end.

[Lea]

Also, bear in mind their ectothermy- they are slower at absorbing ambient heat than endothermic animals, so their core temperatures rise slowly. While protecting against heat, we also need to make sure they are reach the internal temperatures needed for their metabolic and biochemical processes. Your ambient temperatures are falling far short of the optimum for basking, so I would be mindful, at least for the few hours after feeding, that you still provide a heat source.