Suggestions for dealing with unusually warm weather?

[Taliats]

So the temperature here has spiked massively and it is causing sever problems with my skink's vivarium. The warm end is getting to 40C during the day and the cool end only being 5 degrees lower than that.

I have temporarily swapped out her ceramic heater to a heat lamp but it makes no difference, the temps stay exactly the same. She avoids the warm end like the plague and I am very concerned. Should I just have no heat source at all until this heatwave ends? She normally burrows or hides beneath her log when she wants to cool down so I assume body temperatures won't be an issue.

[7.62]

If the Temps are already that high of a range I would cut the heating source off/down until desired Temps are reached. I would make sure there was the maximum amount of air flow as well, which my help with your Temps. Maybe try to widen the space between your heat source and hot end to see if that helps. BTS are great, in my experience, of telling us what they need in terms of Temps. If they are avoiding the warm end it's because it too warm/hot. Good luck!

[kingofnobbys]

If it's hot , or going to be hot , it's perfectly OK to unplug the basking globe entirely for the duration, as the skink will get sufficient heat from the warmth in the room.

make sure there is sufficient water in the tank for the skink to drink more , and even sit in the water to cool off too.

[splashy07]

It's hot as H in my apartment in summer, I shut off everything. Even my 7 watt LEDs throw off a bit of heat, I have them off too.

[Taliats]

So an update, she seems to be much more content with the heat source turned off.

She was really cold this morning when I went to feed her but after she had been fed, she had found a way to warm her body up so she could digest her food. She was also snooping around the warm end earlier as if she had not been there for years.

It seems that heat gets trapped inside one of her hides and she uses that to warm up, when she wants to stay cool, she just buries herself.

[splashy07]

They do what they need to do, thermoregulation is a bit harder in a contained area but they figure it out. As long as they are warm enough to digest, they'll be fine. They are tougher than we think.