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Temperatures for Rhacos

 
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Scott W
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Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 13355
Location: London, England.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:57 am    Post subject: Temperatures for Rhacos Reply with quote

After the 'air con' incident with temps going up to 105f for 6 hours, I was wondering what people have actually found the BEST temps to be for their geckos?

I have a room temperature of 80f day and night during the spring & summer, then a room temp of 76f Day and down to 60f at night. These are actual air temps.

Under every rhaco cage I have a heat strip (6" heat pad) running along the floor at the back. During the day the geckos are hiding in the egg carton but at night they can often be seen basking on these pads, with surface temps up to 90f.

Air temps over 84f seem to affect my geckos in that they are not so active and not so much food is eaten, but the lower temps don't seem to make any difference.

Anyone else any comments or experiances?
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mark_w
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Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 440
Location: Buxton, Derbyshire

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Scott

My cresteds are really active at the moment, with night time air temps down to the low 60's.

Mark.
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Jackie
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Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 1382
Location: North East England

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I keep mine at room temperature which is around the same as yours (78oF - 80oF) during the spring/summer months. However, during the winter months the temperature only drops to around 75oF (day) and 70oF (night). I don't have any added heat on them. This is mainly due to the fact all my Rhacs are in my room and it's quite warm. During the summer when we had those extraordinary hot couple of days, I too found they didn't eat. They seemed to be mopey almost (if you understand what I mean - not happy at all..lol).

I have also noticed that during the winter months they don't eat as readily (the adults that is). For example, my chahoua will only eat a fraction of the babyfood he will eat in the summer and only half the number of crickets.

The downside to my Rhacs being kept slightly warmer during the winter months is that the females will keep on laying eggs - my cresteds in particular. I have found the only way to stop them laying is to only let the male in with them once a year (for a couple of days).
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3:4 Eublepharis macularius
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Kat
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Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 173
Location: london

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ok, not to do with temperatures, but i'm having trouble keeping my humidity levels above the base level that they need to be. I am currently spraying them up to three times a day, and can't do any more because i am at university all day. I keep half the mesh top covered to try to keep humidity up, but i had to take the moisture retaining dirt out of the bottom of the cage because they kept getting mouthfuls of the stuff, so only have a bit of moss in there to hold moisture. Any ideas what i can do to improve the situation?

thanks
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Jackie
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Joined: 22 Jul 2004
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Location: North East England

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is there a water bowl in the viv? I use a large shallow bowl with my Cresteds. I have found that the humidity doesn't need to be up all the time. It's best to spray and let the substrate, furnishings etc. dry out during the day. I haven't worded that very well but basically, spray heavily on a night (and lightly on a morning if it's required) and let it naturally dry out.

Hope this helps Very Happy
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3:4 Eublepharis macularius
1:0 Gekko gecko
3:4:1 R. auriculatus
1:3 R. ciliatus
1:1 R. chahoua
1:1 R. leachianus henkeli
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Scott W
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Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 13355
Location: London, England.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

With regards to humidity, I NEVER spray my rhacos now. I used to spray them every night but that was when I never used water bowls.

To create extra humidity for babies and youngsters, I soak a stack of egg carton (4 pieces), this they slowly drys. The following day I soak it again.

Once the geckos reach 6cms svl, I don't add any extra water other than water bowls.

If you need to create extra humidity for shedding extra, try putting a high humidity hide in the cage (plastic tub with damp peat in with a hole in the top of the tub, just make sure he can climb out).
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Jackie
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Joined: 22 Jul 2004
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Location: North East England

PostPosted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's interesting Scott....I think I'll try that with my male. I have seen him using his water bowl so may be it will be enough for him. My females on the other hand only appear to drink from the leaves (they may well drink out of the water bowl but I haven't seen them - doesn't mean they don't I know). I do provide water bowls for all my Rhacs as well as nightly spraying (everything gets a misting - it's not soaking...lol) so it's definitely something to look into.
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3:4 Eublepharis macularius
1:0 Gekko gecko
3:4:1 R. auriculatus
1:3 R. ciliatus
1:1 R. chahoua
1:1 R. leachianus henkeli
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Scott W
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Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 13355
Location: London, England.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

To be honest Jackie, I was supprised to hear from a couple of very sucessful rhaco breeders and NEITHER spray there animals EVER. One has a fully control environment and said the ambient humidity was correct without spraying.

I stopped using water bowls after a few months of keeping cresteds, too many drwoned crickets making the water foul over night. I then went to spraying every night for water, the geckos never enjoyed it, but would drink the drops after I stopped. I then found some polystrene deli cups that were cheap enough to use once, PLUS the crickets could climb out too, so I changed back to water bowls only. That has been the situation now for 6 months.

The only time I sprayed them during that time was to bring the temp down after nearly cooking them with the air con Embarassed .
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