new to the world Nozdormu

[Incc74656i]

meet Nozdormu, got him the same day she came into petsmart. she was hiding way in the back and ran away when we put our hands in the tank.

https://imgur.com/gallery/uC3lMvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCsM3bjAK3g
the only way i can get him to drink https://youtu.be/T5GBgNeG7jo

 

[KarrieRee]

Welcome cool idea w/ the drinking ---- if you have any questions about the care please ask -- make sure you have the correct lighting NO coil UVB's long tube fixture I can help w/ that if you need it -- make sure basking temps are 105-110 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer --- those thing I just posted are the MOST important things in the tank ---

 

[Incc74656i]

i dont have probes yet, just stick on temp guys right now. his tank is only 1/2 built, i ran out of wood today so maybe ill be done next week.
i bought a 36" uvb10 T5 the other week so i have that. then i have two tungston filament basking lights.
im thinking of getting a space heater external and running duct work from it to the tank on a thermocouple so the ambient temps can remain steady.

i will need advice on bioactive when i get to that point, i dont want to buy from the bio dude due to cost so id like to just make my own 'soil mulch whatever' and buy some isopods for it...

 

[KarrieRee]

You need those digital probes ASAP so you can get actual basking temps -- those are extremely important - are you using the T 5 now? I do not know what those filament bulbs are but they need to be a bright white basking bulb that keeps temps 105-110 for her- those temps and that UVB are the most important thing in that tank shes in --- I do not believe those bulbs arent going to work for basking- you want to mimic the sun so she starts digestion -- you also want UVA which is what the basking bulb will give off --

 

[Incc74656i]

her basking temps are around 110 by my crappy digital thermometer. i plan to use an Arduino off a relay bank to control basking/humidity/heat. the tungsten filaments seem to produce the widest range of light frequencies, at least by the spec sheets i looked at. they are basically flood lights but the older generation.

once i get the whole tank built ill need to decide where i want the basking at. given its over 4 feet tall i could have a few levels of heat

 

[CooperDragon]

The filament bulbs should work for basking as long as they're producing appropriate surface temps. When combined with good UVB output, they should do an adequate job of imitating sunlight.

I probably wouldn't run a space heater into the enclosure. They often don't need much extra heat overnight if any. Temps should drop a bit, into the high 60s or low 70s overnight. If the temps inside the enclosure drop below that, I suggest using an Arcadia heat projector bulb to bump the heat just a little bit as needed. These can be controlled via pulse or on/off thermostat if needed.

 

[Incc74656i]

ill check out hte bulbs. my thought was that at night i cant run the bulb and i dont know if the house itself would be much over 65/70 in the winter. suppose that might be good enough? im not sure how long it would take the heat lamps to warm the enclosure. suppose ill have to test that. its not built, ill need to make it a bit smaller than id wanted i think, maybe take about 100 gallons off the total size.

ill get it setup then see how the heat goes.

 

[Incc74656i]

i think ill need a heater, just testing the house temps... i dont think ill run heat in the whole house on blast at night. right now the house sits at about 50f and night outside temps are getting into the low 40's here