Down the thread someone posted about proper basic setups being a better topic.
Collareds use temps far beyond what is normally reccomended. From what I have read there are care sheets, web sites,post ect...that seem to call for around 100 degrees. The MOST i have seen reccomended is 115. 115 will likely allow the to appear functioning normally but you still have a lizard who IS NOT getting a full range of temps. Remember success is not just keeping an animal alive....that is torture. Success is raising them up ,having them produce many clutches,there babies produce and so forth...and the better quality of life we can give them while doing THEIR THING is our responsibility. This includes providing them with the right "fuel"(heat energy). The right fuel is to allow them the CHOICE to decide what temp they need. And they need higher than what many "experts" reccomend.
If they use it then they need it...the lizard KNOWS what it wants...they are wired to do that...its how they are programmed to SURVIVE...to think that we as humans can tell or dictate to them what they need is arrogant. My collareds use temps in excess of 120 throughout the day...often times spending where it is up near 150...then they may only move over a short ways into a crevice that is still hot but shaded. This makes sense to those of us that see collareds in the wild. At first they come out bask...get up to the temp THEY CHOOSE then duck into the shadows as BASKING IS DANGEROUS. But they are still there using high temps just not where we AND PREDATORS can see them. IT SHOULD ALSO BE CLEAR THAT IF THEY CHOOSE TO GET COOL YOU MUST PROVIDE THAT RANGE ALSO(COOL END). Also this is not a cookie cutter deal...as keepers gain expirience they will make appropriate changes.
