1. when given a great setup, and access to hides and burrows, the Uros (lizards) will make up their own schedule regardless of what you would like : )



they have the heat up top available to bask, they have the burrow for moisture and security, and they have access to food. as long as you are providing, does it matter when they come up to be seen? judge more by the quantities of food eaten then by how often you see them. you can judge A LOT by food intake, as with poor temps, poor hydration, and just poor setup their appetite will suffer.



i would guess that the animal is coming up top plenty, just not when you are looking. most all of our groups are the same. i KNOW they bask and eat, i can catch them sometimes, but most of the time, as i approach the cage, the book it into the burrows for safety, and i "do not see" them.



2. for heating i like overhead lights best, using 45 and 90 watt Halogen Floods from Home Depot, and heat tape supplementally. we used to bury a heat pad in the soil, but now we just use 3 and 4 inch wide heat tape (flex watt) and tape it to the outside of the cage, on the side, so it creates a soil temp gradient.



3. "moist" is a very relative term. sure it has moisture content, but it is not wet by any means. the soil should be in a constant diggable state. if you just wanted to have a burrow made and keep it permanent, i suppose you could use concrete, which is what some dried soil is like, but you have just eliminated one of the key points of the setup. when you let it dry out, you eliminate a number of things, including moisture content to help with overall health and shedding, nesting, digging for exercise, animal cage modifications, temperature seeking, etc.



as for circular digging, i find the animals tend to dig towards the wall of the cage, and then follow the wall as it curves on its own. with Monitors, they often dig to the very bottom (2 ft deep) as well, and i would suspect Uros as well, but i haven't dug up a Uro cage to see how far they go yet. they hate that : )



Dr. Spracklund told me about the wild Uro burrows that he saw though, saying that they would go straight down for 3 or 4 ft before going 90 degrees and off to the side for the livable part of the burrow...



sounds like you are doing well so far. just wait for a year or two from now, when you will really start understanding soils and their use (it takes a while to build up the experience : )



in the meantime, keep your moisture levels good : )
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robyn@proexotics.com



Pro Exotics Reptiles

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