Reptile & Amphibian Forums

To all,

So what do all of you recommend for a setup? Closed top? What type of wattage for bulbs?-basking, UVB, ceramic? I have 160 watt UV basking bulbs, 40 watt UVB bulbs, and 160 and 250 watt ceramic bulbs(with thermostat). I'm a lot newer to all of this than you guys, so I'd just like to have some opinions. There's a lot of knowlege floating around this forum.

I have 4.5x3x2.5 plastic stock tanks with a screen top that is partially covered with acrylic. Should I scrap those and remake all acrylic? Hot spot is 120, ambient 85.

I have red ackies and freckleds at this point and have never been clear on their humidity requirements. I try to keep them around 50-60% when the season is dry around me, but not sure if this may be too low or not. I don't have any problems in seasons other than winter, as the humidity is relatively high where I live.

Any advice any of you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Farfel

wow, you're using a lot of electricity there You might be better off dumping all that expensive stuff and just going with a few simple halogen bulbs from home depot (make sure it doesn't have the clear hexagon in the center as those heat unevenly). They heat up better than reptile bulbs, and last longer. UV is often disputed. If you like the piece of mind you get from having it, keep it. Many people get by just fine without using it though, so it could save some money. If you don't use it, supplements become more important.

As far as humidity, monitors do well with a deep layer of good, burrowable dirt. You find the right dirt, experiment with it a little, put it in, and let them go. Poor water on a couple times a week to keep the lower layers moist. The top layer will naturally be dry because of the heat lamps. The monitors will build their own burrows....I'm not sure if you are using this or not, but it didn't sound like it from your post. If you have trouble finding good dirt from nature, you can make a pretty decent home made soil with about 50% topsoil, 25% sand, and 25% vermiculite.

Other than that, just make sure the temps are good. You can make it easier to get the high temps by creating an elevated basking spot to get them close to the heat lamps. A simple retes stack (as described on proexotics.com) works very well.