Hi Maureen,

Thank you for the thorough and very timely reply. I have recived my fine vermiculite this morning ( i chose fine only to find that people generally prefer coarse!) and my hovabator has been running for 48 hours and is holding a really steady temp but i need to tweak it up a bit.

Since i posted last I have replaced the laying box on the hot side with a paving slab sat on 3 pieces of wood mimicing the rock that she was digging under on the cold side but offering her a much larger area underneath and about 3 inch depth of sand. I have positioned it so that it is half on and off the heat mat underneath to give her the choice. I then packed it with warm damp sand leaving a chuckie width gap at one end and a tunnel running in an L shape into the sand so that she can get into it.

I have been spraying under this slab daily with warm water to keep it moist. She has been paying this area lots of attention over the last couple of days and I was up till late last night listening to her digging under there. She has been sleeping in there for the last 4 nights (not digging/sleeping in the other rocky cave at all). So I am now very nervous and watching her like a hawk from the other side of the room. Her appetite has gone and she barely ate yesterday and I don't think she has eaten anything today.

I was going to prepare a box for the eggs inside the hoverbator this evening-should i soak the vermiculite and then wring it out as much as i can? A couple of air holes at each end? As i write she is in and out of the slab casve like a yoyo!

Thanks for your help it is very much appreciated

Ben

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