A note - this is experimental, and
not recommended
my Sav has been in ''cool season'' since November, and I'm getting ready to run a ''dry season'' simulation, upto mid-march latest, at which point (s)he'll be going into a 10X6 enclosure
I was hesitant to post this up, i'd like to ask first that we leave aside the previous discussions on this topic, which got a little overheated, would be great if we could focus on finding the safest way to approach this based on your experience and understanding of Sav's, i've tried to integrate everything I have learnt so far to do this...your advice and suggestions are very welcome!
i built a nesting box a few months ago, basically a ~2.2ft cube, filled almost to the top with soil-sand mix, and heated to 86f, this was just incase the main enclosure substrate wasnt right, and it turned out to be a she needing to lay eggs
The nest box is connected to the main enclosure via a plastic tunnel, my Sav hasnt shown any interest in it at all so far, nosed around a few times, but still sleeping in the main enclosure, but I think it will become a retreat once I switch the temps and humidity over.
So the plan, is to use a nesting box as a cool and humid hide, and the main enclosure as a hot and dry area.
For ''dry season'' (now to march) i am going to reduce the heating temp of the nesting box to about 75-78f, and keep the humidity at 90%, and then bump the basking temps up to 160f in the main enclosure, aswell as increase ventilation so its a bit drier (~30%), i'm also switching the lamps to Halides for a higher UV boost during this stage
going to a Herp Vet on friday for a checkup, but he/she seems pretty healthy, a little overweight (no surprise after cooling for a while), given the expected change in apatite I think thats probably not a bad thing in the short term
getting blood tests for Liver and Kidney Function, White Cell counts, and fecal parasite checks, aswell as BMI, all for comparison mid-march at a 2nd check up.
I was thinking of modifying the diet aswell during the simulation, my logic being that insects populations crash during dry seasons, so feeding mainly carrion type foods, highly nutritious and low fat (livers/kidneys/hearts etc), and dubias & giant snails, maybe a few big scorpians too, all depending on apatite
thoughts, comments and suggestions very welcome
My expectations:
- Appetite reduction or possibly total fast
- Reduction in activity
- Weight Loss
- Increased immune response as a result of:
Breeding Behaviour / Ovulation triggered late March when switching to optimal (rainy season) climate control
Long term? Who knows, it is difficult to measure genetic repair without lots of money, but studies have shown that fasting is an important trigger for genetic repair, so potentially, increased life span, but with just one Sav, in one setup with, one set of environmental conditions, designed by someone new to monitors, its impossible to measure this properly...for now
Then again, none of the above may happen
Stage 3 (Dry Season)
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