Jobi, I have been trying to tell everyone for months that I use UTH pads on the sides of my babies tanks to allow them to thermoregulate as needed. I will choose one corner and place 3 pads on it, one on each of 2 adjacent walls and one on the bottom. Then I make sure there are plants that have leaves in all of the corners so that the babies can choose the temps that they need. The younger the babies the more I see them in the warm corner of the tank, usually in the leaves closest to the glass.

Now, the stump tailed babies I currently have are the oldest, but smallest, leps I have. They have been eating mostly silkworms since I got them in June supplimented with mini-mealworms and occassional very small mealworms. I ran out of the silkworms and put in some roach nymphs. This is a new food for them. I know they are eating as they all have nice round bellies. But, yesterday I notices something peculiar. These babies are almost always in the fake plants on the tops of the top leaves. Occasionally they may be on the base of the plants clinging to the stems. However, last night when I got home 3 of them were laying on the bottom of the tank right up against the glass where the UTH is placed. So, in light of reading your post I am thinking that this may have something to do with digesting the roaches which are much larger and more solid than the food items that they had been eating previously. Tonight I will put a net up on that wall and see if they use it after feeding!

In hindsight I seem to recall one clutch in particular that would always head to the warm tree after feeding on mealworms. I never really put this together! I have known that the heat is important for the babies but just didn't put it all of the way in to perspective!


I know a lot of the people I have told about the UTHs are afraid they are going to cook their babies but I have stated again and again that the new hatchlings seem to feed better and sooner if they are kept a little warmer and fewer hatchlings are lost! I will have to keep the heat on these guys longer and see if they do mature a bit faster. I know in the past they have taken 18 months to 2 years. It sure would be nice to see a full grown animal in 12 months if it doesn't compromise his health!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

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