Ackie enclosure help!!!!

[jbreadyrltw]

hey guys, so im getting a pair of red ackies from Brandon at rare earth on the 25th of November. I am picking up my custom cage one of my buddies built for me who runs a monitor rescue.. the cage is (LxWxH) 3x2x4. Brandon told me cage size was plenty good as ackies love to climb if given the option. Now here is my question. I have 3 in cage mounted ceramic light fixtures at the top of the cage.1 for heat/basking (which I have a shelf built for to make a nice bask area), uvb(I know most argue its not needed but it cant hurt), and a night bulb to keep ambient night temps around 80. Brandon said he was concerned with the bulb at the top of the cage not being able to keep the substrate at 85 degrees which I know is essential for breeding and egg laying. He recommended getting rid of the top bulb for heat and placing a side mounted bulb about 9 inches off the soil(which will be 1 foot deep) what are your thoughts? I like having the heat lamp up high as I stated I have a nice built in basking shelf up there and I have some cork log and 3 feet long sandblasted grapevine that I was going to put up to the basking shelf. but I also want the soil at 85 degrees for breeding purposes. any thoughts appreciated!

[Lankyrob]

Can you use an under soil heat pad to keep the substrate warm?

[jbreadyrltw]

I am sure that could work, trying to look at all options and get as many ideas as possible but that is for sure an option

[Pirarucu]

You could always just add a side mounted bulb and keep the top basking too. Run both and see how it goes. If needed, turn one of them off.

[smy_749]

Underneath does not work. They wont dig deeper for warmer soil near the bottom if the top is cold. Mount the bulb like he said, or have one suspended by its wire from the ceiling.

[jbreadyrltw]

Okay now if I add a side mounted bulb won't that have the enclosure too hot?

[murrindindi]

Hi, can you put up a couple of photos of the setup as it is right now showing the location of the basking bulb/s, etc and also tell me what the temp of the substrate is near the bottom of it? Thanks!

[jbreadyrltw]

hey, I will post up pics soon! I just got the ackies from Brandon at rare earth today! I ended up putting a side mount bulb about 10 inches off the soil on the right side which is the same side basking ledge is built on, then aimed towards soil and its making soil temp up top at 90, then 83 at the bottom :) ackies aren't digging yet mainly climbing around and hitting their basking rock ledge at 135 degrees! humidity is 65% they are beautiful color! they haven't eaten when I offered so I took the crickets back out and letting them be till morning. is it normal to not want to eat yet?

[murrindindi]

Hi again, photos will be most welcome asap! They need time to acclimate to the enclosure so not eating is perfectly normal, try not to disturb them, just leave food and clean drinking water, etc..

[jbreadyrltw]

They ate about 15 crickets about an hour ago! haha they then went to there basking spot and laid there! I will post pics soon as I figure out how to from my phone. I got about 6 great photos

[jbreadyrltw]

Also, I have a 150 watt bulb in there now and its about 8-9 inches off their basking spot, temp gets to about 130 degrees. I've been looking at those powersun uv 160 watt bulbs by zoo med. it says it heats "deeper" than normal bulbs so im wondering if that is worth the 60$ and if it will heat my soil 3 feet below any better and will it keep my basking spot between 130-140 degrees? anyone have experience with them?