Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering what type of stone is good for a basking plat form and if it should be raised up so that air can pass under it. I used to have a stone that I used for the basking platform but it seemed to get SO hot and retained heat so well that i thought it would surly burn my savanna. Right now I have a pyramid thing going on, just some cheap "basking rock" from the petstore that has air passing under it but A: Its retains no heat what so ever and B: SHE DOESNT USE IT! I have never seen her bask while i have had this thing in there and that disturbs me, its also probably the main reason why shes not growing very well. So i was wondering what types of rock could stay on the ground and retain heat well without burning her. Let me know what ya think Thanks!
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Rydair

0.0.1 Savanna Monitor (Were guessing girl)
0.0.1 Painted Turtal
0.0.1 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Hampster
1.1.0 Parakeets
1.0.0 Ferret
0.1.0 African Clawed Frog
0.1.0 Cat
15 assorted fish
coming soon:
1 baby sugarglider (Late June/Early July)
all in the bedroom of a 17 year old girl

I am not totally sure what you mean by basking stone? You can use a number of different things for a basking spot. You should get a temp gun, it sounds like the first option you descrbed (the one that got very hot and retained the heat) is the one you should use. Get a temp gun and get a good reading. It can be up to 160 f no problem as long as the ambient temps are kept up on the warm side. The key is if the lizard doesn't use it then it is worthless and needs to be changed. It is only important what the lizard thinks, not you. You have to figure out what is wrong and fix it so it will use it. Generally speaking i try to get basking spots to at least 130 f.

good luck,
steve

I used about 1500 pounds of granite in here.