Dean, I am glad you shared this as I too, am a firm believe in providing many choices to captive indigos (and captive reptiles for that matter). I am one of those people that likes to document things and take many notes and for the most part, my indigos will spend much of their time in areas/zones that are in the 68-78 degree range but will always come out and spend a few hours each day basking in temperatures that are in the low 90's and they need to have these choices to do all of the things that they do. Also, have a bright light source as a basking source is a win-win with indigos as I feel that they do much better if given an area of their cage that has bright light (I also have large windows in my herp room that receive indirect light which creates a nice ambient and natural photoperiod). In order to create these large thermal gradients, it is important to provide as large a cage as you possibly can; you really can't provide a cage too large.



Rob Carmichael, Curator

The Wildlife Discovery Center

Lake Forest, IL



>>In the wild these animals can thermoreulate as they choose.

>>(weather permitting). They spend a large amount of time deep in burrows at (approx) 65-70 in warm months and 55-65 in winter.

>>

>>But...they come out and sun themselves when they need to.

>>Ever take the surface temp in the sun? It can be 90 on a 50 degree day.

>>

>>I go by the thought process that it's best to similate this and have the low temps mentioned above for the cool side and have basking place during the day allow themselves to heat up to the 90's, if they choose.

>>

>>In a large cage with a heat source like a heat lamp at one end, they have a whole range of temps to choose from.

>>

>>Some snakes like smaller colubrids seem to do ok in captivity at the more or less constant 78-83 that herp keepers provide, but indigos just seem to require self-regulation.
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Rob Carmichael, Curator

The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm

Lake Forest, IL

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