Well, sad to say, but I think I have figured out why my uros got respiratory infections (pneumonia) ... their enclosure was way too cold. I had a radio shack indoor/outdoor thermometer in their cage and I used a Temp Gun to keep an eye on the surface temp of their basking spot. Even though the surface temp got up to 120, I am just now finding out that the air temp has only been around 100 degrees!!! The thermometer from Radio Shack doesn't work properly. It was telling me that the ambient temp of their basking spot was about 120 degrees. It has been inaccurate all along! It's in the trash now! I got another thermometer from Walmart and it read 100 degrees (air temp) last night at their basking spot.
I am correcting the ambient temperatures, but my question is... how hot can the surface temp get for Saharan's? It's going to be much hotter than 120 on the surface now that I'm raising the air temps. I just don't want them to get burned.
Also, I have a tall 55 gallon aquarium (no top) and their basking lights (160 watt Powersun and a 120 watt flood) are about 18 inches from their basking spot. I'll have to figure out a way to get the lights closer to them somehow. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks for any advice.
Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons
