Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All,
I just wanted to get some opinions about showering these lizards. Especially the armatas, but for the others as well. I just took out my two new female armatas from the shower, I had let them sit in it for about 25 min or so. I saw one drink, and the other seemed very active. Do you all think this is OK to do? I would like to start doing this for all of them, I am getting sick of them drinking from the sprayer, which I hold for them as long as they want, and as a result, I flood the tank. I am really tired of doing this. And it would be nice for me to be able to mist them to keep the humidity up etc., but let them really get moisturized in the shower. Please let me know what you all think, thanks.

Evan

I try not to handle my imports, they acclimate faster this way.
Yours haven’t even started eating, why stress them out this way?
It’s usually not a good thing when wild lizards are being grabbed (predator).
I only handle if necessary, this increases my breeding chances, Later I can handle the babies without stress.
Help them acclimate by leaving them alone and quiet.

No need to mist or shower, a simple drop of water in there water bowl in the morning will trigger a response, I do this by placing an ice cube on top and let it melt, the steady drops hitting the water gets all there attention, they drink 10 fold more this way then when sprayed. They also bath every morning so I change the water every evening (they like fresh water) this is perfect as I feed around noon when they are well hydrated and heated up. Good routine.

I picked up a few bags of drippers at the Hospital, they work fine.

Thank you!!! I am getting really worried and I hope I haven't sealed their fates already. I have a tendency to bother new pets too much as it is. Thank you!!!! I have a waterfall in there right now. Will this suffice for watering? I don't want to ad a drip system unless I have to. The big female has already used it once the first morning with me. I am actually going to hang a towel over the front of their cage as it is large, and I am frequently walking past it. I already have standing water in it. I am telling you, that is my number one pet peeve! I hate it. So you don't think it is a good idea to mist them at all? How do I keep up the humidity then?

Evan

I already told you to cover the top, this will keep your cage hydrated.

And yes regular 25w bulbs and reflector will give you 130f basking at 6in, I get mine at dollar store. They are excellent for your size cage, larger cage will need more then one bulb.

jobi,
Speaking of the cages I have, how many lizards, those that are already mostly full grown, do you think could fit in one? I have to be missing something here, my 25 watt bulbs never get that hot. Are yours spot bulbs, or just normal room lights? (I didn't know the dollar store sold reptile bulbs.) Thanks.

Evan

25w regular light bulbs, those we use in the house not for reptiles.
Sylvania or Philips, look at my photo, as you can see this bulb cant burn my skin, but still it heats more then enough, yet its harmless even for baby lizards, to obtain good basking the reflector is mandatory, otherwise most of the heat will go to waste on the upper part of your cage.

I have no problems keeping 2 adult females per cage, I even add a male when it’s mating time. Like I said before this cage size works very well with these lizards.

I did try larger cages but then new problems start showing up.

Be honest with me! Am I hard to understand?
When I write English I don’t see my mistakes of language, to me its all good.

jobi,
LOL, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that YOU were hard to understand. No, no. Just that I have never had a 25w bulb get that hot. But, I have been using the Zoo Med spot bulbs. Interesting, I might switch. right now I'm using 50s, the 25s just didn't seem to do anything, warm directly beneath them for about 2 1/2 inches, but cold everywhere else. Annoying. The 50s seem to be working very well for me. The warm spot is about 88F with an ambient temp of about 75F or so if I remember right. The lizards seem to like this, the female capra especially. She sleeps beneath it sometimes. So 3 per cage, darn I have one too many. I was thinking about getting a 4" tall cage for all four of them (capras). It's glass, with a screen top. I'm thinking that's what I'll do, I really want them all together. Marcia, I think keeps some of hers in bigger tanks like that with no problems so... The new female armatas seem very limp when held. And, I have been letting them settle in, just when I did hold them, they seemed almost lifeless. Limp like I said. Now, they've only been with me since Tuesday, but do you have any thoughts? I have covered their tank, and left them alone. Though, I do still spray them as they seem to become active when I do so. The smaller one even drinks. As I said, I have a water fall in there for them, but I'm thinking it might be too warm, right now it's 77 on the cool side. I'm using a 75 in there because it isn't as well insulated as the Exo Terra ones as it has screen on two sides. (I have covered this with saran wrap.) What do you think?

No, your English is quite good for it being a second language, if I could write in Spanish that well, I'd have it made, and Spanish isn't even close to as hard as English is. A few grammatical mistakes are to be expected, no problem.

Thanks and Happy Holidays, Evan

when my room temps where at 70-72f I used a heat matt under my cages, this along with my 25w basking worked well. the heat matt was on 24/7 the basking on a timer.
I eliminated all heat mats by raising my room temperature to 78f. all my lizards have NTL 78f except for gravid females witch I leave the lights on.

when I started keeping these dragons, all my cages where designed for varanids, 2 size 6L-3H-3W feet and 8H-6L-6W feet, sins I started demolishing the smaller cages, I started keeping dragons in the large walk inn cages, I those I kept one specie per cage 6.6,in these cages I placed several 6ft trees of various species native to Asia, the walls covered with multiple epiphytes and climbing plants, a large water cascade almost the entire back wall, these cages are built with floor heating, therefore ambient temps could be controlled easily and floods where use as basking along with multiple plant fluorescents. these cages are much better then zoo exhibits as they are designed for reptiles not peoples looking at reptiles.

none of the dragons did well in them, they proved to be highly stressed from crowding, in nature one male can have 20 times this space as territory and so can females, therefore all subordinated lizards slowly perished until one dominant male and one or two females remained. now my conclusion, this remaining pair or trio performs better in a smaller cage then in a walk inn enclosure, simply because stress is reduced.

the way you set up your lizards is up to you, my story today is the same story iv said before on this forum, if you understand it or not descent really mater, sometimes a keeper must experience on his own to fully comprehend group dynamic and stress relations.