Savannah Monitor Redemption

[nepoez]

Hi All,

I am a failed savannah monitor owner many months ago. Using the wrong info from books and internet causing gout and death of my baby savannah named Nugget. After it was too late I came across infernelis's website and started learning about the right ways of keeping savannahs. Also got the book about the truth about savannah monitors(recently got a better/clearer version from this forum) But I have been reading a lot of the correct info for the past few months.

Today I will be receiving 2 baby savannahs! No clue what sex they are. I'm very excited but almost worried at the same time that I will do something wrong. So I want to keep here a journal of what I'm doing so that people can quickly correct me if I'm doing something wrong.

I had sand before this, which now I know is bad but here below is what I have got now, and what I'll get in a couple months.

I converted my old dessert tank into a moist tank.
- aprx 2ftx4ftx3ft
- half a foot of soil/sand mix(75%/25%) (moist but not wet on the top, except when I dump water in it)
- Right side is raised brick with a MVB bulb + ceramic bulb that yields a 130F basking spot
- left side has no heating which gets coldest of 75-80F ambient
- and anywhere between the 2 points is a gradient b/t the 2 points of temps, avg(middle part is 85-90F)
- tank is sealed with just a couple small gaps on the top that doesn't let much moisture or heat out. Humidity can be 60-70% I can feel the humidity when I open the tank in my face.
- I need the ceramic emitter because it's cold here at night and when the light turns off the emitter will prevent the cage from cooling down.

This tank will last a couple months for the babies, then I'll be building a 8x4x4feet tank this summer, that's as big as I can make to fit in my house. Using the same technique above except, I won't be using MVB, but
- 3 flood light halogen 45W,
- with 1 UVB coil bulb
- I'll be putting in 1.5ft of soil/sand mix
- I wanna add some roly polies and spring tails if I can find any, also earth worms in the soil
- I want to try to make the substrate bio-active


I plan to give them crickets and super worms. Not sure if I can dust that many crickets since they eat lots, so should I just feed the crickets fruits, grains and fluker's high calcium cricket food? Or can I mix reptile calcium powder into whatever I feed the crickets/worms? I need some guidance in this area, couldn't really find any good info about this specific area.

Anything else you see wrong here, please let me know! I'm here to make sure I'm doing things right this time.

I'm so excited! I've been counting down to this day! Please do not let me screw this up! And I'll be posting pictures and maybe videos! Then I'll keep updating this thread to keep everyone updated on what's going on, etc... thx!