Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Need help with enclosure ideas i am building 8x4x4
What lighting, substrate and other things should i include?

Substrate - good old fashion dirt, mix in a little sand and you have the best substrate ever, your dirt needs to be 18 inches to two feet deep so the lizard can dig burrows.

For lighting a bank of 3 halogen floodlights of 45-50 watts each suspended over a basking platform that you will need to check with a temp gun to make sure you have 130-150 degrees of heat at the basking platform.

There is a bunch of pictures and other great keeping info at SavannahMonitor.co, I have provided you with a link.

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Savannah Monitor Care

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Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey
Thamnophis US
Savannah Monitors
Snakes and Lizards, It don't get any better....

thank you but what about nightime heat source

Hi, supplementary nighttime heat depends on the ambient (air) temp in the room the enclosure is in.
The lowest ambient temp I would recommend is between 21 to 24c (72 to 75f). If you do need to add a heat bulb, either an infrared bulb, or a ceramic heat emitter are fine.
The infrared emmits a little light as well as heat, the ceramic heat only. So long as your monitor has hiding places, the light from the infrared should not disturb the animal at all.

so the basking spot should be turned off at night?
and my room temp is almost 80 degrees...
also can he breathe through the wood if it is completley sealed

Hi again, if the lowest ambient (air) temp in the room does not fall below a minimum of 21c (72f), then you do not need to provide extra heat bulbs. You will obviously need them during the day at the basking site: A surface temp between approx 50 to 60c (120 to 140f).
There will be air exchange when you do enclosure maintenance, but you CAN have a small vent just above the substrate level at one side, you can always cover it if any problems stabilising the temps and humidity occur, but I very much doubt that will happen. The problem would be if there were vents higher in the enclosure, then the heat and humidity would escape.

thank you i really appreciate the help.

You`re most welcome to the advise, keep asking the questions, I`ve found it`s the best way to learn (so long as the answers are reliable of course)!

thank you but what about nightime heat source

murrindindi explained it above.

If you have a well built, well sealed enclosure with the deep dirt substrate, the enclosure will hold much of it's heat overnight.
-----
Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey
Thamnophis US
Savannah Monitors
Snakes and Lizards, It don't get any better....