Help with Night Temps Sulcata Hatchling

[Tom]

I’ve read on here that they’ve caused respiratory problems so figured they’re always best avoided when possible, this ops temps didn’t seem bad enough to need to introduce one, but that’s just my opinion, it’s ok if you disagree🙂

I've never read that on this forum. If someone said that, it is not correct. Fans do not cause respiratory issues. When used correctly, they can be a helpful tool for heat distribution in some cases.

Its not a question of whether or not we agree, it is a question of whether or not accurate, experience based information is being shared. Or not.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I've never read that on this forum. If someone said that, it is not correct. Fans do not cause respiratory issues. When used correctly, they can be a helpful tool for heat distribution in some cases.

Its not a question of whether or not we agree, it is a question of whether or not accurate, experience based information is being shared. Or not.

I definitely have, though I’d have to do digging as it was a while ago, I worry it’d affect the humidity too? Fans lower it, correct? Which doesn’t seem ideal for a baby.

When it comes to agreeing or not, I don’t necessarily mean about how fans work, I meant whether one is necessary for this case in particular, I personally don’t think it is when reading the ops temperatures, but you may disagree on that which is fine, I’m not saying it’s not worth trying altogether, just that I personally would be cautious doing so🙂

 

[Tom]

I definitely have, though I’d have to do digging as it was a while ago, I worry it’d affect the humidity too? Fans lower it, correct? Which doesn’t seem ideal for a baby.

A fan moving air around in a closed chamber does not affect humidity. A fan over an open topped enclosure would certainly dry things out unless it was somehow blowing humidified air, like through a swamp cooler or something.

As far as reading about that here on the forum: Anyone can say anything they want. We have regular posters here that make preposterous assertions regularly, and even when refuted, they persist.

Fans do not cool. Fans move air. I have a fan on an enclosure that tends to run hot. It is for an arid lizard species, so I'm not worried about humidity. The fan moves cooler room air into the enclosure and pushes hot enclosure air out. We had a fan discussion about a year ago where someone was blowing hot summer air from outside into their tortoise shed and though it was cooling things. This is just physics. If the air is hotter outside and you blow it inside, you will make the inside as hot as the outside. Fans cool people because we sweat. Evaporative cooling. Reptiles don't cool this way, so fans just move air over them. In a closed chamber, you are just circulating the same air. The fan doesn't warm or cool things, it just moves that air. In a tall enclosure that is poorly insulated, like what is being used by the OP in this thread, the heat can rise and collect up near the ceiling, well above the tortoise. A small computer fan with a speed controller can effectively be used to push that warm humid air back down to the tortoise and circulate it around the closed chamber. It won't dry things out because it is just moving the humid air that is already contained inside the enclosure.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

A fan moving air around in a closed chamber does not affect humidity. A fan over an open topped enclosure would certainly dry things out unless it was somehow blowing humidified air, like through a swamp cooler or something.

As far as reading about that here on the forum: Anyone can say anything they want. We have regular posters here that make preposterous assertions regularly, and even when refuted, they persist.

Fans do not cool. Fans move air. I have a fan on an enclosure that tends to run hot. It is for an arid lizard species, so I'm not worried about humidity. The fan moves cooler room air into the enclosure and pushes hot enclosure air out. We had a fan discussion about a year ago where someone was blowing hot summer air from outside into their tortoise shed and though it was cooling things. This is just physics. If the air is hotter outside and you blow it inside, you will make the inside as hot as the outside. Fans cool people because we sweat. Evaporative cooling. Reptiles don't cool this way, so fans just move air over them. In a closed chamber, you are just circulating the same air. The fan doesn't warm or cool things, it just moves that air. In a tall enclosure that is poorly insulated, like what is being used by the OP in this thread, the heat can rise and collect up near the ceiling, well above the tortoise. A small computer fan with a speed controller can effectively be used to push that warm humid air back down to the tortoise and circulate it around the closed chamber. It won't dry things out because it is just moving the humid air that is already contained inside the enclosure.

That does all make sense and I definitely appreciate you explaining further🙂I believe it came from a long standing member, though I could be remembering wrong.
I thought their ground temps sounded decent and worry the fan would have the opposite desired effect, but perhaps it’s worth the try