Question about heat and hides

[kojiinari]

Hi everyone! First post, but I had a question.

I just recently picked up a Merauke from a guy at a reptile expo near me. I went in looking for geckos, but low and behold there was someone with blueys! They had a Merauke and a Kei Island, and I picked up the Merauke.

He's been doing really well since we brought him home, eating well (he ate within 2 minutes of being put in his cage) and he finally pooped today (Day 3) and we're trying to be patient and sit on our hands while he gets aclimated. If I have to put my hands in the cage he breathes heavy at me, these funny chuffing sounds that I know means he's aggitated.

In any event, I'm a little concerned about temperature for his cage setup. I have a clamp light with a mercury vapor bulb in it to provide UVB and Heat, which does really well for his cage. He's sitting around 73 inside his hide on the cool end (closer to 75 on the outside), around 85 in the middle of the cage, and about 90-95 on the warm side. We gave him a hide that he really likes, this turtle shell basking area/hide that we found at Petsmart. He never leaves from under it, even at night.



Here's where the problem comes in. During the day the top of that shell reaches about 100-103. But when I turn on his night bulb (one of those red light ones), I came out to check his temperatures last night to find that the top was 130! (according to my infared temperature gun). Scared of burning or cooking him, I turned the night bulb off. Thankfully he's still hiding, and from what I could tell the underside of that hide was closer to 85. Without that bulb though, his whole cage drops to about 70 during the night.

Is there anything I can do to keep him from cooking at night? I didn't realize the night bulb was so hot. It's much lower wattage than the mercury bulb, so I was surprised it was so hot. Even the substrate directly underneath the light was sitting at 100 degrees. I'm also worried if he'd touched the shell or burned himself that I might not be able to tell, since he won't let me near him yet.Is there an easy way to tell if he's doing alright if I never see him? I also don't want to stress him out too much.

[splashy07]

Others may argue this, but I do not use night bulbs or heaters for anything other than my nocturnal species, and my apartment is about 65-67 at night in winter and have never had any issues with the blueys. They come out and bask during the day (sometimes not) and retreat to their hides. I just make sure they have not eaten for at least a few hours before lights out. I keep Northerns, Merauke and Halmaheras.
The substrate you're using looks similar to what I use for my Northerns, which are more of an arid species. The gigas types
(Indonesian) require more humidity so a substrate like repti-bark, cypress mulch, etc would be a better humidity-holding substrate, and even some dampened sphagnum moss in the hide area during shedding time may prove beneficial. A large water dish will also increase humidity, as will covering most of exposed screen. Nice Merauke, and welcome!

[kojiinari]

Thanks, I was worried with it dropped to ~70 he was going to get too cold and have problems.

The substrate he is currently using is shredded paper(not newspaper). He loves burrowing in it, though I can't tell if that's because of what it is or because he just doesn't want to be seen. He'll go under the shell and slide under all the substrate, then kick a bunch up in the front so we can't see in. He'll make piles of it at the entrance because he thinks we won't know where he is. He also somehow managed to burrow under his food dish and then poop there. (Which apparently smelled atrocious. Is that normal?)

We got paper because the local store only had the really thin shredded aspen and sand. I got into an argument with the lady at the store who said sand was the only way to go because otherwise shredded wood would scratch their scales/poke them and hurt them. She claimed that sand couldn't get impacted... I went with the paper.

I've been recommended a mix of cypress mulch, spagnum moss, and peatmoss for substrate that will encourage the burrowing/digging behavior while helping with humidity. I'm unsure of the humidity in the cage because the stores did not have a good hygrometer, so I ordered one online. It should be here in a couple days. If he's too dry I'll cover the screen top a bit and see if it helps. I'll change substrate if I need to too, it would just be harder.

[TPceebee]

I have to use a night bulb here since the temperature never really gets to an acceptable level without it. I use a 100 watt ceramic connected to a dimmer, though I'm switching over to a thermostat soon as the temperature varies day to day. I like to keep temperatures above 65-70 at night.

[alichamp]

Hi! Is your light set up inside or on top of the enclosure? I'm just wondering if the light is too low?

This winter I have been using a night heat globe (ceramic heat emitter) attached to a simple thermostat with on/off probe. You just set the temp you want for overnight and the heat will turn on when it goes below a certain temp and go off when it goes above that temp. That way you don't have to worry about checking temps in the middle of the night!

[alichamp]

(Which apparently smelled atrocious. Is that normal?).

I don't know about poo, sorry. But if you search through old threads you might find something helpful. I have read several times before on this forum that most BTS in US are imports and might need to get a poo sample checked by a vet for parasites. Again, just paraphrasing so don't know the symptoms myself.

Hopefully someone else will chime in.

[Richard.C]

Ali did u test the temps though or just going off thermostats dial

The reason i ask is often the umbers on the dial are way off what actual temps they turn on and off at so temps should be checked to adjust them accuratly,j ignire the numbers on the dial

[alichamp]

Hi Richard. I did check the temps several times overnight over a couple of nights before the thermostat set up (so I knew what range temps inside the enclosure even with our heating on) and a couple of nights after setting it up too to check when the heat actually came on/off and that the temps off both readers matched up.

I have a temp gauge up each end permanently so check often at different times and took extra care when setting everything up.

Good point though, thanks Richard.