Virginia's Luxurious Stay in the Brumation Basking Tub

[Dakota]

Well, as I posted in the OT forum, we had a bit of a cold front here! It was calling for 37F (3C) last night (and tonight, too), so I had to bring the skinks in. I have set my lowest tolerable temperature to 55F (13C) (although they have experienced MUCH colder..all the way to 42F (5.5C) in which they handled awesomely, apparently (I was on vacation in Tennessee, and the forecast changed too late for me to doing anything about it). I think the key is to make sure they warm back up during the day. Aspen also holds a lot of warmth, so usually it is around 10 degrees warmer. But although they handled the 42F weather, I do not like it dipping that low.. so 55F is the lowest they will experience from now on, so I will bring them in if it gets lower, and put them back out when it gets higher (which is the next morning, usually).

And since Virginia is a basking freak now, I couldn't let her only get a few hours of basking like the other skinks got. I whipped up this tub, put a doggy bed in there, and off she goes basking! She basked pretty much this whole day. I took her outside to let her get a drink, and off to basking she went afterwards. Notice how her lower end is directly under the lamp (the ones where she is not, it is where I had JUST put her in there).....

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For the other skinks, they got their usual basking schedule, which is around 11PM to 2PM of all the sun's glory.. and I am fixing to put the back in their boxes for the night since they are all buried under the substrate.

[Richard.C]

The sunshines between 11pm and 2pm there?

Lol

[Dakota]

No it rises at 7am, but it doesn't reach the back porch and shine into their cages until around 11am.

wait..

Oh dear god.. now I know what is funny.. I mean 11AM..

[Richard.C]

[Lea]

Sorry to put a downer on your excitement, Dakota, but a dog bed might not be the best option for a basking area, given it's high flammability. It would be devastating to hear of another fire at your place.

[Dakota]

I guess Molly Mae would have caught it on fire a while ago! Her external body temperatures on her belly is reading 99 after being curled up sleeping like she would be in the bed..

[Katrina]

I guess Molly Mae would have caught it on fire a while ago! Her external body temperatures on her belly is reading 99 after being curled up sleeping like she would be in the bed..

Not quite sure what you mean by this... Even if her temperature is 99, she won't catch it on fire. But a heat lamp easily could. Why not use slate tile or some othe non-flammable surface to bask on? Any kind of synthetic fibre is very flammable. Heat lamps get much higher than 99F... Or just leave the heat source in their enclosures on for longer so that they can bask safely in their enclosures?

Even if they don't catch fire, synthetic fibres will readily melt which could case pretty awful burns.

[Lea]

And toxic fumes, too.

[Dakota]

But if the heat lamp got to 99, as well.. what would the difference be other than the heat source?

ETA: The heat lamp was far enough away to cause it is emit a 99 degree basking spot, not the lamp itself, my apologies.

[donkeybuff]

But if the heat lamp got to 99, as well.. what would the difference be other than the heat source?

I think they mean if something goes wrong and the lamp ends up falling on the bed.

[Dakota]

OHHHH I had a guard on, I didn't realize it didn't show it on the photo

ETA: Guard as in a steel top, like a top of a reptile cage with larger square holes.

[Katrina]

Dakota - the guard will heat up and just having a heat lamp (even guarded) fall near synthetic fibres will cause them to melt. That is an incredibly unsafe setup. Switch to another basking spot that isn't very flammable!

http://www.fibersource.com/f-tutor/health.htm

[Dakota]

It would be impossible for the lamp to fall (as I had the lamp clamped on the guard and the guard was clamped using those large paper clamp things to the tub on both sides, I made definite sure there was no way to fall). So only other theory would be the heat getting 99 degrees on the fabric, and my dog has slept in this for weeks, and her temperature was literally the same temperature as it was getting heated up.

The guard is made out of the same material a general reptile top is, it is flame retardant, so it wouldn't "melt" if you guys are talking about something like that?

I get you guys are giving "in theory" answers, but it literally impossible. Not even an Earth Quake would have jarred it (unless the Christmas tree fell on it, but let's not discuss how dangerous that is!!)

This thread was supposed to be for fun...

[Katrina]

That's ok, Dakota. You're right. The couple of us who haven't ever had a fire are probably being overly cautious.

Still, probably not a great thing to be showing synthetic basking spots - never know who might be reading. Even if you're infallable, others aren't and they might not know any better.

[Richard.C]

I dont get why you would use a dogbed,i dont get why people give them blankeys ect either,thats just me though