> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> My wife and I moved
> into a 30-yr old home with a great, spacious basement. It is unfinished,
> but clean, however a little on the cold side.
I'm wondering if it's some noxious fumes from the building structure itself?
How 'unfinished' is the basement? Is there any chance the previous owners had the
basement fumigated, so the lingering chemicals that any exposed wood or walls might
have absorbed are slowly drifting down to the geckos?
When I first checked into using my basement as a herp room, I talked to a building
contractor. He warned me that any wood that had been treated with preservatives
within the last 'approximately' 5 years could possibly release fumes from those
chemicals. Some wood preservatives contain copper and/or arsenic. Even if the fumes
weren't detectable, he felt there was a chance that humidity could possibly release
some minute quantities into the air. Since I live in the Frozen North, the room ended
up insulated and encased in plastic sheeting, so there's no exposed framing or walls
in that room. It might be something for you to look into though.
> I tried to add more heat during the day in the form of overhead
> lighting. This seemed to stop the deaths for awhile, but just this week
> alone, I lost 2 more geckos.
A bit more heat might have had a drying effect for a while, so mould or mildew based
toxins could have stopped a while. In summer, with naturally increasing humidity it
could have returned? It doesn't have to be a thick coating easily visible, just
something hiding up in the dark corners. Air circulation would take care of spreading
it around.
Just some ideas based on what I ran into when checking into the basement herp idea.
Hilde
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