laurasimpkins
New member
First, thank you to those of you who field some variation of these questions daily. I have read through them, but am still worried about my set-up.
We bought Alby/Cinnamon/Loki (I have an indecisive 8 year-old) 2 weeks ago. She is about 8 inches nose-tail, thus we are guessing 4-ish months. She is currently shedding a bit.
Set-up:
Right now in a 20 gallon tall. Will move to 55 or larger in the next few months.
Substrate is a mix of papertowel, reptile carpet and tile.
I have an 18” Zilla aquarium hood, but I took the 50 bulb out a replaced with the recommended 10.0 reptisun, and removed the acrylic cover. The hood sits on top of the mesh lid. Next to the hood is the basking light. We bought a fancy reptile basking bulb, which is a whopping 150 watts, but I also bought a probe thermometer and it reads 105 on top of the rock under the basking light. Based on info I’ve read here that is the low end for juvies….but goshdarn it’s hot in my son’s room! She sometimes sits on the rock and basks and opens her mouth, but mostly she seems to hide under a log in the shade.
Food is second concern - she doesn't seem to be eating as much as I was led to believe. She eats about 6-10 crickets in the morning (dusting with calcium powder about 80% of the time). and then sometimes she'll eat another 6 or so in the afternoon. I am gutloading the crickets in a 10 gallon tank in the garage.That's pretty much all she's eating. I put fresh salad mixtures in her tank twice a day - escarole, dandelion greens, celery leaves, tiny pieces of apple, mango, carrot, green bean....the only thing she has tried is the escarole and the celery leaves, maybe 2 or 3 pieces. In 2 weeks. I also bought some TRex Beardie food and hydrated it (it had mealworms in it), and she wasn't even slightly tempted.
She HATES baths...so we mist her a few times a day, which she doesn't seem to care about. I have never seen her drink from her water bowl, or from her bath, or from the spray bottle, or from the rock when I spray it a little, or from her salad greens, which I also spray. I try dropping tiny droplets onto her nose and mouth but she won't open her mouth to lick them. I'm worried she is dehydrated. We’re in Denver, Colorado, USA, where it is DRY and HOT.
Thank you, so much, for your friendly advice and expertise.
We bought Alby/Cinnamon/Loki (I have an indecisive 8 year-old) 2 weeks ago. She is about 8 inches nose-tail, thus we are guessing 4-ish months. She is currently shedding a bit.
Set-up:
Right now in a 20 gallon tall. Will move to 55 or larger in the next few months.
Substrate is a mix of papertowel, reptile carpet and tile.
I have an 18” Zilla aquarium hood, but I took the 50 bulb out a replaced with the recommended 10.0 reptisun, and removed the acrylic cover. The hood sits on top of the mesh lid. Next to the hood is the basking light. We bought a fancy reptile basking bulb, which is a whopping 150 watts, but I also bought a probe thermometer and it reads 105 on top of the rock under the basking light. Based on info I’ve read here that is the low end for juvies….but goshdarn it’s hot in my son’s room! She sometimes sits on the rock and basks and opens her mouth, but mostly she seems to hide under a log in the shade.
Food is second concern - she doesn't seem to be eating as much as I was led to believe. She eats about 6-10 crickets in the morning (dusting with calcium powder about 80% of the time). and then sometimes she'll eat another 6 or so in the afternoon. I am gutloading the crickets in a 10 gallon tank in the garage.That's pretty much all she's eating. I put fresh salad mixtures in her tank twice a day - escarole, dandelion greens, celery leaves, tiny pieces of apple, mango, carrot, green bean....the only thing she has tried is the escarole and the celery leaves, maybe 2 or 3 pieces. In 2 weeks. I also bought some TRex Beardie food and hydrated it (it had mealworms in it), and she wasn't even slightly tempted.
She HATES baths...so we mist her a few times a day, which she doesn't seem to care about. I have never seen her drink from her water bowl, or from her bath, or from the spray bottle, or from the rock when I spray it a little, or from her salad greens, which I also spray. I try dropping tiny droplets onto her nose and mouth but she won't open her mouth to lick them. I'm worried she is dehydrated. We’re in Denver, Colorado, USA, where it is DRY and HOT.
Thank you, so much, for your friendly advice and expertise.