I've got a 15lb female leopard and a 5oz baby leopard. I have them in a 11' x 3' "tortoise table" raised 30" off the floor of my basement in Minnesota. The large female is pretty much out grown the enclosure and I need to build a new one. Our local reptile shop Twin Cities Reptile has a 10' x 10' room with a concrete floor for 3 medium size sulcatas. They have hay for substrate. I was thinking that it would be nice to put my new enclosure right on the concrete floor of my basement like the pet store does.
My two concerns are first: temperature - in areas away from heat lamps the floor will always be the temp of the ground below - is that too cold as a baseline temp? Second: there is no place to dig to lay eggs when the female is ready. She has not laid any yet and I have never provided any place for her to dig yet and I am worried that she will be ready soon and I won't know and she will become egg bound. The pet store says that their female just lays the eggs in the hay. Can I count on that? Should I provide an area that is raised that she can climb up and dig down into (I would rather not because it is just more mess to deal with - but I will if that is required to keep her safe).
Thanks for your comments, Ben
