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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 13:08:05 GMT -8
Hey guys I have been letting Danzig out into the sun for the last few weeks and have made an interesting observation. Maybe you guys can help shed some "light" on the fact. His normal indoor cage temp stays on the high side of 96F for basking. He will normally chill out on his branches for long periods of time. Then leave to go eat or do whatever he wants and come back. As for the outside enclosure I have; there is a 1-2hour window I have on a normal sunny day to let him out there. The reason being the sun hits the cage about noon and the cage warms and stays about 95F. after the hour or so is up we get the full force of the sun and the thermo starts reading over 100 the most being 125 i think. So I have to monitor his temp very closely outside. The humidity is easy to keep at about 50% I have kinda strayed to give you guys a mental image on the scenario... Here's my real question. Like earlier stated Danzig will bask for long periods of time inside. I haven't timed, but long enough for me to lose interest and forget i'm trying to time him Outside it seems like he will chill for a few minutes in the sun and then make his way into a shady spot I have provided for him. This all happening with the thermo/hydro reading 95F/50% Today I tried letting him take a bath and then go outside for some sun. To my suprise he basked for a lengthy amount of time before retreating to the shade cover. So to close i guess if the thermometer is reading the same, shouldn't his body temperature be the same? Or is there another variable here I am missing ? I just feel that if I understand this better I will safeguard from hurting him with overexposure.
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Post by prism_wolf on Jul 11, 2007 14:30:08 GMT -8
Is the thermometer always in the dead sun when you do this test?
Indoors the basking area is heated by a small heat source that generates a small focal point of heat that aims in the direction of Danzig. The microclimate is so small that he needs to stay in the same temperature zone longer to achieve the same temperatures that the sun provides in it's much grander scale. Iguanas use their entire body for basking. In the basking area, the largest part of the body being heated is the upper torso. There is still 2/3 of the length of his body that is not getting heated...his tail. The blood from the tail is cooled before it has come full circulation. The tail comes into play as a serious heat absorber. In the sun his entire body is being used to thermoregulate so all the blood in Danzig's body is heated to optimal core temperatures much faster than in the small area he's provided in his home.
Not bad for someone who went to bed at midnight, huh?
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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 16:46:40 GMT -8
not bad at all but lights out early tonight I have two thermometers in the cage on opposite ends. One is always in the shade. I am wanting to get digital thermometers though because I am not digging the "dial" kind that I have right now. That really makes sense about the tail. I mean that thing is thick. Back to the thermometer undercover though, it does not seem to be reading any lower than the one in the sun so's I am just watching him until he jams for the shade and we go back inside. Do you think I could be getting a misreading? OH! I had a light bulb came on..maybe the reptarium glass is heating up and giving a mis read. Because as far as I know shade is cooler than direct sunlight right?
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Post by IguanaKing on Jul 11, 2007 16:50:16 GMT -8
The variable you are missing is the IR radiation from the sun. When Danzig is inside he is exposed to a miniscule fraction of how the sun interacts with the environment, depending on the type of lighting/heating you are using. As you know, our air is not directly heated by the sun, it is heated indirectly by what comes off of the ground beneath us. The sun heats the Earth, and the Earth heats the air. Danzig's body is tuned to absorb this heating energy directly from the sun, so his body temperature can easily go well past the air temperature. Have you ever set a wrench on the ground outside on a sunny day and came back an hour later to pick it up and it burned your hand? Certainly, something that's 100 degrees would do that, right? Well, its the same with an iguana. That IR radiation works in mysterious ways. Its the type of heating I use indoors for my igs, so I had to use a no-contact temp gun to get their body temperature so I could get everything set up properly.
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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 17:03:45 GMT -8
Ok so I think that i'm grasping the concept. Which explains the temp under the shade being the same as in the sun right?on the thermometers that is. If I am going in the right direction when he goes for the shade he is actually overheating and the shade wil alow him to come back down to 95F as stated earlier?
I'm not a big science guy but i'm trying..
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Post by IguanaKing on Jul 11, 2007 17:12:12 GMT -8
Yup, the shade will allow him to cool off. That is EXACTLY why the two thermometers are reading the same, yet you are seeing this behavior from Danzig, the thermometers are just reading the air temperature. ;D Danzig knows. Have you noticed his color change too?
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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 17:13:05 GMT -8
oh yeah I have seen the temp guns in electrician stores but you pay for them..Is there a home depot special or something i can get that will work? I want to get one
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Post by IguanaKing on Jul 11, 2007 17:14:43 GMT -8
It was so long ago that I bought mine, that I don't remember where I got it. I'll try to find a link for you.
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Post by IguanaKing on Jul 11, 2007 17:18:45 GMT -8
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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 17:19:26 GMT -8
its ok i can look . The color is looking good and green since it used to be kind of yellowish. But as for while he is inside or outside I don't notice anything significant other than what the light outside gives him a bit of a different tint. Did you mean the yellow?
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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 17:21:19 GMT -8
oh that's a cool gun and alot cheaper than the ones I have seen
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Post by prism_wolf on Jul 11, 2007 17:21:53 GMT -8
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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 17:26:48 GMT -8
Thank you all I feel much better about the subject now..theres a cool pic of steve irwin with a monitor on one of the links(very cool). Class Dismissed!
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Post by IguanaKing on Jul 11, 2007 18:58:55 GMT -8
Oh...about the color change. Once you do this for a while, you'll start to pick up on the subtle color changes in Danzig. Depending on what his body temperature is, you'll notice a slight darkening to his upper surfaces as soon as you get him outside. The change is almost instantaneous, and he does that so he can more-easily absorb more IR energy. Once he absorbs enough, you'll notice his color brighten, and that's usually about the time he starts getting restless again, looking for shade. The brightening is to slow the heating process.
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Post by Brandon on Jul 11, 2007 21:28:12 GMT -8
oh. thats way cool. I'm going to be on the look out for that.
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