Hi all!
This is my first reptile, her name is Buttercup. She just got here ~3 days ago so I'm trying to leave her alone to let her acclimate (hence the poor quality images). This forum has been super helpful with figuring out what she needs and what to avoid!
Husbandry (please chime in if something needs fixed as this is my first reptile, I did a lot of research but may have overlooked something):
- Substrate: She's on paper towels now though at some point I'd like to try bioactive when her big tank gets here. She's in a 40 gallon for now, but her 4x2x2 should be here next week and I'll move her when she's a bit bigger.
- Temps: Her basking area is between 95 and 105 (daytime ambient temp dependent). I have a temp gun, and two different brands of stick on thermometers on each side and they're all in the same range so that will have to be okay until I can get a probe, and her cool side is 75-80. Overnight temps are around 65-70 degrees. Once her big tank is here I'll be getting a Herpstat to help keep temps stable.
- Lights: She has a white light heat lamp on the basking side and a Arcadia T5 UV light (22inch 12% UV for desert reptiles sitting on top of the wire that goes almost the length of the tank. I read that 12% is high enough UV to sit on top of the mesh, but someone correct me if I'm wrong and need to fix). Her lights are on a timer, and come on automatically at 8AM and go off at 8PM.
Diet: She's eating well, so well I ran out of Dubias this morning and need to buy more today and has had a bowel movement every morning on her basking rock, which is nice because it's an easy clean up. I've been giving her as many Dubias as she'll eat in a 15 minute period, 3 times a day, a meal worm or two once a day, and a salad first thing in the morning when lights go on. Dubias are dusted with Reptical and vitamin supplement. She's taken a couple greens from my hands, but hasn't had much interest in the salad. She has a water bowl, but I've been dripping water on her nose every morning and evening.
Decor: She has several pieces of drift wood to hide under on the cool side, and a basking platform on the hot side, a small water bowl. Three sides of the tank are covered with newspaper so my dog doesn't scare her. She has a wheat grass plant that I leave in there during the day and take out at night (night time humidity gets higher if it's left in there) with her for some enrichment, and she likes to climb up and nibble on the top of the grass. Besides her basking spot, this is her favorite spot to be.
The only hiccup we've had so far is Dubia Roaches. I ordered a bunch in advance of getting her, but the company cancelled the shipping label and seems to have possibly ghosted me (no response to my emails and no refund to my account). Roaches are like 8 dollars for 25 small ones locally so if anyone has suggestion on where to buy some online that ship quickly, let me know! Between Buttercup and all of her stuff I've already spent nearly 700 dollars, so I'm glad I was prepared and did a lot of research, because there's still more things I will need in the future. Definitely not a pet to get on a whim. My family breeds show dogs, so I know that a lot goes into animal husbandry and it's typically a bad idea to just pick an animal up at the pet store on a whim. Her breeder has been very helpful and I'm glad I have someone I can reach out to in case of any trouble.
**Update** her Dubias came not a moment after I'd posted this, so we're set on roaches!
This is my first reptile, her name is Buttercup. She just got here ~3 days ago so I'm trying to leave her alone to let her acclimate (hence the poor quality images). This forum has been super helpful with figuring out what she needs and what to avoid!
Husbandry (please chime in if something needs fixed as this is my first reptile, I did a lot of research but may have overlooked something):
- Substrate: She's on paper towels now though at some point I'd like to try bioactive when her big tank gets here. She's in a 40 gallon for now, but her 4x2x2 should be here next week and I'll move her when she's a bit bigger.
- Temps: Her basking area is between 95 and 105 (daytime ambient temp dependent). I have a temp gun, and two different brands of stick on thermometers on each side and they're all in the same range so that will have to be okay until I can get a probe, and her cool side is 75-80. Overnight temps are around 65-70 degrees. Once her big tank is here I'll be getting a Herpstat to help keep temps stable.
- Lights: She has a white light heat lamp on the basking side and a Arcadia T5 UV light (22inch 12% UV for desert reptiles sitting on top of the wire that goes almost the length of the tank. I read that 12% is high enough UV to sit on top of the mesh, but someone correct me if I'm wrong and need to fix). Her lights are on a timer, and come on automatically at 8AM and go off at 8PM.
Diet: She's eating well, so well I ran out of Dubias this morning and need to buy more today and has had a bowel movement every morning on her basking rock, which is nice because it's an easy clean up. I've been giving her as many Dubias as she'll eat in a 15 minute period, 3 times a day, a meal worm or two once a day, and a salad first thing in the morning when lights go on. Dubias are dusted with Reptical and vitamin supplement. She's taken a couple greens from my hands, but hasn't had much interest in the salad. She has a water bowl, but I've been dripping water on her nose every morning and evening.
Decor: She has several pieces of drift wood to hide under on the cool side, and a basking platform on the hot side, a small water bowl. Three sides of the tank are covered with newspaper so my dog doesn't scare her. She has a wheat grass plant that I leave in there during the day and take out at night (night time humidity gets higher if it's left in there) with her for some enrichment, and she likes to climb up and nibble on the top of the grass. Besides her basking spot, this is her favorite spot to be.
The only hiccup we've had so far is Dubia Roaches. I ordered a bunch in advance of getting her, but the company cancelled the shipping label and seems to have possibly ghosted me (no response to my emails and no refund to my account). Roaches are like 8 dollars for 25 small ones locally so if anyone has suggestion on where to buy some online that ship quickly, let me know! Between Buttercup and all of her stuff I've already spent nearly 700 dollars, so I'm glad I was prepared and did a lot of research, because there's still more things I will need in the future. Definitely not a pet to get on a whim. My family breeds show dogs, so I know that a lot goes into animal husbandry and it's typically a bad idea to just pick an animal up at the pet store on a whim. Her breeder has been very helpful and I'm glad I have someone I can reach out to in case of any trouble.
**Update** her Dubias came not a moment after I'd posted this, so we're set on roaches!