Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's Nebu's cage after he dug his third burrow (I dug him out of two already =( ). He has grown wiser and now put his hole about an inch from where he likes to bask making him even more of a pain to catch. He's doing well, doesn't seem to have any trouble acclimating to the new soil after I dig him up. I still find it quite a drawback not being able to monitor his health very easily but he's been healthier than ever overall. I set up a "dirt moisturizing" system. I cut the bottom off a plastic soda bottle, poked a pinhole in the top and then dug it down into the dirt. This way, I can fill up the water bottle and let the water slowly drip down into the dirt, eventually permeating the entire ground. The dirt looks soft in the pictures only because that is all dirt that Nebu has dug out of his cage and moved on to higher ground.

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Georgio,
I e-mailed you, but meant to post! Sorry... I liked the high tech. humidifier! Looks like it works well. 3-4 inches is how deep your going with it? Also, how deep is Nebu's Dirt?
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JDBlackdog
2.1 MALI
1.1 YELLOW GEYRI
0.2 SOMOLIAN
1.1 ORNATE
0.1 ROTTWEILER

it is a tricky thing to learn to "let go"

when you start to nail your setup, and the animal is starting to thrive, you will realize that you don't HAVE to give it the once over every day to make sure it isn't dying

just between you and me Pete (ha ha) when you keep Uros so stressed out and dehydrated, on the slow growth plan (to death), then yes, it is much more important to get a regular look at the "patient" to make sure nothing is getting worse.

when the animal is thriving, active, feeding great, growing great, you can start to appreciate that, and just let go a bit, and understand that it is in the burrow because it WANTS to be, and he/she will come up when necessary, and you can interact at that point, on THEIR schedule

i can go for a few days without seeing the Uros in a setup. heck, to see all five animals, it may take two weeks (those are some large cages!). but you can monitor food intake and tell a lot about progress and health. especially with a single animal. food intake rises and falls (subtly) with different cycles, growth, shedding, courting, breeding, nesting, etc.

we use our tracking cards (available FREE on our site) to monitor all kinds of categories, but for the most part, as long as the food intake is consistent and predictable, i am happy, and don't worry about things
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles