Reptile & Amphibian Forums

first off i would just like to say i do care about my lil guy and try to make sure everything as far as caring for him is the best..to answere some of your questions his 55gal set up consists of astro-turf substrate(used to use aspen)but that was a hassle) a decent size water bowl, a rock for basking(whitch he uses often) and his hide is one of the cork log ones(he loves that thing its like his little house) im using a 75watt heat lamp along with a under cage heat pad under half the cage(human one works great) the thermostat read 90-95 most of the time(on the hot side) he looks and seems healthy besides the lack of growth...ill try feeding bugs (crickets&meal worms)iv only been feeding him the ratpups and mice fuzzies
thanks for the adive
Ron

cover the top because I presume its not covered or other wise you would of stated. Give it substrate to burrow in not astro turf that stuff sucks. Provide it more than just one hide and the ambients should be varied from 150 hot spot to 70 in the cooledst spot. hope this helps

alex

it has a screen top that fits the tank..and the substrate thing is not problem to switch i got a couple huge bags of aspen bedding i just stoped using it because it sometimes stuck to his prey and was a pain to clean up..but if thats whats best ill switch it. and ill put another hide in there thanks

you should still cover the screen top and dont use aspen use a better substrate like dirt or sand and bed a beast mix for the animals sake

It has a plexiglas sheet (1/8th inch) with about 20 little holes for ventilation in it. I use only one 45 watt outdoor flood bulb to heat it period. The basking spot hits 200f on a warm or hot day and 195 or a bit under on a cold day. The cage has around 8-10 inches or more of dirt in it (kinda hard to get alot more in there and keep a decent temp gradient or give the animal room). The basking light is mounted inside the cage to keep heat inside as well moisture as an open screen top is a recipe for lizard jerky. Heres a test to perform at home, take the animal out for a day, in that day place a piece of raw meat in the cage with the screen top, check that piece of meat the next morning, it will be dry and hard (jerky). The idea is to demonstrate what is happening to your lizard and may be a big part of its growth problem as well a long term serious heath issue (Ive buried a few in the past before I learned about the effects of dehydration on monitors long term). When you use a high wattage light and or heater it causes the air temp to go high throughout the cage causing the cage to have no temp gradient (room temp one end, 86-90 on the other end), it also causes all of the heat and humidity to rise to the top and out with no closed top. Theres way to much heating involved in that cage, youll notice a difference in electric bill also by lowering wattages of bulbs and they will last longer. Heres a 45 watt halogen outdoor flood like I use...

This is a 50 watt indoor flood bulb which cost about $1.99 and I use them in smaller cages..

I also use $1.19 ceramic light assemblies to make basking lights from a hardware store, just add a cord and mount...
This is the ackies cage for now, but you can see the plexiglas sheet, the basking temp, the air temp is about 90 around the lightbulb, then drops to 72 on the other end on a cooler day..

Monitors love to dig and burrow, so use field dirt mixed with about 10% sand, mixed with some from a creek (or river) bank and make it deep, your monitor will outgrow that cage fast.
Aspen mulch is a lousey substrate as it is dry it moesnt hold much if any moisture. I know people who use cyprus mulch but prefer dirt as soon as they tried it. Astroturf, thats not even a decent substrate, thats not even a substrate, anyways thats stuff is no good for them. Be prepared to start building a bigger cage when you get the animals set up close to properly, it will be active grow and dig. Good luck, keep in touch and let us know how it works.