Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so, earlier I was posting about assuming my temps and took to heart the suggestion of knowing my temps not guessing. I went out and got a heatgun. The hottest spot in the tank under the light is right at 105-110.

Current setup/Lizard:
90 gallon avt slider.160watt bulb sitting approximately 15-18 inches above the basking area.
This is the only bulb I have in the tank.
I have a very young yellow nigerian uromastyx.
The area around the basking light is 90-100 and the cold side is around 80
Substrate is wild birdseed and there are peices of grapevine/driftwood that he climbs up and basks on.

I havent been able to temp him with the temp gun, he's very nervous right now and takes off soemtimes if we get too close to the tank.

Also, is this anything to worry about? I mean is the temp ok??

Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

For a very young uro, 110 doesn't sound bad. You can change the heat with your bulb by changing it's angle or distance from the basking area. One very quick and easy thing you can do for your uro is to put a piece of black or dark gray slate on the intended basking area. It lifted basking temp from 113-115 to 121-124. My uro's love it.

My basking temps are usually around 135, but they often go up to as high as 145 at times. I use a retes stack which is really good for uros. With this I can do two things. 1) I can have the hottest spot very hot because it gives so many options for thermoregulating (if she's too hot she moves off to the side or down to the next level). 2) If you have a tall tank, you can add a lot of layers so they can get closer to the light. 18" between the light and the basking spot is really just too much. It makes it way to hard to keep the temps just right and you have to use way larger bulbs than you should need to. I use a single 50 watt halogen bulb for my basking spot. These are way more efficient than reptiles bulbs and they cost less too. You want to look for the bulbs that don't have the clear hexagon section in the center. That creates a really hot spot in the center. In a pinch they could probably be used if you were careful, but I wouldn't recomend it because with halogens you're really looking for a good even heat. They are cheap so for the price of a single reptile bulb (like a repti spot bulb), you could get a few to try out. I have about 6-7" between the top of my basking spot and the face of the bulb. Do your lights sit on top of your tank? If so, I would try to find a way to suspend them inside if possible. If that isn't possible, I would just build a really tall retes stack and put it in the corner. I would make each section lower a little bit wider though so it creates something sort of like stairs to get up to the level they want. For an example of a retes stack go to proexotics.com and there's a part about them in their "FAQ"

I hope I helped a little. It's good to offer your reptiles a wide spectrum of heat, all the way up to basically their peak basking temp. A sign that your basking temps are hot enough is when your uro only needs to bask a couple of hours each day to be able to do what they need to do. In the wild most of their time is spent in burrows, not out basking all day like some do in captivity (out of necessity because of low temps). With babies you can go a little lower on the temps, but I don't see why you would bother unless they really steer clear of the basking site because of its temperature. Also, innadequate temps and dehydration are something that tend to be very common in captive uromastyx (and other captive lizards), and that is usually how they end up with problems like impactions and heavy parasite loads.

Well, Im not sure then here is what I ahve under the light right now.

I saw that he was laying waht looked to me uncomfortably in the corner, so I took a cave my leo wasnt using, washed it, and stuck it in there under the basking area.

Now, the "focus point" of the light isnt on top of that cave, it's actually on a part of the wood he sits on. The wood is usually the spot that has 105-110. He usually comes out eats basks and goes back to his cave.

He really only comes out every couple of hours. I dont know if that's because it's warmer inside the cave(guess I should temp that when I go home on lunch today) But he did similar actions when he didnt have the cave, just he would substitute going under the logs instead. ANyway lemem know what you think.

uros are actually pretty seclusive as far as diurnal basking reptiles are concerned. They need someplace to go to get away from it all. It's usually best to offer a warm hide and a cool hide, and I would also put in a humid hide (which can just be a rubbermaid container filled with moist soil and an access hole cut in), but you know about that all ready.

Is the little guy pooping every day? or at least close to it? They use high temperatures to create enery, which in turn allows them to digest. Low temps are often a primary cause of impaction because of this.

I cant find his poop to be honest. Ive seen one peice on the log and I think 1 near his hide. He doesnt seem to be eating ALOT so to say. He's on the bird seed so as small as his poop is it's difficult to find.

Then I would say you should try to increase the basking temps to around 125-135, up to 145 even, and see how he reacts to those higher temperatures. It will probably take some experimenting to see which temperatures are just right, that's why I always suggest a retes stack (go to proexotics.com and look in the faq, there's a section on them). They allow you an easy way to get the animal closer to the lights (raising the temps), and they give the lizard the ability to find the spot that is just right for him at that moment.

Poor appetite and not pooping much are a big indication that temps are too low (and with the temps you've indicated, they are too low). Reptiles are cold blooded, so they need to use heat and food to make energy (in the most simplist of terms). If they aren't getting enough heat they won't even have the energy necessary to maintain the correct metabolism, so it takes much longer to digest the food they take in. Also, since they aren't getting enough heat to make the energy they need, they aren't going to take in the amount of food they would if they were getting enough heat. Also, I know that they don't technically "make" energy, they utilize the energy from the sun and the food they eat, but they can't survive without easier.

Don't be afraid to get your temps up there. You have a temp gun, right? So with some changes to the basking spot, it should be no problem. Also, halogen bulbs rock (just don't get the ones with the clear hexagon in the center of the face). Like I said before, my uro can get to temps as high as 145. My beardie even has access to basking temps of up to 130 or so. They won't use it all of the time, but they will occasionally, which is enough to make me say it's worth giving them the option.

145 degrees seems a little high. Do you think it may be why you need to introduce additional humidity to your display?

because I figured that most uro species come from an area of desert where the surface temps of even just the ground is up around 125F, with rocks being even higher. This is why it's necessary for them to seek out humidity. So I figured I'd use both of these in captivity since they are used in conjunction with each other in the wild. I have noticed something sort of strange though, since she's recently come down with a bad case of pinworms (I suspect it got bad because a month ago her basking bulb went out and I couldn't get a replacement for a couple days, which seemed to throw her way out of wack and stress her out a bit). With the pinworms I've noticed that she basks mainly off to the side of direct center underneath the bulb. The temperature there is usually around 115F. She does go into the center when she needs to heat up quick, but once she hits the right temp she moves off to the side. But, since she is trying to get over the pinworm infection, she is basking almost all day. I would have assumed that, when sick, a uro would bask more, but in the higher temps, not the low. Either way, she seems to be getting much better.

I would say soil and high temps sort of walk hand in hand though. If you don't have a humidity shelter of some kind, I would say it might be best to stick with temps that are high enough, but not in excess, because it might be easier for them to get dehydrated.

the soil isn't there to add humidity to the entire habitat, just to places that she can go to to sort of cool off (in the bottom section of her retes stack). The surface dries off quickly, creating a desert-like atmosphere.

I am trying to work on this though right now to get it setup better for her, but I don't really want to move anything around because it will stress her out. Right now her cage is very small (48"x13"x13", hence not being able to put enough soil in for a full burrowing setup. I am currently working on new enclosures though, so she will soon have a 4'x2'x2' enclosure which I will line with plastic or plexi. I'll cover the floor and the sides (from the bottom to about 12" up), plus I'll put a 9 or 10" substrate dam in. This will make the viewing area considerably smaller, but that's not so important really. Had I planned on using a thick layer of soil, I would have just built the cage on top of a small cattle trough. This works out pretty well though, because if I ever want to use the cage for something else, I can just pull out the substrate dam.