"It is very odd to me that your T likes the hot spot. It really goes against their nature. Their instinct is to burrow to escape the heat. Their temperature inside the burrow is usually around 70-80 in the wild. They rarely come out during the day and some will web over their burrow during the day to try to keep the heat out. You've got an oddball there Roger."

I know I'm the only one thinking about this (don't worry, I'm not a forum-disturber), but when I discover that an individual freely utilizes warmer habitat zones in whatever method or pattern, it seems logical to allow it.

Maybe they utilize high temps momentarily, or periodically, when they are available. Wild ones could thermoregulate by entering and leaving their burrows, webbing the burrow shut during the scorching hours.

My White-Kneed just built a burrow in the only corner of the tank that stays reliably over 75F. I wonder what temperature she will be the most happy with. I can figure that out by providing a large enough floor space to get a heat gradient of obviously too hot right at the left end (90F), with the right side set to 70F. Then I could observe where she spends her time. If that is reptile technique, that's OK, various species of T's might function better at specific temps and humidities. We're having a warm spell now, and I don't cool the house, so the tank temp is 81F. I assume she is OK. I can't afford to keep my house cool, so she can't burrow down to a cooler strata.

This is all very interesting to me, and I enjoy seeing what you guys write. I think my T's are absolutely beautiful and fascinating.

Roger

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]