Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm a college student, long time lizard fan, first time owner.

I'd saved money to try and do this prodject right, no cutting corners. I guess my first mistake was using petco as my source of information, instead of the internet. At first I was weary due to vet bills. I love animals to much to let them be sick, due to my lack of funds. But it seems possible this will end up being the case anyway. But I think I can handle it.

As far as I can tell, my MHD's are well. The pet store said the male had eaten 3 crickets right away. Once I got everything home and set up, I let 2 crickets in. and have yet to see or hear them. I have yet to find out if they where caught in the wild, or bred in captivity but I'm going to. First thing on my list is a vet / poo test to catch things before its to late. I would assume the next item after that should be a bigger tank.

FroggieB's webpage has been so helpfull as well as this forum. I've read alot. I have a few questions, to try and make this right.

4ft high, 3ft long, 1.5 feet deep is listed as the minimum tank size and I gathered thats just for one. Petco seemed to think my tank was more than large enouph. Its the same lid size as a 20 gallon, but 18" tall instead of 12". so 10" deep, 20" acrost, and 18" tall. I'm not sure what gallon this is. But I know this is way to small. (judging by the forum and info online)

Mine appear to be aprox 6" tip of tail to tip of nose (4" not including tail) for the male. female appears possibly 1" shorter. I'm not sure what species, I will be posting a reply with pix tomarrow from work/school. I dont have money for a new cage, and I think the vet/testing/meds might be more important. They are more than willing to crawl on me, and seem content. I have a very large wanter dish / pool for them, and the female even has taken a few dips. They havn't eaten any earth worms yet as far as I can tell, but I will continue to attempt to hand feed every once in awhile, and keep an eye on there worm dish. Temp seems to be hold at 75-80 in the center of the cage, the lower part has an extra heater (on the outside against the glass), and the highest part is closer to the hood, so I would assume its 80-85 in the lower and upper areas. There was a large climbing structure that was made for an extra long cage, but I turned it on end, so they have a huge amount of climbing and relaxing room. They have been everywhere from the water dish, to the tops of the branches every once in awhile, and seem to be moving around enouph. My biggest worry... petco never once even mentioned running water, or humidity. all there cages are at 50%, but I see online 70-80% is whats needed. and Water and humidity are extremely important. It makes me worried. I've been soaking the moss and everything with water, trying to raise the humidity. they had misters with suction cup type things. required a air pump. (I see that keeping me up at night.) or a waterfall, or a system that slowly drips water from a resevoire. they used none of these in there own tanks.
they didn't seem to think any of these would be neccessary.
So on with the questions.

Noises will keep me up at night. I know a waterfall or anything using an air pump would terrorize my sleep. If I get the drip thing, or even possibly more than one, to trickle water down the branches, and mist with a bottle twice a day, (and raise humidity to 80%) would that suffice?

Should I count how many worms I put in there dish? How many should they be eating per how many days? and is hand feeding an good thing? (this soon) I got calcium food for the crickets. should I dust the worms when I try hand feeding? Gut buster I think. Petco reccommended.

as to crickets, how many should they be eating per how many days. (per lizard)

Judging by my mesurments, How old are they? How fast will they grow and how long to full growth?

And... Will this tank temporarily work? is it feasable to build a tank out of plexi glass? I would think if built well, would be alot cheaper, could be as big as I want, and still retain humitity. But again, I have no idea on these things. A bigger tank would require more heat to. And I'm already hurting in the pocket book.

I'm already losing sleep worring about these new friends. I want them to have every chance. These are as important to me as any dog or cat. Again, I'll post pictures tomarrow if I can. Mabey you could help me determine species. Thanks again!

Sorry for my horrible spelling. I had meant to run my posts through a spellcheck before posting, but I forgot.

I'm using a red 100w bulb for heat(on 24hrs a day)
and a UV bulb (12hrs a day) is this good? again, petco instructions.

and I'm assuming I should be keeping the worm dirt moist?
I've been using a turkey baster to keep everything really moist. Humity has raised to 60. Tomarrow I'm going to look at mist systems, and everything else to see whats available to fix this.
Again, thanks for any advice.

First, I’m always glad to hear that my site has been of some help. It is hard to answer everything there and even more difficult for a new pet owner to know exactly where to find the answers!

The tank you describe is a 29 or a 30 tall. Either way, it is too small for long term care. It is a good size for a quarantine or hospital tank and is also a good starter tank for the hatchlings. Turning on end should get you by until you can enlarge.

Due to the small size you are describing and the number of A. lepidogaster that have been appearing in the pet shops I would venture a guess that this is the species you have. Of course, a photo would make for a much better identification.

The A. lepidogaster attain an adult length of 7.5-10” with the male ultimately being larger than the female if the currently printed literature is accurate. I know that my female is about 1” larger than the male right now but there is no way of knowing if they are the same age or not.

I have only gotten my pair to partake of nightcrawlers on one occasion and they were very small worms. They don’t seem to eat a lot of anything but I do find mealworms and small roaches disappear slowly from their bowl. I am considering giving crickets a try. I have yet to find the feeder that really stimulates them. They have eaten an occasional silkworm but just don’t feed like my A. capra do.

I’m not so sure what the temps should be for A. lepidogaster either. I think your temps are a bit on the warm side and know they would be too warm for A. capra who prefer a maximum high of 80°F. With all of my Acanthosaura species I like to set them up so that the temperature is cooler at the bottom. I find that if the ambient air temps get too warm they will move to the bottom to cool off. I think this is more in line with the way they would thermoregulate in the wild since the forest floor would be relatively cool compared to the air in the tops of the trees.

One possible fix for the humidity is to use a fogger. You can set it on a timer so that it fogs at regular scheduled times. In conjunction with an air stone or waterfall I only use this for a half hour each at dusk and dawn. If you can’t stand the air pump consider running it just during the day when you won’t be sleeping. This will still boost the humidity and with make the dragons more comfortable. Then use the fogger and you should see a marked improvement in humidity. I wouldn’t over water as the soil can get pretty rank if it stays wet all the time.

I would keep track of what you put in their food dish just so you can know if and what they are eating. As long as they are healthy how much they eat isn’t an issue but if you know what the norm is for them you will notice if there are any changes that could be a warning in case of illness.

I would feed the feeder insects a good gut load. I would dust with a good vitamin dust once a week as well as gut-loading and would also dust with a good calcium once a week.

It is possible to build a tank out of plexiglas or you can build a plexiglas topper for a large aquarium to give it the needed height. I am using the mesh reptariums and modifying them by wrapping 4mil plastic around the bottom and sides to hold in the humidity.

Instead of worrying about heating your tank, concentrate on the humidity. If your temps aren’t in the mid to upper 70’s then simply place a heat lamp, you can by a brooder light at a farm supply for under $10, and use a low watt light bulb in it. Place it on top of the tank, or in your case with the tank on its side, facing the upper part of the screen. Start with a low watt bulb and increase if needed to get the 78-80 daytime high. Temps can drop as low as 65 at night with no ill effects.

Now, to answer your second set of questions:

I'm using a red 100w bulb for heat(on 24hrs a day) and a UV bulb (12hrs a day) is this good? again, petco instructions.

WAY TOO WARM! Petco wants us to think that all reptiles need a hot environment, just isn’t so. These animals come from a cooler mountain rainforest and see very little sun.

and I'm assuming I should be keeping the worm dirt moist?

Yes, keep the worm bedding moist or they will dry out. Not too moist though or you will have a real smelly mess on your hands!

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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html