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Hope infernelis is here to read this, and anyone who has good experience feel free to jump in and help. I am looking at your latest youtube vid and I can really see your savs are way more thin and active than mine has become lately. I noticed your lighting setup in the video below. Can you please describe the type of bulbs, wattage and distance they are to the gound and the temperature they are at when you use a temp gun on the floor of the spot? I've been using 3x50 watt to get a 140F+ but yesterday I am getting desparate and got a 160Watt MVB to replace one of the bulbs but turns out the basking temp of those MVBs are really low unless I move them down closer to the basking board. So that's kind of what I have now.
The reason why I got the MVB is because I wanted to make sure the monitor's whol body would be covered in the light when basking. But I have a feeling I'm doing this all wrong and I'm getting frustrated.
I noticed no one here uses MVBs so I'm gonna try to imitate what you got in your video. Please help with directing me to get that lighting setup like yours. Thanks in advance.
While I'm still figuring the lighting out. I'll try the insect approach you speak of. It does seem he is really smart and he knows when I open the door to run to me, so it's almost like he knows not to bother hunting and digging for insects since I'll just hand him a meal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdfmonitor
Poor digestion & big meals usually cause big bellies, also lack of activity adds to it.
Finding the right basking temp which for a bigger sav can be up to 160f is the key to aiding faster digestion, some vivs that are small may not allow you to get to 160f surface basking temp, so you may have to find a happy medium that suits your cage size & monitor ( as near 160f as poss). This is because the heat generated from the hals bulbs that are needed to create the hotter basking spot flood covering snout to vent may over heat a small viv.
Feeding big meals constantly keeps the belly expanded whilst the meal is digested, if you leave you monitor without food for 3 days the stomach will be empty/digested. Along with the good basking spot this will encourage them to look for more food during that time.
If you feed rodents only you reduce your monitors access to activity levels in hunting for insects along with digging them out or foraging under cork bark etc.
Feed insects 1st, when they've gone you can then feed rodents, i sometimes throw a large handful of insects in the viv early am before the monitor is awake. This allows him to spend a few hours hunting around before he evens thinks of getting his meat diet.
A number of keepers have upper levels in their vivs, at an early stage this may cause problems because shy monitors may not like to climb into the open, place cover of some kind of cover across the basking area that the monitor can feel safe behind.
upper levels give another area of access to exercise as in climb, as well as deep substrate, it also keeps your hotter temps kept in the upper level, this gives you a very hot upper level & a cooler middle level & finally the ground level.
So you have a bigger range of humidity & temps for the monitor to choose from, one level & shallow substrate & crap basking spots floods give you nothing but problems.
Substrate is best heated from below as well as above because the heat can't penetrate fully into the lower soil levels, this means sitting the viv on sleepers of some kind.
Monitors are intelligent & will gladly sit in the same place & wait for food day in day out, annoy them & change the feeding times & keep them in hunting mode, they also use that hot spot flood to warm up for hunting, if it's not hot enough they'll reduce they interest in chasing after insects & wait for you to give in & feed them an easy meal!
Hopefully there's something that will help you above!!
Update: With the MVB + 50 watt halogen I've got a basking spot that covers the whole body. However the temp varies within the spot. I've got the 50% of the spot more in the middle at 160-165, with smaller area of 170F, then the remaining 50% of the spot(the outter circle) of around 135-140F. The humidity is still good, I will need another meter as the last one broke again. But my glasses still gets foggy when I enter the cage but def need to get a new meter to be sure.
Also I read that the MVB manual says that the UVB emitted is no stronger than the mid day sun under the shade. So I'm guessing even though I'm putting the bulb quite low it should still be safe.
I'm not sure how infernelis manages to have his bulbs so high up and still achieve 140F+.
Hi, is this a Powersun MVB? It isn`t only the UVB irradiation that needs to be taken into account, it`s also the heat, exactly how far from the surface of the bulb to the closest surface of the animal is it?
If this is a Powersun, there are reports that the amount of UVB is much less than the manufacturer claims (at least in the American bulbs and perhaps also Canadian)? You really need a Solar meter to check.
Edit: An MVB like the Powersun has a beam radius of around 75cm at a height of 30cm, in which case it would easily have covered the whole body.
Personally I would recommend using the T5 HO (high output) fluorescent tubes (UVB), then the halogen floods as basking lights.
Check out the 12% UVB tube rather than the 6%... Arcadia T5 reptile lamps 6% D3+
Last edited by murrindindi; 12-18-13 at 01:27 PM..
Hi, is this a Powersun MVB? It isn`t only the UVB irradiation that needs to be taken into account, it`s also the heat, exactly how far from the surface of the bulb to the closest surface of the animal is it?
If this is a Powersun, there are reports that the amount of UVB is much less than the manufacturer claims (at least in the American bulbs and perhaps also Canadian)? You really need a Solar meter to check.
Hi this is the powersun 160Watt. To get a 160F surface temp on the floor, the bulb is 5.5 - 6 inches away from the floor, I measured it with tape measure plus a temp gun. The 50 watt right next to it is 2-3 inches higher to produce similar surface temp. So I'm wondering since the monitor's body is thick, would this mean the bulb is too close. It seem to enjoy basking under that temp for 20-30 mins in the morning, then after that it only uses it for short periods. Then it lays somewhere else most of the time or goes in it's burrow.
For my tegu I'm using the same setup(with just the MVB tho) since his halogen floods got shotted(bad wiring on my part) But the tegu is functioning real well under this same setting. The only difference in the 2 animals is that my tegu would dig a burrow himself, however the sav needed me to make a surface on the ground and he will dig to live under the wood, but he does not make tunnels. The soil/sand mix is the same for both animals. 70% soil and 30% sand...
I just got a humidimeter and it says 75% humidity in the middle of the cage, lower than I had expected. It used to be 80%+ even 90% sometimes. It could be due to my house haing the furnace on more now that it's winter...
Not sure what else info I can give. I measured him today he is 2 feet 8 inches. Roughly, since he won't stay still when I was measuring him, keeps thinking I'll give him food.
murrindindi, Honestly I didn't get the MVB for the purpose of UVB. I got it in a panic to try to get a bulb setup that would cover his whold body for the sake of basking purpose not so much UVB. UVB would just be a bonus. But right now I don't think UVB is his problem, and my prime suspect was basking site error, thus the MVB I bought. So he's been using that for 2 days now + a extra 50w halogen flood. I don't seen any improvements, dispite the high basking temps...
Quote:
Originally Posted by murrindindi
Hi, is this a Powersun MVB? It isn`t only the UVB irradiation that needs to be taken into account, it`s also the heat, exactly how far from the surface of the bulb to the closest surface of the animal is it?
If this is a Powersun, there are reports that the amount of UVB is much less than the manufacturer claims (at least in the American bulbs and perhaps also Canadian)? You really need a Solar meter to check.
Edit: An MVB like the Powersun has a beam radius of around 75cm at a height of 30cm, in which case it would easily have covered the whole body.
Personally I would recommend using the T5 HO (high output) fluorescent tubes (UVB), then the halogen floods as basking lights.
Check out the 12% UVB tube rather than the 6%... Arcadia T5 reptile lamps 6% D3+
murrindindi, Honestly I didn't get the MVB for the purpose of UVB. I got it in a panic to try to get a bulb setup that would cover his whold body for the sake of basking purpose not so much UVB. UVB would just be a bonus. But right now I don't think UVB is his problem, and my prime suspect was basking site error, thus the MVB I bought. So he's been using that for 2 days now + a extra 50w halogen flood. I don't seen any improvements, dispite the high basking temps...
It doesn`t matter whether you used the MVB for the UVB, heat or just illumination, it MUST be at LEAST 30cm from the face of the bulb to the closest surface of the monitor (which will normally mean it`s head), even slightly closer can cause very serious burns.
I`m not disagreeing with Mark (MDF) or anyone else just for the sake of it, but offering a surface temp of 160f will NOT necessarily cause the animal to lose weight or become more active throughout the day. It will only decrease the time it takes to get the core temp up to "activity level" by a very small amount, maybe a couple of minutes or so (obviously the actual speed will depend on the monitor`s mass).
Unless you can achieve that raised surface temp without also raising the ambient too much must also be taken into consideration (if it`s too warm they retreat), in which case they`ll cool down, become less active, defeating the purpose of raising it in the first place! This species is most active during the cooler wet season when ambient temps don`t usually get "extreme".
Other species DO encounter higher ambient and surface temps and use them very regularly, I`m not suggesting raising them is a bad thing in itself, but 140f is perfectly acceptable and should ensure the monitor can operate at it`s full potential, providing all the other parameters are met.
EDIT: Can you take a video of the monitor?
Last edited by murrindindi; 12-18-13 at 02:18 PM..
OK in this case I will need more help again. Currently for any of my bulbs to make the ground's surface temp to be 140F, it has to be only 5-10 inches away. e.g. 50 watt halogen needs to be 10 inches from the ground, or maybe less, to reach 140F on the floor. And the MVB needs to be 5 inches away form the ground to reach 140F on the ground.
If you say the light bulb must be 30cm from bulb to ANIMAL, then I can't possibliy achieve 140F on the floor surface. So I am really confused now what I should do. Please advice. Sorry I'm a person that needs great details when explaining what to do so please be patient.
Quote:
Originally Posted by murrindindi
It doesn`t matter whether you used the MVB for the UVB, heat or just illumination, it MUST be at LEAST 30cm from the face of the bulb to the closest surface of the monitor (which will normally mean it`s head), even slightly closer can cause very serious burns.
I`m not disagreeing with Mark (MDF) or anyone else just for the sake of it, but offering a surface temp of 160f will NOT necessarily cause the animal to lose weight or become more active throughout the day. It will only decrease the time it takes to get the core temp up to "activity level" by a very small amount, maybe a couple of minutes or so (obviously the actual speed will depend on the monitor`s mass).
Unless you can achieve that raised surface temp without also raising the ambient too much must also be taken into consideration (if it`s too warm they retreat), in which case they`ll cool down, become less active, defeating the purpose of raising it in the first place! This species is most active during the cooler wet season when ambient temps don`t usually get "extreme".
Other species DO encounter higher ambient and surface temps and use them very regularly, I`m not suggesting raising them is a bad thing in itself, but 140f is perfectly acceptable and should ensure the monitor can operate at it`s full potential, providing all the other parameters are met.
I can't take a vid now since he's hiding again, but let me find a recent one these few days.
Edit: unfortunately I don't have one. I've been recording the tegu mostly since he moves. The sav hasn't hardly been moving except if I open the door so no vids for now. Tomorrow I'll take a video of him.
This is the most efficient way to set up a basking site using halogen (flood) bulbs. No apologies for showing this pic previously, it`s quite hard to get the message through at times!
I need to use more bulbs because of my monitor`s size, you may only need 2 or 3....
I can't take a vid now since he's hiding again, but let me find a recent one these few days.
Edit: unfortunately I don't have one. I've been recording the tegu mostly since he moves. The sav hasn't hardly been moving except if I open the door so no vids for now. Tomorrow I'll take a video of him.
Don`t ever stop asking questions, if you don`t quite understand something ask for a further explanation!
One of the reasons the low wattage halogens work well is that they can be positioned relatively close without causing burns (obviously you must check very carefully), they can also be dimmed making it easy to adjust the surface temp, but you might need to use 2 or 3 as I mentioned.
Last edited by murrindindi; 12-18-13 at 02:34 PM..
Actually his head popped up just now so I lured him out with a fish. I measured him too in the video. He is not 1 feet 8 inches as I previously measured, but more like 28 inches. You can see in the video he's not totally straight and it's about 24 inches so I think stretched out is 28 inches or something.....
As you can see he's not looking too great...
Video is being uploaded to youtube so I'll post it in a few minutes!
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