Reptile & Amphibian Forums

You can see the tracks in front of the third pic, where the gila was basking at 116F

Of course it ran off, hahahahahahahaha This was in the early mourning, you can tell by the shadows and in early winter. Normally the surface and ground temps are much much hotter.

Snakes, which is the subject of this forum will not use that high of temps, once the ground or surface temps exceed 100F, they normally cease to use them and elevate their temps from below the surface. Enjoy

Thanks Frank, those pics make a lot of sense.

Do you remember what the air temp was when you recorded those surface temps?
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

Yes, in the fifties. Once the air temps are over 75F snakes will not come out. Of course gilas are lizards(have legs) and will work slightly hotter temps, but not that much hotter. The hotter it gets, the less you see them. Cheers

...I remember the first time I took a temp gun out in the field - I thought the damn thing was broken! How could the ground temp read 140 degrees in one spot and 72 in another four feet away!?!!? Pretty amazing, the abundance of natural temp gradients in any given habitat.
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Diego

SWCHR

The day I took my temp gun into the field for the first time changed the way I kept snakes forever. Period.

Nice pics.

I have always wanted to go into the field with a flexible temperature probe to measure exact temps underground and in cracks. Because the problem with pointing a gun deep into a crack is that it is averaging the warmer temps up front with the cooler deeper readings.

I have messed around with this a little bit in new england but the soil their is soaked and I feel like the ground might have different thermal properties than in the desert. I wonder how far back into a crevice you have to go to reach a completely stable year round temp.

I feel infrared temp guns are a WAY better way to understand reptile temps. As they measure the surface of a material. Which is much closer to how reptiles work.

Mecurey thermeters measure air temps and air temps are not a accurate way to understand reptiles, in nature or in captivity.

The first day I took one in the field, I went totally crazy. My field partner did not like the heat gun and kept checking my temps. I could take a hundred temps for everyone he took, hahahahahahaha Sadly, thermeters are good for internal body temps.

Here its odd, in spring the temps are hot on the surface, then get cooler down to about two feet, then get hotter again. That is on south or west facing slopes. In the fall, early winter, the surface temps may be cooler then the mass temps as the mass temps have been heated all summer. Yes, there are lots of different conditions at different times of the year and local. Yet air temps are similar. Cheers