Question: How cold is too cold for c. ensicauda popei

Well I have moved and my popei juvies are resting comfortably in the basement. How cold is too cold for these juvies. They were doing great in my prior apartment holding steady at 74F. Now they are in the basement and the temp ranges from 58 to 60 degrees. Is this too cold? Should I get an amphib heating pad to raise the temp? They look fine to me but I am a noob so what do I know. These last couple of days have been the first time I have seen all six out at once. Are they out because they are cold and are looking for warmth, or are they out because they are happy? They are eating as far as I can tell though the number of flies eaten per day may have gone down since I did have leftovers walking around today. When the temp was higher there was never any flies left after 24hrs. I am planning on feeding blackworms tomorrow and we will see how many are left after 24hrs. Usually they are decimated by the juvies. I hope the lower temp is good for them. I am curious to see how hot the basement will get when we have a few 90 degree days back to back. I am hoping on a ten degree rise....Then I can get some more cool manders....

Looks to me like your temp ranges are still within standards...low end of the standards, but fine. Mine are at about 58-65 depending on the time of day and the ambient temp outside.

Personally, I would stay away from any type of aquarium or terrarium heater. Any malfunction and your animals are cooked. As stated, your temps are within the norm, give it some time to see it warms up a little in June/July.

I would prefer to stay away from the heaters/pads etc anyways. Just wanted to make sure they were not going to turn into newt ice cubes. I have found on most species care sheet the maximum safe high temp. but very few if any mention the danger cold point.

At cooler temps they grow a bit slower, and eat a bit less. Anything below 55F, and you may want to place a low wattage desk lamp next to the tank for part of the day.

A 5-7 watt bulb will keep the temp up a bit, with out risking ultra high deadly temps.

I had to do this over the winter, as my critter room can easily drop down into the low 40's. I picked a small lamp up at Target for 10 bucks. It does not use a standard sized bulb, it uses a small 7 watt one that looks like Old School VW headlight bulbs.

I put it on a lamp timer, it was on for a hour, then off for two. Between that and a few strategic pieces of Plexiglas laid over the screen lids, and the regular lighting, I was easily able to maintain water temperatures of 58-62 all through the cold weather.

That is a great suggestion. Thanks. I am working on their permanent tank now and will be sure to incorporate that idea.

I better add this now since you are in process of setting up their tank:

Make sure you experiment with the temperature control using this method BEFORE you add the live critters. It may take a few adjustments of time on/distance/ and covers to get it where you need it. It can take a week or more to get it right...perfect to do it when cycling the tank!

It will certainly not hurt them to live at 58-60F for a period of weeks or even months. This species will grow more slowly at that temperature, and I'm not surprised that you are seeing more uneaten flies. If the basement will warm up soon, I wouldn't worry about trying to warm them up.

I keep ensicauda juvs in the basement year-round. If I had space in a warmer area of the house I think they'd grow faster, but they don't seem to suffer from being cooler. During summer the basement reaches 70-74F, and they grow quite well during that time.

Thanks. I am working on the final tank which I don't envision my guys going into till Sept/Oct. It is taking me awhile because I have a couple of other tanks and fish projects I am working on concurrently. New basement=more projects!!! They truely shouldn't be ready to go fully aquatic till March or April of 2010. So really there is no rush. Just information gathering.