BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hey guys,

I have a question about the heating of my glass terrarium I’m getting next week.

It measures 150x50x50cm or aprox. 59x20x20 inches.
I am going to have front sliding doors, ventilation strip at bottom-front and one on top.

The bedding is going to be a mix of 3 things: forest floor bedding (cypress mulch), spaghnum moss and plantation soil.

There will be a 120cm (47 inch) Arcadia uvb 6% t5 tube kit running along the length as well as 2 ceramic sockets with reflector caps. One on the right of the tank and one on the left.

The left one will have a DHP on a day/night dimming thermostat with slate stone below for the basking area.

But now im not sure what to do for heating on the right side.
Should I put another DHP on a thermostat but with a lower temp setting or something else?

Its going to be for a Tanimbar skink. So the hot end about 35 degrees celcius (95 Fahrenheit) and 25C (77F) at the cool end. I want the temp at night to minimum 22C (72ish F).
But since its a longer tank i still want to maintain the heat gradient and maintaining the temps in the whole enclosure.

The room the tank will be in is a stable 20,5C (68.9F). During the day it goes up to 24.5C (76.1F) currently but in the summer last year for example it went up to 39C (102.2F).

I hope I gave sufficient information for the help question I’m asking.

Thanks in advance!

I think you'll be fine with heat just in the one zone. Your skink will do well at room temperature so long as a basking spot is provided. If you do decide to add additional heat, just be mindful that the tank doesn't overheat, especially in those summer months you mentioned.

I'm not an expert but from what I've researched i have found that in large enclosures it's best for the lizard to have an option on whether or not he/she wants to be warm or cool so i would just stay with the one side but for winter it would be good if you got a night heat light for that side unless you are going to breed, in that case you should:
- For the first week of winter take the lights (including basking spot) away and give him/her they last feed until winter is over
- For the second week, take away the rest of the heat
- For the remaining of winter allow him/her to reduce their body temp and begin brumation
- Check on him/her every two to three days and weigh him/her to make sure that he/she is losing weight
- Two weeks before winter add heat back (but not the lights)
- For the last week of winter add the lights back and give him/her his/her first meal before breeding
- You might need to clip his/her nails because he/she might not of been moving around as much therefore her/his nails would not have been filed by the rocks
Hope this helped