I was just wondering about basking temps, after seeing steve irwin (crocodile hunter) on animal planet a few days ago, he was looking for and found sand goanna's in this desert he was in (i forget what part of australia) and he mentioned that the temp that day (which was early afternoon was 41 C and i converted the temp to F on some web site and it turned out to be about 105 F
Which made me wonder why most people say the basking temp for ackie's should be at least 130 F some say up to 150 F.
I just recently bought a hatchling yellow ackie one month old, and currently its basking spot is 122 F do i really need to get it up to 130???
I had to take the lid off its cage ( a 55 gallon tank) and lower the lights, and raise the height of its basking surface just to get the temp at 122 F.
And if anyone could tell me what part of australia yellow ackie's are found (just like to a little of its natural history)
Thanks all!
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Basking temps (just curious)
Replies (3)
I guarantee you the ambient temp is closer to 98F, and I am lazy and didn't go beyond my back porch to find it.
Go out to somewhere where the temp is 105F ambient, take off your shoes and socks, walk on the rocks/sand where a monitor might bask, is it 105F? Feel the heat when you are out in the direct sunlight, is that 105F?
Truth is it is very easy to see surface temps exceeding 130F on a comparably mild day (80F). I have never heard anyone suggest ambients that high, just hot spots.
The reason you have to play so many games to get the temps that high, is because you are using a light bulb to simulate a star(sun). Some sort of flood lamp typically works fairly well.
--Robert
Hi: Thanks you really put it in perspective.
First of all the temps of 130 F to 150 F i was referring to were basking spot temps or as you say hot spots.
I also recently purchased a temp gun, and frankly don't know how else i would accuratly get these temps right.
I always thought these basking (or hot spots) temps people refered to were ambient (or air temps) temperatures, not surface temps, but now that i think of it if the ambient temp was 130 F i don't think i would want to imagine what the surface temp would be(hot hot hot).
Thanks again.
My Red Ackie has a basking spot of 149-167 f, depends on the time of day. My timors use 150, my albigs seem to like 130.
