Yes, cover more of the cage.. 25% not covered is way too much. And actually, from the picture, it looks like almost 50% or so is uncovered.. not sure though it is a small image. You want a vent.. not a measureable percentage of the cage open. Here, for our indoor enclosures, we cover the top completely and offer ventiliation. This is not --the absolute way-- to do it either.. as many approaches may work. And, you may not have to cover it wholly- but pretty close, this is something you will have to play with. You will want the ventilation away from the basking area. The problem is: there is no "cookie-cutter" method to this. You can achieve the same humidity various ways.



You do not want a wet enclosure. You do not want to spray or mist everything down. Humidity does not equate to wetness. You can achieve a humid environment without wetting everything down.. or misting like so many do. It is also about leaving options and a wet cage certainly does not.. the options are hard to achieve in a small enclosure.



As a keeper, you have to learn to observe your animals and their response to things- changes or cages or whatever. This does not always mean you have to be changing all of the time.



When you make a change to any cage, the dynamics of it will change too.. so, you will have to observe what happens.. and then tweek as needed. Behavior will change as the dynamics of the cage changes. Sometimes, you have to leave things alone and simply observe what happens. The no basking (if this truly is occurring) is not a positive indication in this specific incidence.. your cage.



As for the picture.. the substrate does not --appear-- very deep at all. It should be made deeper and with real, actual soil. The soil will naturally hold moisture and offer options and will change the inner dynamics. I can't even tell what the substrate is.. cork or something? Don't need that. Have you measured your basking temp recently? As you get the light closer to the basking surface.. you will increase the temp, so this may be beneficial to do.. but you should measure what you've got going right now. Where does the monitor spend his time? What does he/she consider his/her security (or does he) in that cage?



The reality is, is that there are a lot of possible scenarios and what if's or the basking site isn't good or he won't use this because of that. Just make the obvious changes that need to be done.. and go from there. To keep it simple: bump up the humidity, close the top off and have some type of ventilation, re-measure your temps, add a deeper soil-based substrate and start with that. The animal's behavior will tell you.



You may need to adjust the basking site and make sure there is a secure burrow-type area that will be used and will work for him/her. Although something may APPEAR off to us- like the basking area doesn't LOOK all to functional or optimum.. it really does not matter. What matters is what your monitor will use or make use of. So, again, the very best advice I can give is to listen to him/her, and make these common changes and see what happens.



Hope it is helpful to you.

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