[Jackp308]

Im used to hearing and reading how the genus as a whole typically doesn't tolerate warm temps and do well in cooler temps. As I keep 3 different species from some of the smallest to the some of the biggest. Their range of temp tends to vary substantially naturally .In captivity my lineatus seem to tolerate and prefer 77-79f while I keep my sikorae around 74-75 and my newest phantasticus around 72-74. The issue comes in the night. As I live in northern Ohio where our winters are typically harsh and temps quite cold. Ive been monitoring temps dropping to about 66f in the room. I try my best to keep accurate temps from where each species is found naturally. So I feel Im running into a problem with keeping lineatus that low now.
As the U. lineatus come from an area where the day time temps are in the mid 80's and lows are 74f. I feel my temps are way to cold for them through the night and my day time temps could be a little warmer. Most would just turn up the thermostat but I keep a bunch of montane chameleons and other geckos that do need that night drop. Imagine Ill figure something out just felt like expressing it here to see what others thought of Low temps with Uroplatus like lineatus or other larger species that typically are found in warmer climates thoughout the year. From viewing UIC climate graph U lineatus didn't seem to ever fall under 70f naturally.

Any suggestions for night heat for my adult trio of lineatus? They are housed in large screen cage that is plastic wrapped only on the side near the window. I have since put a 60 watt basking normal house bulb on back corner for day time which seems to be helping bring the bottom to 72.5 F with 70% RH. In the summer I was comfortable with 72 near the bottom with no lights now Im getting a bit paranoid with the lower temps. Since the nights get so low and I feel its my responsibility to provide them with what they need and get naturally to the best of my ability. If not I don't deserve to keep them.

Thanks Jack

[aquapimp]

I'm gonna put an oil filled heater on a thermostat in my room..... I'm feeling like mid sixties are indeed chilly for the fimbs, henkeli and lineatus, too.

[Peter B]

I have accurate readings from a reserve where lineatus lives and min temps on those are around 60. But on the same days the max reaches 80 to 90°. I keep mine at around 65 during the night (at winter time) and 80 at daytime and they do fine.

[Jackp308]

I appreciate your post and info Peter. I will continue to let my night temperatures drop as they have been.The lowest recorded temperature in my room has been "65.9F night time" days are typically in the upper 70s. I did wrap the 3 sides of their screen cage in plastic.Which will help with any cold drafts as the windows are blocked and sealed very well now too.

[miguel camacho!]

Peter touches on a point I've tried to make in the past, although I cannot recall in which thread(s) I made the comment. But I believe the temperature data Luis has been so kind as to provide and host for us could be misleading to some. He graphed the average temperatures, which do nothing to give a sense of the full range of temperatures experienced by wild individuals. Daily high and daily low temperatures would be equally as useful for the keepers.

I did some herp outreach as an undergrad and decided to bring some phantasticus with me, and the day ended up being a bit more chilly than forecasted. The temperature during the day hovered around 55 F and I can recall quite clearly that all of my animals appeared to do well. Now, I could easily get slammed for exposing them to temps, especially when there were other potentially stressful factors in play, and I'll take my beatings for it if anyone finds it appropriate. However, I'm going to mention that no ill effects were observed in any individuals. I also had crested geckos out during the event, mostly for the people who wanted something that they could perhaps feel. The crested geckos were much more active than I'd expect during the day. The male went into breeding mode. Overall, the animals led me to believe that in some species, reasonably low temperatures are not as extreme of a concern as some people might make them out to be. I should also mention that I would not recommend maintaining the animals for prolonged periods of time under uncertain temperature conditions.

Here is a link to a site that provides some coarse weather variables, including daily highs and lows. Low temps in the 50s do not seem out of the reasonable range of temperature for keeping some species.
Climate Data: Madagascar

[pakinjak]

I'll add a very unscientific opinion to all this-

If you check the average highs and lows or even the extreme highs and lows I don't know that it necessarily gives you the total range in which these animals can survive. The farmland of NC where I grew up could be 95 in the sun but considerably cooler in the shade, or near a river, or on the shady side of a hill, or under more tree cover. So even if the high was 95 it doesn't necessarily mean that I have to spend my day in it.

I'm not trying to rob anybody of temperature range certainty here, but I do think that if we compared the lower limits to the upper limits we would find them more tolerable of the lower end than the higher end. If it's hot out, it would be easier to find a cool spot than find a hot spot when it's cool out, so my point is that the genus wouldn't be as conditioned to withstand the upper limits as much as the lower limits.

Make any sense?

[miguel camacho!]

There's no doubt that there is more at play than these temperatures alone. Microhabitat is a key thing to pay attention to, at least in the realized preferred conditions for wild animals. But since we're lacking that, highs and lows provide a great framework from which we can start. Keep in mind that basking animals retain much of the heat they absorb and can far surpass the environmental/ambient temperature. An animal can also lag behind the current ambient temperature, at least in the case of ectotherms, as temperatures warm around an object or organism, to some reasonable degree.

Anyhow, I took the liberty of putting together a graph of the data from the link I provided. I'll ask Luis if he can add it to the UIC page.



I should make mention that it is the keeper's responsibility to best match (if possible, from the locations provided) the species of interest to the nearest locale to determine the most relevant temperatures.

[tristan 92]

You can keep Uroplatus at 20°C (68F) to 26°C (79F) during the day and from 18°C(64F) to 20°C (68F) during the night a big part of the year, it's not really a problem, Uroplatus can survive to this temperatures, but if you really want to breed them with success, a cold and dry winter is necessary.
To give an example, my phantasticus and sikorae are between 5°C (41F) to 10°C (50F) at night and 8°C (46F) to 16°C ( 60F) for several months every year.
It appear that if they can reach 10° (50F) the day, they are eating without problem and will just reduce a bit their activity, and stop eating under this temp, but still active.
I do it for a few years now, and I can say that I've pretty good results with my sikorae ( between 10 to 18 babies every year by each sikorae female who breed ), phantasticus are more difficult to breed with long term success, it depend of the year so I don't know if it's a perfect method, but I can say that I've never lost an Uroplatus because it was too cold !

It also depend on the species, Sikorae and phantasticus are really found in forest where temperatures never rise a lot, whereas henkeli for example, can be found near habitations with pretty hot temperatures, during my summer trip in Madagascar ( so the malagasy winter ), we found a male henkeli on a trunk at 28°C(82F) (in the winter ! ) and temperatures where not really cold at night, near 16°C (60F)...

We still have a lot of things to learn about them, that's why we love them so much isn't it ?

[Leland]

Temperatures for my Uroplatus got down in the high 50's F this winter. I have had them cooling like this for 2.5/3 months now and have only just started raising temps and feeding a couple times a week. Once I get the light cycle up to about 12/13hrs a day i'll start feeding every other night and set the misting system to come on 2/3 times a day. At this point is when you'll usually start seeing them breeding. I have groups of all the mainstream Uroplatus and didn't have ANY issues with them keeping them in the high 50's and low 60's during the day when the lights were on. I'm also in Ohio and we have had a very mild winter so you'll be fine. There is a lot of confusion as to temps with these animals. Maintain proper humidity and temps anywhere from 50-84'F and you shouldn't see issues. You run into problems with prolonged high temps that the animals can't escape. Mine are in 36" Tall cages and have plenty of room to move to thermoregulate but its not uncommon to see animals like henkeli/guentheri and even most other very close to the 25watt red bulbs I provide.

[Precision Geckos]

My Uroplatus are in cool down right now so the night temps are usually 65 and never shown any ill effect in the past years.