Temperature Guns And Humidity

I have always used thermometers to keep track of habitat temperatures. In Alice’s habitat I have two digital thermometers. One one the warm end and one on the cool end. I used those in combination with her use of the habitat to gauge the temperatures she preferred. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of monitoring her living quarters. I had been reading that many keepers consider an IR temp gun to be their most important tool in reptile husbandry. About a couple of months ago I decided to get one and found one I liked on ebay.

What an eye opener. In Alice’s habitat, I had a heat mat on the warm end that stayed on all the time. In addition to the heat mat I have a thermostatically controlled ceramic heat emitter that is on a timer with her light. The heat mat was designed so that it could be used as a substrate heater and I had it covered with aspen shavings and did frequent checks by hand to make sure the surface temperature of the substrate over it felt slightly warm to the touch. I always made sure I kept the depth of the substrate over it within the manufacturer of the heat mats recommendations. On occasion I would find a part of the heat mat uncovered and would spread the aspen shavings back over it. When I received the heat gun I started to check out the habitat to make sure that everything was within range and it all looked good. Not long after that, I was cleaning out her habitat during a feeding. I had cleared the shavings off the heat mat and let the temperature normalize. I checked the surface of the heat mat and found out it was 130 degrees Fahrenheit. I could either add a rheostat to the heat mat to control the temp or stop using it. Since it is summertime, I decided to do away with the heat mat for now. If I decide to use it again in the cooler months, it will be with a rheostat to control the surface temperature.

Alice likes the change and uses her hide on the warm end more frequently. I will also be adding a humidity gauge to make sure that the humidity levels are proper in her habitat. I have a feeling it may be a little low as the a couple of her more recent sheds did not come off in one piece. Her health is good otherwise and since I have witnessed her soaking a few times in recent months, I think she might be telling me something. We will see what the humidity gauge reveals.