BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I live in upstate new York, so as it's getting closer to winter, I want to make sure I'm all prepared. I have an Indonesian (so he doesn't bruminate). My apartment used to stay around 70°, which I think is pretty normal in general, and safe at night. I've got a 40 gallon tank, a 75 watt heat lamp, and a 13 watt 10 UVB lamp. I don't have anything I really trust to measure heat (but my brother will come by soon with a laser thermometer), but I'm concerned that my apartment is starting to get into the 60s at night, or even during the day.

Also, I unfortunately have a tiny one-bedroom apartment and a roommate who likes it cold at night, so she has the AC on in the next room, maybe around 60-65. The door sometimes stays either cracked or wide open because the cat will yell all night otherwise. I don't want to waste money by having both the AC and the heat on, but I wonder if I can compensate with a good heat lamp, but I don't know what to get that will adequately keep him warm but also not too hot.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

(Also, I just read that I'm not supposed to have a humidifier on during the day as it risks growing bacteria/illness, that it should be on during the night instead. But if it's off during the day, the heat will dry everything out, so won't humidity drop top low?)

I like under tank heat panels to compensate for the heating you need

Justincalhoundvm wrote:I like under tank heat panels to compensate for the heating you need

Thanks, but I don't think I'll be able to use that because my tank is on the floor (plus on carpet). I got a thermostat so I know for sure now that the ambient temperature in the middle is lower than it should be (low 70s in the day, low 60s in the night), and I got an incandescent black light (75 and 100 watts, I'm probably going to end up using the 100). I just read that any light even if it's a blacklight will mess with their sleep cycle... but I don't know what else to do.

Edit: I just figured out what a ceramic heat emitter is (and that it isn't a heating pad, which I'd heard horror stories about lizards getting burned on them even when they aren't that hot) so I'll probably get a CHE. Also, I'm still finding it difficult to know what wattage to get, what with the temperature outside his tank getting really low, but temperature is also supposed to drop at night to 75-70ish...

Also, I got a thermostat (the zoomed reptitemp digital thermostat), and I'm a little annoyed that so far as I can see, there isn't a way to program it to set at different temperatures for the day/night cycle. There's only one controller outlet so it can turn my lamp on and off... I guess I could get another one and have one thermostat for on during the day and the other at night? It might wear it out faster, though. I'm kind of disappointed with the thermostat. I don't have a big budget to spend, though.

CHE are the way to go. This is my go to plug-in. It is super easy to program and has day and night plug ins. Not to mention all day as well.
https://www.chewy.com/zilla-lighting-te ... yQQAvD_BwE

I just noticed you said your cage is on the floor. Really not a good idea. If at all possible, get it up on a stand. The floor is the coldest part of the house, and danger comes from above so your skink will more than likely be apprehensive most if not all of the time. They definitely do not like things looking down at them and hovering above. You mentioned your apartment is small, but a tank on a stand takes up no more space than one on the floor. It may also aid in your temp issues.