Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay I been messing with that digital thermometer thing the last few days and cannot get a reading that's consistant...If I hang the sensor 1/2" above the basking rocks I get a temp of 98-100 degrees...If I tape it actually down to the basking rocks I get a gradient of 106-111 degrees! So which is it? I am sorry I keep asking about this but it's kinda confusing but not enough people replied to my last message about this to make any concrete decisions!...Let me know what you think!..THANKS!

keith

Use the temp on the rock! You want a surface temp of around 110.

>>Okay I been messing with that digital thermometer thing the last few days and cannot get a reading that's consistant...If I hang the sensor 1/2" above the basking rocks I get a temp of 98-100 degrees...If I tape it actually down to the basking rocks I get a gradient of 106-111 degrees! So which is it? I am sorry I keep asking about this but it's kinda confusing but not enough people replied to my last message about this to make any concrete decisions!...Let me know what you think!..THANKS!
>>
>>keith
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Taking temps like that, they will vary due to the fact it’s an air temp not a surface temp. That is also why suggested temps are given as a range. These days you can get a relatively inexpensive temp gun (yes it's a necessity). Try pro exotics.
Link

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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

Ok I will throw my two cents in here. Being a Mechanical Engineer that loves heat transfer makes me think I understand this pretty well. Ok Temp guns definately do Read surface temperature. No questions asked. It doesn't measure air temperature. Thermometers tend to measure an air temperature. Now how heat lights work. They emit light, probably some infrared, and probably some UV (mostly a some b). This light isn't absorbed by the air all that much, some is the rest isn't. This light hits a surface. The surface reflects some light away, and some of the light is absorbed. Absorbed light = heat. This heat causes the temperature of the substance absorbing light to rise. The darker the color the more light it absorbs usually. The air doesn't heat up that much because it doesn't absorb the light, it gains its heat from surronding surfaces that absorb heat via radiation. Air is actually one of the better above a surface 110F the surface itself will probablyinsulators. If you use your light to make the air temperature 3" be about 200F. Think of it like this. Air 3" above pavement is 110F, would you want to stand on that pavement? I wouldn't because it would probably give me a pretty good burn. So your dragon wants to warm up, it climbs up onto its basking site. The air around the basking site is not warming your dragon up, the light is. The light is absorbed by the dragons skin and is converted into heat, which leads to the dragons body temperature going up. If the air is 120F the dragon will be absorbing heat from the 120F air and from the light. Not a good thing, cooked dragons, also the dragon would pobably be burned by the surface near the 110F air. For this reason I use a surface temp of 110F. That means the dragon will be able to absorb enough light that it will be able to raise its body temperature to 110F if it so desires. If the air temp is 110F 3" away the dragon will be able to overheat alot. Also dragons I believe can control blood flow to the skin surface, blood absorbs almost all light, allowing the dragon to easily warm its blood when desired by increasing blood flow to the skin's surface. For the reason that heat lights cause heating by absorption of radiation black faced thermometers will overread what the temperature you dragon will be able to maitain as it absorbs more light (because it is black) than your dragon does. I believe the IR temp guns are accurate to within /- 2F or /-2% which at the temps we use is basically the same. Hope this little rant helps. A side note if your dragon becomes too hot, because it can't escape high temps or heats up to too high a temp too quickly, its bodies proteins and enzymes will not function properly. These proteins and enzymes also will not be manufactured properly. Both of these things can lead to health issues and/or death. This is why if you have a fever that goes over 104F (i think that is the number) you better get to the ER because at 108 (again a guess) you are pretty much going to die for the above reason. Too hot for a dragon is just as bad as too cold.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

very well put....
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This space reserved for future use...

causing kidney problems to them and strokes. A while back I search over the web and books to see what the pros said when I started seeing people advising others of 110-120F temps, but not explaining that it is SURFACE temps, not ambient air temps, there is a world of difference and to the health of your animal. One can and will be fatal, if not right then, eventually in organ damage.

Only two places mentioned this in much detail, one was the only one that mention ambient temps:

Ronnie Buck AB Herps: The basking temperature should be set between 95 and 105° at the basking location while allowing the rest of the cage to cool to room temperature (or as close as possible). This allows your dragon to control and regulate his body temperature simply by moving in his cage. Never allow the ambient air temperatures inside the cage to exceed 110° or you risk over heating and possibly killing the dragon.

The other related to dragons in their native habitat and explained that they rarely are seen out when air temps are over 100

Raymond Hoser: when searching for reptiles in South Australia on two days when the temperature was about 40 degrees Celsius (104F) no bearded dragons were seen. On the following cooler day, when the temperature was in the low 20's (68F-74F), a Bearded Dragon (P. vitticeps) was seen active and crossing a road, near Port Augusta. Bradshaw and Main (1968) published results of a study of thermoregulatory behavior in Pogona species.

We all need to use more caution in advising others what temps to use to heat their dragons and explain in more detail