I have a pair of young adults set up in a four foot Vision(just a start) with retes boards on each end. On one end I provided a lite to create a warm side. THe substrate is sawdust at this time, but is due to change shortly. I will be moving to aspen shavings, then some manner of dirt in the spring.
The temps are now in the fifties to low sixties in the cool side, and up to the ninties on the warm side. They can choose temps anywhere between the lowest and highest, in cover or out.
These stacks are really not that useful with hogs as they do not seem to use the crevices, they have, just not regularly.
So far, the hogs are working well, often spending time in the cool side and not moving, then moving over to the warm side and using both covered heat and basking under the lite.
Whats funny is, they back using a loose coil, which I have seen them do in nature.
Once this year I observed a neonate that just fed, drapped over a tiny bush. Odd, it looked like someone hung it there. hahahahahahahaha
As it has cooled off, the female has slowed down feeding, but every so often she moves over, warms up and becomes active so i offer her food. I throw in a handful(five or so) live fuzzies and she does consume them from time to time.
The male only has her on his agenda. So far, if I want him to feed, I have to move him or her out for a few days. Then he feeds. His body weight is great, so no worries.
I hope in the future to offer more suitable conditions for this species. Maybe the ability to get to heat and cool underground, which is normal to them in nature. As of now, I will start slowly and see how it goes.
We also recently obtained an albino and het pair(neonates) and I have a couple normal neonates.
My son is keeping the albino pair like the above and I am keeping the normals in my incubator room in a tub rack(83F to 86F)
About ten days ago, I observed a wild neonate that had just comsumed a large meal(lizard) crawling in the shade at 45F. The night time temps were in the high 20's to low 30's. I assume she was headed to some manner of heat. Or at least I hope so. Cheers
