ackie cage

salan_manak · 02-03-04, 05:49 PM

this is my yellow ackie cage (i don't have one yet). i will be putting in a UV bulb i already have a 150 watt bulb. the tank is 50 gallons i am also putting in a water dish. How big should the water dish be for a 8-10 inche ackie. Is everything in the tank ok for a ackie.

mathaldo · 02-03-04, 05:57 PM

Here, it's better now.

Bartman · 02-03-04, 06:33 PM

Nice tank...where are the ackies

Jeff_Favelle · 02-03-04, 09:56 PM

Don't bother with the UV bulb, get a "Retes" stack or something of similar mechanism in there, and may find that "dirt" to be not so great for ackies. Looks like peat and perlite, which may or may not prove useful for your monitors. I wouldn't use it.

salan_manak · 02-03-04, 10:50 PM

What substrate would you use. What is a "retes" stack. What is peat and perlite.

Kyle Walkinshaw · 02-03-04, 11:53 PM

For little monitors i'd add some hiding areas i.e cork bark, exo-terra huts. Looks like potting soil your using for your substrate, for my 5 month old ackies I use a bed-a-beast type expandable substrate. Im not sure if potting soil would or would not work as a substrate for these guys, if thats even what your using, hard to tell. What do you use Jeff??

Jeff_Favelle · 02-04-04, 12:38 AM

For the desert stuff like Ackies, I stay away from soils completely. I use dirt. Silty, alkaline, dirt. You can raise them on soil. Totally. They will grow. But dirt seems best for egg-laying, hole-digging, etc etc. Just look at the habitat where they come from. No soil there. Just dirt and rocks. Soil is not USEABLE for them. And when housing an animal in 1/100,000th the size of what it would get in nature, I wouldn't bother with anything that isn't useable. No room for it.

Retes stacks are a stack (usually made of wood) that have levels upon levels of horizontal plys. They are like a mini bookcase that sits underneath the lamp (hot spot) to allow the monitor to choose a WIDE variety of temperatures. If it wants to be HOT, bask at the top. Less hot? Go one level down. Cool? Bottom level. Etc etc etc.

Dirt:

Go HERE for a Retes Stack. Minus the holes cut out in the middle though. What's the point of levels if you're just going to let the beams of heat through???

http://www.proexotics.com/FAQ_answer...tes_Stack.html

salan_manak · 02-04-04, 04:46 PM

I use organic potting soil

mathaldo · 02-04-04, 04:58 PM

Jeff,
You can only get dirt in the spring or summer right, because now the ground is frozen, so wouldn't potting soil be okay for a couple months? Where could you go to get "pesiticide free" dirt? Also is the Retes stack necessary? You said you don't need a UV light, is that in your opinion?
Thanks

reptiguy123 · 02-04-04, 06:06 PM

UV lights have not been proven to benefit monitors in any way.

Jeff_Favelle · 02-04-04, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Jeff,
You can only get dirt in the spring or summer right, because now the ground is frozen, so wouldn't potting soil be okay for a couple months? Where could you go to get "pesiticide free" dirt? Also is the Retes stack necessary? You said you don't need a UV light, is that in your opinion?
Thanks

http://www.varanus.net/faq/