Ambient / Cool side Temp

Okay, to make a long story short, I’ve been battling getting my ambient temps up. We keep our house at 74. She is in a 10 gal tank with aluminum foil covered cardboard over 3/4 of the lid. I have a reptile basics heating pad with a jumpstart thermostat on the hot side keeping it 88-89*F. However, it does basically nothing for the ambient temp.

Syd seemed to be using both sides of the cage equally despite the slightly cooler than ideal temp, however, I was still paranoid it would cause issues so I went and got a low wattage CHE and dimmer to bump up the ambient to 79*F. As soon as I did that she stopped using the cool side. She would go over and check it out but then go back to her warm hide. I saw her do this several times over the course of the past 2 days.... so then I decided to just cut the CHE off, and next thing I know she’s over in the cool hide. WTF lol.

It’s stressing me out trying to get it right. Should I keep messing with the CHE and see if she eventually gets used to it? Or should I just leave the ambient like it was?

On October 14 I’m picking up a fully set up PVC cage with a RHP so hopefully the ambient won’t be an issue in that cage and once I get the temps stabilized I can switch her over.... so this cage setup isn’t permanent or anything.


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I think you’ll find a lot of people use ambient room heat for keeping their collection warm. Think about it, it’s what most breeders do. I think you’re much safer staying on the cool side vs. running the risk of overheating. I use infrared bulbs and make sure the house is always around 74 to 76 depending on the time of the year. And I set my “hot” side to about 87 to 89. I don’t like to let it get much hotter. I’ve posted about two of my boys being around 1600 grams, they do better when younger being a little cool. But that’s just my opinion. Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

I think you’ll find a lot of people use ambient room heat for keeping their collection warm. Think about it, it’s what most breeders do. I think you’re much safer staying on the cool side vs. running the risk of overheating. I use infrared bulbs and make sure the house is always around 74 to 76 depending on the time of the year. And I set my “hot” side to about 87 to 89. I don’t like to let it get much hotter. I’ve posted about two of my boys being around 1600 grams, they do better when younger being a little cool. But that’s just my opinion. Hope this helps.

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Thanks. She’s been doing fine (eating pooping using all of the cage etc) with the cool side at 74-75* but I know that’s lower than what most caresheets etc say it should be so I’m just paranoid lol.


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Originally Posted by alittleFREE

Thanks. She’s been doing fine (eating pooping using all of the cage etc) with the cool side at 74-75* but I know that’s lower than what most caresheets etc say it should be so I’m just paranoid lol.


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Temps like that won't cause any harm in the short term. Extended temps like that will lead to refusing food, poor digestion, regurges, RI, etc...