Night Temperatures

[FlyedPiper]

Hello all-

I had a question about night temps. I recently got a Northern baby and I'm wondering about night temps. The care sheet on the site here says to turn off all lights at night and keep the temps between 60 and 70. Is this correct? Is it different for a juvenile? This is the only place I've seen that's said to go that low and not provide a gradient. Temps are running in the 70 to 75 degree range at night in the room he's in.

I'm also wondering if I should be cutting the lights off at night for my Tanimbar... cool side temps are running low 70s (cool end) and low 80s (basking spot) during the night with the infrared heat light on.

I've read northerns like (or can tolerate better) a bigger temp drop at night than indo species?

Thanks for any input.

[aaronhouts]

We don't keep Northerns, but we don't do a night drop. We tried it for a short time but stopped doing it.
The room may fluctuate a little bit, but the heat is always on.

[Susann]

When it says to turn lights off for night time, it means turning off anything that produces light; you are fine to leave on anything that produces only heat, or the red nighttime lamps.
None of your blue tongue skinks should have their lights on at night. If you need to provide nighttime heat, it has to be through something that doesn't produce light. --You don't have to turn off the heat mat when you turn the lights out...

I don't quite know what you mean about us being the only place that says not to provide a gradient...? At night the temp gradient doesn't matter as much as long as they have a place where they can warm up to at least the minimum temperature they should be at. You can have the warm side stay exactly the same temp at night as it does during the day, as long as they have a place in the tank where they can cool down to about 60 or 70 ...or whatever it says for Northerns...

It's all about providing them with as many choices as possible, within the safe range, and then letting them choose where they feel comfortable, night and day. That's why we recommend you have several hides for them, in each temp zone, so they can choose according to what they NEED rather than just staying where they feel safe.

[FlyedPiper]

Thanks for the replies!

Susan- actually it does say in the care sheet to turn off all heat at night:


"Just turn your heat lamp off at night, and back on in the morning. We suggest a 12 hour cycle such as 9am-9pm, or 10-10, 11-11, etc. This is called the photoperiod. If you work late, it might be a good idea to set your timers from 12-12. This way, the lights come on at noon, and you will have until midnight to play with and handle your pet. Remember, if you have some insanely cold house...for example air conditioning in the summer, you might want to consider a small under-the-tank heater. You can also use a ceramic heat emitter. They put off plenty of heat, but no actual light. See picture below. Ceramic heat emitters are pretty expensive costing anywhere from 30 to 50 U.S dollars, but are very effective. Keep in mind however that you don't want 90 degree night time temperatures; keep the entire tank in the 60-70's at night. I believe that BTS benefit from a nighttime "cool down" period—the heat keeps their bodies active and their blood and organs pumping. A natural nightly cool down period rests their bodies and helps put them into a cool sleep. One thing that a lot of people don't realize is that BTS can take the cold—60's-70's during the night will not hurt them at all. "

My plan is to do this as long as it doesn't drop below 70 in my room. I'm getting a 40 gallon tank soon... I'm planning on getting an undertank heater I'll leave on all the time to provide some belly heat in the winter, with a heat lamp and a UVB lamp I can switch on and off at night.

[jdheff1982]

Thanks for the replies!

Susan- actually it does say in the care sheet to turn off all heat at night:


"Just turn your heat lamp off at night, and back on in the morning. We suggest a 12 hour cycle such as 9am-9pm, or 10-10, 11-11, etc. This is called the photoperiod. If you work late, it might be a good idea to set your timers from 12-12. This way, the lights come on at noon, and you will have until midnight to play with and handle your pet. Remember, if you have some insanely cold house...for example air conditioning in the summer, you might want to consider a small under-the-tank heater. You can also use a ceramic heat emitter. They put off plenty of heat, but no actual light. See picture below. Ceramic heat emitters are pretty expensive costing anywhere from 30 to 50 U.S dollars, but are very effective. Keep in mind however that you don't want 90 degree night time temperatures; keep the entire tank in the 60-70's at night. I believe that BTS benefit from a nighttime "cool down" period—the heat keeps their bodies active and their blood and organs pumping. A natural nightly cool down period rests their bodies and helps put them into a cool sleep. One thing that a lot of people don't realize is that BTS can take the cold—60's-70's during the night will not hurt them at all. "

My plan is to do this as long as it doesn't drop below 70 in my room. I'm getting a 40 gallon tank soon... I'm planning on getting an undertank heater I'll leave on all the time to provide some belly heat in the winter, with a heat lamp and a UVB lamp I can switch on and off at night.

You need to take that in the context that your average keeper uses a light bulb as both light AND heat. Also, if you are unable to keep the night time temps above 60* F, then you will need supplemental night time heat. Now, if your setup uses a CHE as the primary heat source and you want to leave it on at night, then go ahead. Just make sure the night time temps are not the same as day time.

My plan is to do this as long as it doesn't drop below 70 in my room. I'm getting a 40 gallon tank soon... I'm planning on getting an undertank heater I'll leave on all the time to provide some belly heat in the winter, with a heat lamp and a UVB lamp I can switch on and off at night.

That's fine. Even if the night time temps fall into the low 60's, your skink will be fine w/o the extra heat. During the winter here, my room can reach 65*F at night with house heater on and it didn't bother my skink. Keep in mind, winter is brumation time for skinks; and, even if you try to interrupt the cycle, your skink will likely do it anyways. If so, no need for the extra heat. Just make sure it doesn't fall below 60* F, even during the day. When brumation cycle is done, go back to your normal temps. I have tried to prevent brumation, but it always seem to happen.

Might I suggest adding a light timer. This way, you can set the day night light cycles. With my setup, I have 3 lamps: a CHE, a UVB, and a LED flood lamp. All 3 are on a timer. The CHE is also attached to a thermostat set to 100* F. The slate the CHE heats reaches 110* F. The rest of the tank is in the mid 70's.

Check out my thread, "New Enclosure Coming Next Week!" for pics of the setup.

I hope this helps.

[FlyedPiper]

Thanks, that is helpful.

I just ran across that bit about turning off the heat at night on the care sheet and wanted to make sure it wasn't completely wrong, as there wouldn't be a way for them to thermo-regulate at night with the tank temp being the same throughout .

Getting an undertank heat pad for just the cooler months seems like a good compromise. It makes sense... they wouldn't have much in the way of a temp gradient at night in the wild- maybe some rocks that were heated up from the sun might give a little belly warmth when the temps drop at night. Also I imagine the temps drop pretty dramatically at night in the northern territories, even in the summer.