OPTIMAL ENVIERNEMENT



What is optimal for reptiles? Many keepers say theirs no such thing as optimum temps and humidity, well I say yes there is an optimum temperature gradient and also a humidity gradient, I know this because Iv learned it from years of keeping reptiles, they have shown me what they need, not the books not the breeders.



Reptiles in nature have different behaviours at different stages of there life’s, these behaviours are dictated by predation, temperatures, humidity.



Every reptile start life the same way, A safe and steady environment that will allow them to develop, then birth (viviparous) or hatch (ovoviviparous)! now they will seek an environment quit similar to there pre-born stage, as these temps and humidity allows them to preserve energy and moisture, as the days go by they have more endurance and can venture farther and longer outside these life sustaining temps and humidity, going out to feed and bask, then proceed to other life events like breeding, but they always come back to the very fundamentals to lay there new descendants.



So what is OPTIMAL?



Would you say a Saharan uromastyx basking in 140f in the desert, needs a 140f dry habitat?

This same Saharan uromastyx was incubated at 88-90f with 75%-92% humidity and spent his first years not far from his nest chamber for safety only coming out to feed and bask.



This is the story herpetoculture is telling us, every species we have bred where incubated in a relatively similar way with temperatures ranging 84-92f and humidity’s 60-98% yet we keep on giving them cages that simply don’t fit there basic needs.



Just my 2 cents



Rgds

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