Ridge tail basking surface temperature

[BambiniMartini]

I've just purchased 2 baby ridgies and I wanted some clarification on "how hot is too hot" for their basking spot so to speak. When I put a temperature gauge right under it it's around 70 degrees c, but I'm concerned about the slate platform that I've placed under the basking globe taking in too much heat because it hurts my hand, not to the point of burning but definitely hurts to touch after a few seconds.

Can my babies withstand this amount of heat or should I improvise and change their basking spot around a bit? Thanks

 

[Tobe404]

Don't quote me on this but from what I remember doing some research on them.

Anywhere from 65c-80c is fine for the basking surface temperature.

I'd try and make a tile or slate stack, so they have a range on temperatures to regulate themselves at.

Cool end 24c-28c. Warm end 29c-38c.

Ackies seem to be a Monitor species that love it HOT.

What are the overall enclosure temperatures currently?

Are they actually basking? How long have you had them? Are they active and eating?

Cheers.

 

[dragonlover1]

I don't have ackies but I do have western storrs (V.ocreatus) and gillens (V.gilleni) inside and 65-70 is supposed to be the favoured temps. Mine are closer to 60 .The rock stack gives them alternate basking spots. I made mine out of plywood coated in tile pointing so it replicates rock stacks. Don't forget to add separate hides at both ends . If you think it's too hot move the stack away from the heat lamp a little bit and see how you go. A lot of this is trial and error till you get it right

 

[Sdaji]

If it's not hot enough to burn your hand it's not hot enough to be ideal for the lizards.

At some stage we've all been outside on a hot, sunny day and burned our feet on the ground. Your feet are much tougher than your hands. The ground/rocks in the sun in arid areas where Ackies lives routinely get up to around 80 degrees (hotter than you've likely burned your feet on). They don't need it that hot, but it's perfectly safe for them and they will actively use basking temperatures that high. I would shoot for around 70 degrees and wouldn't want to give deprive them of 65+. You might get away with 50 or so, but hey, just stick the rock a bit closer to the spotlight and make it hotter.

These temperatures are lethal for most snakes and even most other lizards etc (one of countless examples of 'they get it naturally so it can't hurt to give it to them in captivity and it might help' being a stupid, harmful myth), but monitors run around on hot rocks etc. I've burned my hands on the skin of small monitors (not badly or anything, but enough that you'd say 'ouch! That's hot enough to hurt!') which were choosing to bask at those temperatures and could have sat anywhere between there and the cool end in the 20s that they wanted, but they often chose the hottest available spot.

 

[BambiniMartini]

Thank you for your replies. I've done a slate stack with spots for them to squeeze into and they seem to enjoy sitting in between the squeezy spots currently. They're active and eating but they're very shy and only come out sparingly to hunt rather than to bask. As for their overall temps they range from 35°-40°, cool side ranging from around the 20° mark roughly.

A bit off topic but now I'm a little worried because I caught one of them just now chasing and biting its siblings tail and jumping on its back. Is this risky behaviour? If I need to separate them I will.

 

[Herpetology]

its either combat or mating (without seeing a picture, I'd say Combat between 2 males)

They're NOT playing piggybacks

 

[BambiniMartini]

its either combat or mating (without seeing a picture, I'd say Combat between 2 males)

They're NOT playing piggybacks

Definitely not mating as they're only 2 months old. If it keeps up I'll definitely separate them

 

[E.Shell]

Having raised over 35 baby Ackies to a saleable size, keeping quite a few for personal pets and having 4 individuals right now, I'd say that they ARE fighting and they WILL continue to fight until one or both are injured, perhaps fatally.

They should be separated now.

 

[BambiniMartini]

Having raised over 35 baby Ackies to a saleable size, keeping quite a few for personal pets and having 4 individuals right now, I'd say that they ARE fighting and they WILL continue to fight until one or both are injured, perhaps fatally.

They should be separated now.

I'm currently looking into investing in a twin enclosure or something along those lines. They've seemed to have settled down but I'm keeping an eye on them. Thanks.