Reptile & Amphibian Forums

does anyone know if these give off any heat that will raise the tempeture at all?

about 1F. but if u are using a glass top then it will store heat and make it go up more.

hm ok. my tank is at 65 right now so i bought an undertank heat pad and stuck it to the side and it went up to seventy. Should i buy a heater to put under my false bottom or do you think the lighting will provide that extra 5 degrees i need(I plan on having a glass top)?

under tank heaters don't work too well with false bottoms, if there is water on the bottom the heat wouln't transfer through very well. the lighting should make the tank temps go up enough, my house is about 65, i have a lite and a glass top and it's about 85 in there, misting helps cause the water warms up in the tank and adds to the heat.

do you have a heater in your false bottom?

p.s. i was going to stick the UTH on the side of the tank.

nope.

hm.even with the lights on and saran wrap covering the top of the cage my cage is still at 65 max.

sorry, how cold is your house? and are you using a glass top? if your house is above 60F the temp should be way higher. as i said, my house is 65F and the tank is about 80-85 with just a glass top and lite. i just use florescent bulbs cause it's hard to use anything else with a glass top.

my mom makes me keep my animals in the basement so it stays pretty cold. i think im going to go ahead and buy that aqaurium heater tommorow.

hey, me too! but i also have about half in my room. heres teh basement tho.

haha rad. what do you keep in those tanks in the picture?

lets see, on the far left is a baby chinese water dragon, in the middle biggest tank is a male res, under that is a california newt, on the right there is an african pygmy hedgehog and a russian tortoise. and on the bottom a bunny

awsome. im actually nursing a chineese water dragon back to health at the petshop i work at. He came in pretty bad condition, he just sits on the warm end with his eyes closed and mouth open. =/ at first he was gettin better but last time i checked he was back to the eyes closed and mouth open stage.

the eyes closed and mouth open thing might not be bad, you said he was on the warm side, they often gape (like panting) to cool off if basking, and they also close their eyes all the time. mine does that too and he's healthy. just make sure he's eating, should be eating at least 5 a day and dust them about 5 times a day. also make sure you keep him moist, a lot of them come in dehydrated and as a result they have shedding problems getting the skin off. it can become stuck and eventually cut off their circulation. this is one of the most common problrms and it usually occurs on their toes or the end of their tail. good luck and feel free to ask more questions!

yea but yours looks very healthy. The one we have at the pet shop is very drab in color and is very sluggish. He also refuses to eat.

Thats too bad, are you keeping him moist? that seems to be the key. mine is brown in the morning, i mist him pretty heavily and within two minutes he is a nice green color and very active. this also helps to "wake them up", if i don't do this he seems more sluggish throughout the day. make sure that the dragon can catch the food you at putting in there, sometimes they have trouble with that, hand feeding works well until they can catch it on their own. trying different foods works too, it might be used to eating something else than you were feeding it. would the store pay for you to take it to the vets? it is worth a try at least. good luck!