Reptile & Amphibian Forums

yea, so my tank's ambient temps on the cool side have been getting up to about 90, i now have them down to 81, but yea, i'm just wondering what ppl use to keep the temp down, i mean, besides diff watt bulbs, i hafta keep my door closed, cuz we got a puppy and he just comes in my messy room and steals stuff, lol, so tyea, it gets mad hot in herre, and i'm just wondering what i can do...gah, my infrared temp gun should be coming in tomorrow, i can't wait, lol
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my animals
1.0.1 leopard gecko (goliath, gebco)
0.1 hypo red bearded dragon (puff the magic dragon)
0.0.1 schnieder's skink (ghandi)
0.1 white's dumpy treefrog (un-named)
1.0 house gecko (geico)
0.0.1 red eared slider (carl)
0.0.1 fire belly toad (escaped..)
1.0 lop eared wabbit (oreo)
1.1.too many to count, brown recluse (i think)
the rest of the animals in the hizouse
1.0 westie puppy (gabriel)
1.0 plain ol' outdoor alley cat (joey)
0.1 indoor rag doll kitty (tinkerbell)
2.0 goulian finchs

We have been having heat problems here in Texas as well. We have installed a second window unit air conditioner (you can get a little one (5000BTU) for $70. We also bought the special heat film that goes over windows. It is supposed to reduce the heat that gets through by 70%. It is very expensive though. Even with all that we haven't been able to get the temps right on the cool side. So, we have started taking mid-day naps. We wake up at 6AM and then lights out Noon. Then we wake up again at 5PM -12AM. I was worried the strange schedule would upset the dragons, but nobody seems affected at all. The hatchlings are all eating crickets and silkworms as fast as I can dust them, and get one feeding in the AM and two at night. It seems that as long as they have the routine they are happy.

I am intrested in feedback on this. I have never had to do this before (who would think that two air conditioners would not keep up with the eat). Anybody have any possible problems to watch for? They lizards are all more active now that I can get the room temp to stay at 75 degrees all the time. They are all eating more, I can't see the any problems.

Our other option is a THIRD air conditioner! We are running out of windows.

I would put them on a night schedule. I would turn lights on at 6pm and shut off at 6am. I would cover the enclosures with a dark sheet or towel during daylight hours so as not to disturb their sleep with light comming in through windows. We use heavy insulated drapes year round, in the summer they keep out excess heat and in the winter they keep out the cold. They do an excellent job of making the house very dim and creepy but it keeps the electric bill down and they aren't that horribly expensive. You can also get to the window very easily if you want to open it to air the house out.

This schedule may not work for you, especially if you cannot do feedings at the required hours, but we have learned to do without sleep so it works for us (LOL). If you have them on a timer you might want to turn the lights on and off manually as oversleeping and not getting the sheets off in time is a very bad thing.

You can try the heavy insulated drapes on whatever schedule you have them on now and see if it helps. You can try the night schedule if that fails. We have central air so the temps in our home are very stable year round. I keep my birds on a night schedule because my electric bills are astronomical and I am never up at a normal hour anyway. It just works for me and they don't care in the least as long as I am consistent with day to night hours.