No the reason they were is because all this other stuff wasn't available.Originally Posted by tcutting
Getting back to heat rocks, the biggest issues are that (1) they are used without temperature regulation and (2) they - and other sources of belly heat - often confuse animals that need higher ambient temps and/or bask to regulate body heat.
In other words, an animal adapted to using radiant heat from the sun and being bathed in heat is not physiologically adapted to receiving thermoregulation from a single small source on it's belly and rapidly losing it to the cooler ambient air above it.
We've had this discussion before. A hot spot is for replicating in captivity a method for the animal to raise it's body temperature to it's desired core level. The ambient is roughly the core temperature of the captive animal and the cool end gives the animal an area to lower it's core temp if it gets too hot.
People who keep a coachwhip, for example, on belly heat with an ambient that is too low will subject their snake to a couple of things that could cause it to become stressed and injured.
First, coachwhips bask at extremely high temperatures and are heliotherms. You can find them basking out in the open on rocks where the temps are well over 100 degrees. If you put it on a small UTH set at 100 degrees it runs the chance of burning itself.
What? How can that be?
Well beacuse that poor animal is going to have a heck of a time ever reaching it's target temperature. You are forcing it to receive heat in a way it was not biologically designed (belly heat/convection) when it is programmed to be bathed for a relatively short period of time from above in intense radiant heat. It is now being forced to stay in contact for an unnatural amount of time on it's ventral surface in an effort to maintain it's core temp. In other words it's basking too long on a part of it's body that was not meant to be in contact for a lengthy amount of time to a hot surface.
How do I know? I used to breed coachwhips. While I gave out husbandry sheets to new buyers, people used to try to keep them too cold and heat them from below like they would a ball-python. I saw a lot of these animals getting thermal burns/irritation from relatively low belly heat temps because they were forced to sit for unnaturally long time periods on UTHs.
In a similar manner a bearded dragon (which is a heliotherm and thermoregulates by immersing it's body both from overhead heat from the sun and by convection from heated surfaces) will stay in contact for an unnatural amount of time with only a belly heat source. It's taking in heat from convection on it's belly and losing heat to the ambient air above it. It's forced to take heat from a relatively small source in a way that's thermally inefficient and confusing. Hence it stays in contact with the belly heat too long because it can never satisfy it's biological heating needs. Dragons are not as efficient at feeling localized temps but rather take their input from both dorsal and ventral sources.
Hot rocks are a crappy way of heating any reptile. But I still maintain that for every one real hot rock horror story, I can produce many more heat lamp and belly heat accidents.
Reply With Quote