Thermal Gradients
Providing and maintaining a higher temperature at one end of the vivarium whilst providing and maintaining a lower temperature at the opposite end of the vivarium is a fundamental basic of reptile care. This is called a thermal gradient and allows your reptile to seek the temperature that they choose and require.
Providing the proper thermal gradient for your reptile has long be understood but husbandry and understanding has evolved and progressed. We should also provide the correct intensity of UV light and full spectrum light as part of this gradient.
This is called The Light and Shade method and thanks to the clever people at Arcadia Reptile who spend their time helping us to understand and improve the husbandry and welfare of animals in our care.
Creating Zones
Our goal is straightforward: create a gradient that includes a usable heat and light zone alongside a usable cool and shaded zone for your pet reptile.
In the wild, reptiles receive visible light, UV, and Infrared from a singular source—the sun. Replicating this in captivity means not segregating heat and light systems but safely grouping them together. By doing so, heat and light are projected onto the basking zone simultaneously, allowing your reptile to naturally utilise and self-regulate its exposure.
This strategy involves separating the hotter, brighter basking zone from the cooler, shaded area at the opposite end of the enclosure. This zoning allows your reptile to choose and regulate its exposure levels within its biological cycles, mirroring behaviours observed in the wild.
Employing the light and shade method entails providing ample hiding places, allowing your reptile to adjust its position within the vivarium and select where to bask. The positioning of lighting and heating solutions need not be strictly from front to back, as depicted in the diagram. If vivarium space permits, orient them sideways. The key is to safely group them, creating a bright basking zone at one end and a cooler shaded zone at the other.
Temperatures and Heating
When it comes to temperature this wil depend upon your particular species of Reptile.
Selecting the correct position of your vivarium is therefore something to consider and spend time thinking about. Don’t place it in an area that has extreme swings of temperature either too hot or too cold. It will make setting up your vivarium correctly difficult to impossible if you are constantly fighting against ambient room conditions to either extreme. Locate your vivarium in a room and place where temperature is stable and neither too hot or cold and well away from and protected from any drafts. If you cannot do this then you are going to be look at additional heating systems for your vivarium.
Setting up and achieving stable temperatures takes a bit of thought, planning and of course the right equipment.
Heat Sources
Firstly it goes without saying you need to select a heat source that is capable of achieving this temperature. Don’t think a cheap low wattage ceramic is going to achieve 35 Deg C and be able to project the infrared 35cm into the enclosure for you as it won’t.
Ceramic lamps are not all created equally, make sure you get a quality ceramic heater lamp. We recommend using the Arcadia Ceramic Lamp Heater for a heating source or the Arcadia Deep Heat Projector.
Choose a heat source capable of producing the desired temperature; avoid underrated, low-wattage sources unable to generate sufficient heat. Remember that you cannot conjure heat from a heat source that isn’t capable of producing it. So it’s best to over specify your heat source rather than under specify it. We often get screams for help that the temperature at the basking hot spot can’t be reached. When we explore the reasons why it’s almost always due to the heat source not being up to the job and capable of producing the required heat at the required distance. If you are not sure please ask us, we will be happy to advise you.
Safety
A word on safety. Heat sources such as Ceramic Lamps can get very hot. Do not try to run them in a plastic light fitting designed for incandescent light bulbs. It will likely melt and is a fire risk. Install them in a porcelain holder with the appropriate rating, specifically designed to withstand the high heat generated by Ceramic Lamps and Deep Heat projectors. We recommend the Arcadia Ceramic Holder and Bracket Pro. And never run a heat source without a quality thermostat to regulate it, ever!
UV Lighting
Many reptiles need UV Light. It’s essential you select and provide the correct UV Lighting solution to keep them healthy.
Without UVA light, reptiles face physiological, behavioural, and health issues. An absence of UVA impairs their ability to interact with the environment and causing stress.
Maintaining vitamin D3 and calcium levels requires exposure to UVB light.. When exposed to UVB light, your reptile can begin synthesising vitamin D3 in its skin. Vitamin D3 allows them to metabolise calcium, regulate the immune system and promote organ development. Insufficient UVB may lead to issues like calcium deficiency or painful conditions like metabolic bone disease.
Full Spectrum Lighting
Completing your reptile enclosure extends beyond addressing UV alone; it’s just a part of the equation. Numerous reptile species greatly benefit from full spectrum lighting, an essential component often overlooked.
Visualise your pet basking in its native habitat. It’s not only absorbing Infrared heat and UV from the sun but also full spectrum visible light. While we’ve provided rich, high-quality IR and UV sources, acknowledging full spectrum visible lighting is equally crucial.
Here’s the science:
Most invertebrates, including reptiles, possess a pineal gland in the epithalamus near their brain’s centre. This pine cone-shaped gland produces melatonin, a hormone derived from serotonin. Melatonin regulates sleep patterns and various bodily and brain functions. Many reptiles and amphibians have a light-sensing organ known as the parietal eye or pineal eye, which is also called the third eye. This organ is linked to the epithalamus.
Full spectrum visible light inspires natural basking and regulates crucial bodily and brain functions in your reptile. Hence, for an ideal heating and lighting setup, we should incorporate a light source that emits a full spectrum.
We recommend Jungle Dawn Full Spectrum Lighting. The Jungle Dawn LED Bars effortlessly connect to your ProT5 UVB Kit, creating a comprehensive lighting solution for your reptile.
Explore our specially priced Lighting bundles, combining Jungle Dawn LED Bars and Pro T5 kits
Thermostats
You will need to control your heat source with a Thermostat.
The option we would ourselves use is a Digital Dimming Thermostat
This top of the range thermostat has the advantages that;
- You can set different Day time and Night time temperatures for your heat source.
- Control your UV Lighting + Full Spectrum LED Bar on its own timed lighting circuit.
- The revolutionary power meter continually displays the percentage of power at the heater. This helps you understand how successful you have been at selecting the right heat source.
Selecting the right thermostat can be confusing. To help you, here is the link to our Thermostats Selection Guide.
