Soil/Substrate Tempretures

[formica]

I've seen a bit of discussion about this, generally suggesting using some kind heating; I'm not sure tho, I've done allot soil sampling (looking for ant habitats) and the soil within 3-4inches of the surface can be 20-30C lower than the ambient air tempreture, and 40-50C+ lower than the surface tempreture in in open land and blazing mid-day african sunshine

is there any data on this for monitor burrows? I dont want to add additional heatin which will reduce the amount of moisture avilable over time, my room is kept at a stead 21C, his cool area, where the digging substrate is, is 24C, i havent tempreture probed the substrate yet (its broke :( ) but wondered what your thoughts on this are


also, as grass is such an excellent plant for creating root systems to hold soil together, can someone recomend me a savanna grassland type grass I can grow usin seed in his burrowing area? doesnt matter if he makes a mess of it, I just want to provide a good burrowin substrate, this isnt about aesthetics

please excuse my spelling, i'm dislexic, i always correct when i can :)

[murrindindi]

Hi again, once the temps stabilise the heat bulbs will obviously increase the substrate temp at least on the surface around the basking area, and if the room temp stays around 21c then that should ensure the substrate temp doesn`t fall below that.
It`s important to have a range of temps from the surface to the bottom anyway, especially if you have a female (nesting site), for a male not so much, other than it doesn`t get below 21c (72f).
I would check online to see if there are any "savannah " type grasses available (I`m sure there are). If the substrate is very well tamped down it should be fine, to help keep it moist I use Orchid bark or leaves on top of the soil/sand (it doesn`t matter if it all gets mixed up when the monitor digs).