Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I built Nebu a little vivarium type cage with natural dirt to dig in after reading the posts about burrowable soils. It's in one of those huge rubbermaid bins (65 gallon I think). I put about 100 pounds of dirt in it along with some rocks and succulants. I also wired in a fluorescent plant light and a mercury vapor bulb to the lid. So far so good. He ate within 20 minutes of being in his new cage and already dug out a burrow for himself. I'll keep everyone updated. Let me know what you think.

Peter

PS: What you can't see in the pictures is that the dirt slopes down closest to the camera away from the lights for a cool side. I put his food down there on a rock so it would not get dirt in it and there is also a jade plant. I'm not sure how much the plants will affect humidity...we'll see.

sorry it's blurry.

.

What kind of dirt are you trying? Backyard dirt or did you get it somewhere? Or is it the mix that Robyn recently suggested?
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Torey
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
0.1 Anolis Carolinensis (Leeloo)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

The dirt is actually from up in the foothills of Santa Barbara, CA. I took most of it from the mounds created by gophers as they dug out their own burrows, so I'm pretty sure it will hold =). I packed it in really tight and tested making my own holes yesterday and it went well. Also, if you look in the picture, I put a large piece of slate underneath the dirt and then started a small hole underneath it. The slate runs the width of the cage underneath the dirt and about 1.5 feet back. He chose to continue the hole I started and the "roof" of his burrow is going to be the slate so that way I'm sure it will not cave in on him.

Peter

what kind of dirt did you use/where did you get it?
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1.3 Uromastyx Maliensis (Ricky, Quinn, Anna, Drusilla)
0.2 Varanus Timorensis (Zealot, Willow)
1.1 Varanus Acanthurus (Eddie, Roxie)
0.0.1 Uromastyx Aegypticus (Kronk)
0.0.2 Ceratophrys Ornata (Mojo, Jabba)
0.1 Geochelone Carbonaria (Turtle)
1.0 Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Smeagol)

Emily
www.egomantra.com/npoh

excellent thinking "outside the box"! of course "gopher dirt" should obviously be good for burrowing, excellent connection, i had never even thought of that : )

play with it for a week or two, experimenting with moisture content. we add 1/2 to 1 gallon a week to our 4 ft cages, and just from those first pics, i would guess you could use a bit more water content. just pour some in on the side, it will evenly enrich the soil, and misting is just a waste of time.

try the finger test for the soil, it should be moist enough to be able to stick your finger down in it, and leave a perfect impression when you pull it back out : )

best of luck!
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

That's why I'm leery about adding water to my setup.... I was told it causes skin blisters and tail rot.... ?.... I'm gonna try a mix of 50/50 potting soil and sand.... Has anyone else tried this? Does it work well?...
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2.0 Iguanas, 2.4 Beardies, 0.2.1 Saharan/Nigerian Uromastyx, 0.0.2 Leos, 0.0.1 African Fat Tail, 1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 0.0.1 Fla Garter Snake, 0.1 eastern garter, 0.0.1 Banded California King Snake (M.I.A.), 0.0.1 Corn Snake, 0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads, 1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle, 0.0.1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses (soon to be three {Baby next May!!!}), 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm done for now.....

it might be a no-no in a lousy setup, i don't know, we have never had a problem with it, at all. in a proper setup, with a proper temperature gradient and basking area, it poses no problem at all. for us : )

if you make an improper setup, "kinda" doing it right, then sure, many problems can happen. in a soggy setup with crappy heating, many species of animals would have a hard time. it is not like i guarantee that if you try our setup technique, that you won't have any problems or setbacks, as i am trying to communicate in my posts things we have learned over the past 7 or 8 years, and there are a lot of subtle details in that : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

first, is the screening. i think that is way too much. you are going to be losing SOOO much water content through evaporation, right through the top there. you could reduce that by 2/3 and have better stability. reducing it could be as simple as covering part of it with tape....

screening or venting from the side works more efficiently, as fresh air exchange can be made, but it is not a "straight through the roof" evaporation.

also, slap a piece of 3 inch heat tape along the side of the cage (if allowable, be careful with rubbermaid type containers) right below the dirt line, and you have created a nice temp variance within the dirt itself. the animals will dig "hot" burrows right there near the tape, those burrows will be warmer than other burrows throughout the cage. maybe the heat tape needs a thermostat, maybe not. maybe the dirt in that area dries out quicker, maybe not. things for the keeper to find out for that particular setup.

Gilas and Uros love burrows near the heat tape : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

im going to try for my mali i think he'll really enjoy it, if its nice out tomorrow i'll look around a bit i see if i can find some good soil otherwise i'll try the home depot mix. my Saharan cage doesnt have room for alot of dirt becuase the bottoms shallow and it has doors on the front but do you think i can pack it up into his cave theirs lots of room in there

Hey Peter-

How's the temps?
Curious what the burrow temp is as opposed to the ambient temp.
I like the dirt idea.
After seeing Robyn's post I have though of going to a dirt medium as well.
How is Nebu in general?

Mine have given up Brumation for this week.....
Good luck,
Ed

Ed,

I'll measure the burrow temps tomorrow. The ambient stays surprisingly cool with very little ventilation and a 33 watt fluorescent/100 watt mvb combo. My guess is that the dirt absorbs a lot of the heat. I covered the vent you see in the picture with a shirt today and left it there and the ambient only went to low 80's on the cool side. The basking spot is 120 however because it is very close to the bulb.

Nebu is somewhat of an enigma to me as far as health goes. He seems like he is doing great: eats well, is active, has a good personality and does not seem to stress easily. That being said he is still so small. I think he's only about 35 grams and 11 months old. His fecals came back clean...I don't know. His temps were a bit low for a few months when I first had him and he ended up sleeping more than normal. He has definitely picked up his activity level and eating lately since I've bumped up his ambient temps a bit. Hopefully he'll start putting on some weight.

Peter

Well, first day was successful, although a bit stressful. I came home today to find that Nebu had made quite a burrow. I tried to shine a light in his hole but could not find him. I wasn't really prepared for him to dig so deep and I worried that I had not put enough moisture in the soil for the hole to hold. So, I ended up digging him out. Let me tell you, he sure dug a lot today. He had dug about 2.5 feet back and down into the soil. The hole was holding just fine and I felt really bad about messing up the work he did during the day. I added more moisture to the soil and put him back in. He has already dug himself another hole and is currently sleeping in there.

Also, you were right about the ventilation Robyn. I put a shirt over the vent because it was not heating up and to my amazement the dirt kept the temperatures pretty mild with almost no ventilation. I may make another top that works more efficiently. I'll also look into the heat tape; the plastic from the bin seems to hold up to heat well.

I'll keep you guys updated and let me know if anyone else gives dirt a try.

Peter

We were going to move our Malis and Kronk into their own tubs (already bought one for the Malis). Definitely keep us updated!! I'd like to know how your experience goes.
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1.3 Uromastyx Maliensis (Ricky, Quinn, Anna, Drusilla)
0.2 Varanus Timorensis (Zealot, Willow)
1.1 Varanus Acanthurus (Eddie, Roxie)
0.0.1 Uromastyx Aegypticus (Kronk)
0.0.2 Ceratophrys Ornata (Mojo, Jabba)
0.1 Geochelone Carbonaria (Turtle)
1.0 Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Smeagol)

Emily
www.egomantra.com/npoh