Cold climate herps in Cairns.

[boogeralby]

Hi all,

I am thinking about moving to Cairns in the not to distant future and i have a couple of questions for people who live in the area and keep cooler climate herps.

My main concerns i suppose is the brumation of certain species, but also how i am going to keep particular enclosures below 30degrees ambient temperature. I know the obvious answer is air-con, but id like to know of peoples experience with a few of the species that i will list below so i know what im up against. I currently have quite a large collection and id like to keep it that way...

a few of the species im wondering about are my :-
-Underwoodisaurus sphyrus
-Tiliqua nigrolutea
-Cacaiphis squamulosus
-Strophurus intermedius
-Cyclodomorphus michaeli

Most of my other stuff should be fine, but i like to get some of the mentioned species as low as 10-15 degrees during winter for brumation. I think my energy bill will be through the roof if i use the aircon to that extent.

Thanx in advance for any help.
Boogeralby...

 

[JasonL]

Just keep them down in your underground cavern where you plan on keeping all your errr umm... never mind.

 

[Waterrat]

Hi Boogeralby, it's not going to be easy even with aircon. I have a totally sealed (no windows, only one door), well insulated room (3.5 x 1.7m) with an aircon that runs 24/7 and the lowest temp I can get is 16 degrees. To drop the temp any lower, you would need a refrigeration unit as used in cool rooms.
The summer temps and humidity are also of concern, in the last two months or so we had 70 - 85 % rel. hum. and > 34 degrees. Most southern or desert species won't be able to tolerate the combination of these two factors. Years ago, we had tigers, copperheads, N. laevis, Ingram's browns, etc., at the Zoo dying one by one in the summer.

 

[Slats]

Everyday lately has been 35+ ambient temp in the herp rooms.
I found that A/C on 24/7 by itself dries the air out too much.
I have settled for window open 1/3 with A/C set cooler.
This may also be the reason for my $1500 power bill that just arrived.
Doing this also brings a great night time temp drop as the A/C is not fighting the hot air coming in.

Best of luck

 

[Waterrat]

That's Cairns or Katherine?

 

[Slats]

Katherine. Although our wet season is similar to Cairns. Just hotter

 

[boogeralby]

Thanks for the info guys.

I wasn't to concerned about the desert species before but now i think ill have to reconsider.

On the upside, alot of my tropical species will be housed outside when i move there.

Maybe i should consider moving to Atherton or close by where it is a little cooler.