Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My hatchlings have been eating twice as much food ever since i put them in the adults cage, plus they are more active. I think the reason why they are eating more and are more active is because they have a huge tank, 3 basking spots, and a foot of soil to dig in. The soil has been in there for about a week, it is starting to get dry how do you add moisture to it, should i just pour water into the tank or should i take everything out and mix the soil with a lot of water. I think hatchlings should also be housed in large tanks. I think the rason why some peoples hatchlings are 135 grams by 4 months and other peopls hatchlings are 15-20 grams at age 4 months is because of the tank size and the substrate in it. I used to house all them seperately in 30 gallon tanks with bird seed, now i house them in one 5x8x2.5 tank. So i think all the people who are houseing their hatchlings in small tanks with bird seeds or paper should put them in an adult size tank with hotter basking spots, and digable dirt. Just test this and see how much faster the hatchlings start to grow and the increase of food they eat. I think this is why some people have 4 month old hatchlings which are 135 grams and other people have 4 month old hatchlings which are 20 grams.
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Mike
1.1.3 maliensis (Spike, Marshmellow, Brown, Green, Orange)
0.2 Female U. Acanthinurus-Werneri x "coming soon"
0.1 Pit Bull/German Shephard/ Lab/ ect. mix (Kodak) - looks like an over grown toco bell dog.

I can only comment on the soil drying problem. Somewhere below in one of robyn's posts he mentions that they have to continually put a lot of water in their soil. You just pick a spot on one side of their cage and pour it there, it will spread throughout the tank.
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1 juvenile Mali named Aiden

thanks for the update, sounds like things are going very well.

your post sounds very authoritative, but please remember that we (Pro Exotics) are technically Uro neophytes, and at this point, i just THINK that we are on the right track, i want to be very careful about coming across as the "wannabe uro king" trying to tell established keepers how it HAS to be done. we are not trying to be arrogant, and i want folks to understand that, ya know?

anyway, i still do think it is very much the right track : )

as for adding water, there is no set answer. each cage will differ. in our 4 ft cages, with 2 ft of soil, we add about 1 gallon a week (just pour it right on the soil). with high temps and all, you lose some water content to evaporation, and that needs to be replaced.

you can eliminate that loss by restricting the air flow and venting. a screen top is your enemy, it openly encourages massive moisture loss. the only venting that we have is the thin gap around our acrylic lid. you can't seal the cage off, it still has to breathe, but limit your venting to prevent too much moisture loss.

i am glad to hear of Uro keeper's success, it is very exciting, and i hope that we see more and more success, and healthier animals! : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

i have a wooden tank with no top so the water quickly evaporates. I added water in the middle of the tank but it didn't go and spread everywhere, so i put most the water in the middle and a little water in each corner of the cage. After doing this i put my finger in the dirt and the hole did not collapse. The soil is perfect for digging burrows and the uros are starting to dig more. I think i have to add 1-2 gallons of water every week in order to mantain the moisture. Also, I think the hatchlings are gaining anywhere from .5-1 gram per day. This is a major improvement of 1 gram for ever 1-2 weeks. Whenever you find out something interesting post it on the forum so we can try it out.
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Mike
1.1.3 maliensis (Spike, Marshmellow, Brown, Green, Orange)
0.2 Female U. Acanthinurus-Werneri x "coming soon"
0.1 Pit Bull/German Shephard/ Lab/ ect. mix (Kodak) - looks like an over grown toco bell dog.

you wil get A LOT farther along if you cover your cage. to use a famous monitor breeder's analogy, right now you are making a beef jerky machine.

you have lots of heat, and you are rapidly evaporating moisture from the environment. basically, you are slow cooking your animals. water is a part of the life force, everything revolves around it, and it is crucial to your animal's health.

over the short term, you may not see a problem, but over the long term, with repeating cycles of rapid evaporation, your animals will end up paying the price. it is hard on their systems, and it is hard on their environment.

you will really struggle to keep the soil in a good digging state. heck, we struggle to keep it good just losing water evaporation through the two inch screen gap around the edge of clip lamp. it will be nearly impossible without any kind of top at all.

unless you live in Indo, or maybe Hawaii, or perhaps Florida, or some spot with insane natural humidity...
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Robyn-

What is the average humidity where you live? And what sort of readings do you get in your tanks normally? I'm in a moderately humid area and worry about it.

Thanks!
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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)

we are in Denver, and while not as dry as Kansas and Nebraska, it is pretty dry nonetheless. but for actually measuring humidity...

i have no idea, i have never measured it directly. my experience with cheap humidity guages is that they work very poorly, and fluctuate all over the place. and then break : )

Colorado is definitely an arid climate, so we are always fighting moisture and humidity issues. oh, to live in a climate like Florida, great for reptiles! : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

I don't have the cheap round stick on humidity gauge - ok, I do have them, but I don't rely on them! I got a combination digital thermometer/hygrometer with probes from Big Apple Herp. It's very accurate and not super expensive for how fabulous it is.

My ambient humidity in the room is about 50%, and it's hard enough to keep the number down in the uro tank. I would be very afraid that if I covered it to keep soil more moist, it would end up perfect for the soil, but too humid for the uros. Ah, dilemas.

My new thought is to do a halfsies tank with half of it covered and with soil for burrowing, and the other half for basking, eating, etc. I've seen a couple people mention tubes/pipes leading to separate bins (Ingo?) with different mediums, too. Thoughts?

Thanks!!
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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 whole point of the setup is that the humidity is fine : )

i don't buy the "it has to be bone dry" thing for a second! with proper basking temps and setup, the humidity won't do any damage to the lizards (my theory, working great so far : )

if you open one side of the cage, the whole thing will be dry, that is just how balance works.

we don't have condensation on the inside of the cage, but it is moderately humid nonetheless : )

the babies look, act, and grow fantastically, i have seen ZERO indicators of any humidity problems at all. you gotta read the animals, they will tell you what is wrong! : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles