Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently built a new enclosure for my ackie pair.
It's a bathtub with a terrarium built on top of it. There's about a foot of dirt/sand in there and about 10 Retes boards spread over the entire length. Temps: 75-80 cool end, 140-160 under spot.
Problem is that with they amount of ventilation right now the RH stays between 80-90%. The interior looks and feels dry, no excess moist or anything. Is this RH too high for ackies?

I could of course increase ventilation, but only if I have to, because now the soil stays good for burrowing without to much work...

Thanks

I belive that's a bit high. Ackies are more of an arid type monitor. 40-50% would be a healthy range for that species imo. I have some cages that maintain high amounts of humidity as well. I've solved this issue by installing a small a/c fan with a dimming switch. It works great for reducing humidity and/or excess heat in the summer time.
cheers

I don't rely on the hygrometers too much, but I believe my red ackies cage is around 65% in the middle. It will be much dryer under the basks and wetter on the cool end. I just go for slightly moist dirt down below with a dry crust. The animals will go where they need to be if they have choices. You can see the dry to moist in this clutch that I dug up today. I got 6 eggs only one month after she laid 4. She's still under a year old, too. Holy prolific, Batman:


A 6 foot bathtub is a good waterproof base for a cage (unless you have to move it). Do you have pics of the cage?

Thanks for the info.

I will let my substrate dry out a little, maybe that helps enough. I will only moisten it on the hot side if it becomes too dry.
Here are some pictures:
[http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/44420Bak_acanthurus.jpg img]
[http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/44420binnenkant_bak_acanthurus-med.jpg img]
[http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/44420binnenkant_bak_2-med.jpg img]
[http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/44420Varanus_rudicollis_2x-med.jpg img]
The last picture is of my trio rudicollis. I bought them six months ago at 35 grams, the largest 2 are now over 300 grams, so I think they are growing well. I am gooing to build them a 5 x 10 x 7 feet enclosure in a couple of months.
I think they are a 1.2, but not 100% sure yet. we will see...
I have had ackies for a couple of years now,and lots of eggs, but all infertile, so I changed tactics a few weeks ago. I'll let you nknow how it's working.

Jasper

the rest of them...