AC and our cold blooded friends

[Alpha752]

Our house is very small, so Henry's enclosure is on the floor in pretty much the only space we have for it. It is unfortunately very close to an air conditioning vent. How bad is this for tortoises?

I have the vent blocked with a plastic bin, and he has his heat lamp of course. He usually stays on the warm side most of the time anyway. I don't have one of those fancy thermometers, but the stick on one I have says 85-90 on the warm side with the AC on.

Think he'll be ok like this this summer? I want to take him outside as much as I can but he will have to spend days inside because we have to work and I don't have an outdoor enclosure.

How do you guys handle when the AC is on with our friends?

 

[Big Charlie]

Is his habitat enclosed? You'll probably spend more money on heating his enclosure. Air conditioning dries out the air. If you keep your habitat enclosed and keep it moist so it stays humid, the air conditioning shouldn't have much effect. If your warm side is 85-90, then I suspect your cool side is too cool. You need to get a better thermometer. Those stick-on thermometers are useless.

 

[wellington]

I agree on a better thermometer. They aren't expensive if you get one from a Home Depot Menards or a hardware store. Is there a basking temp of 95-100? What type of tort are we talking about and is it a hatchling or under a year?

 

[Tom]

Our house is very small, so Henry's enclosure is on the floor in pretty much the only space we have for it. It is unfortunately very close to an air conditioning vent. How bad is this for tortoises?

I have the vent blocked with a plastic bin, and he has his heat lamp of course. He usually stays on the warm side most of the time anyway. I don't have one of those fancy thermometers, but the stick on one I have says 85-90 on the warm side with the AC on.

Think he'll be ok like this this summer? I want to take him outside as much as I can but he will have to spend days inside because we have to work and I don't have an outdoor enclosure.

How do you guys handle when the AC is on with our friends?

What species and size tortoise are we talking about?

Only your thermometer and hygrometer can answer these questions. Everyone's house and tortoise enclosure is different. Personally, I wouldn't want my tortoise near and AC vent when indoors. As Big Charlie pointed out, a closed chamber would eliminate this issue.

 

[Alpha752]

He is an adult Russian. I will have to pick up a laser thermometer to get some better readings. He stays in a large plastic tub with a screen on top, so not fully enclosed but also not totally open. I try to let him out as much as possible, but during the day no one is home so he has to be in his enclosure.

 

[Gillian M]

Our house is very small, so Henry's enclosure is on the floor in pretty much the only space we have for it. It is unfortunately very close to an air conditioning vent. How bad is this for tortoises?

I have the vent blocked with a plastic bin, and he has his heat lamp of course. He usually stays on the warm side most of the time anyway. I don't have one of those fancy thermometers, but the stick on one I have says 85-90 on the warm side with the AC on.

Think he'll be ok like this this summer? I want to take him outside as much as I can but he will have to spend days inside because we have to work and I don't have an outdoor enclosure.

How do you guys handle when the AC is on with our friends?

Personally, I do not use the A/C as I love hot weather. Therefore I cannot answer your question - sorry.

At the same time I'd take care if gets too cold.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

My house is also small and has a new HVAC system that turns the house into a walk in cooler. But with my closed chamber enclosure and just a simple strip florescent lamp. No heat. The enclosure stays a toasty 82-83 degrees while the house hovers around 72. At night it will dip down to 76-77.