Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[dantro]

Im hopefully getting some ackies on saturady, ive got a nice 3x21/2x21/2 viv for them to go into, at the moment its setup with a ceramic on a thermo pro 2 thermostat which is a great piece of kit (controls lights and temp) .. i havent got a dimming thermostat therefore cant use a spot on the thermo pro, the viv is nice and bright cos it has a 3ft u.v. 10 strip, will the ceramic do the trick ok, i can get the temps i need.
Can i use this setup?
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Cheers
Dan
1.1.0 Ackies (10 eggs cooking) 4.9.6 Stenodactylus S. (22 eggs cooking)

[Jase]

I've been looking into Ackies and was wondering why all info says bulbs and not ceramics. Where you getting your Ackies from?
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A lil bit of Madagascar

[dantro]

Im getting them in my local shop, he's doing me a deal on 2 ..
Ive spoken to one of the guys from here who keeps them and he's said it shouldnt be a problem i spose as long as the temps are there they should be fine,
Fallen in love with the little blighters though, they're great lil monitors!
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Cheers
Dan
1.1.0 Ackies (10 eggs cooking) 4.9.6 Stenodactylus S. (22 eggs cooking)

[Jase]

They are class! As I type this I've got YouTube open with Ackie as my search as well as a caresheet website! Not decided if I'll get any tho.

Look forward to seeing pics of yours
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A lil bit of Madagascar

[crocdoc]

If it were me, I'd have basking lights over the basking spot at one end of the enclosure and the thermostatically controlled ceramic heaters (if needed) in the centre of the enclosure, to keep the ambient temperature high enough. Whether or not the basking lights need to be on a 'kill switch' (a thermostat set high with the probe at the cool end of the enclosure - essentially insurance against the monitors overheating when there's a heat wave) will depend on whether or not your home is airconditioned.

I only use ceramic heat emitters in winter as supplemental heating to keep the ambient temperature up. Because my place is fairly cool, I leave the basking light on at one end of the enclosure without a thermostat and have the ceramic in the centre, controlled by a thermostat. In summer, I plug the basking light into the thermostat and keep the ceramics off entirely (my place is warm in summer).

I get a sense that monitors relate to heat better when there is a strong light associated with it. When let loose, mine will seek out sunny patches on the floor to bask in, for example.

[dantro]

So one ceramic in the centre set quite low, and then a spot bulb as the basking spot, Should the spot be on all the time or set on a dimming thermostat? ... The Viv is 3ft w x 21/2 x 21/2, will i get a good gradient with that much heat in there? ... Hmmmm not too sure what to do?
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Cheers
Dan
1.1.0 Ackies (10 eggs cooking) 4.9.6 Stenodactylus S. (22 eggs cooking)

[dantro]

[Jase]

Basically, a ceramic as backup for ambient temp as they give off no light and a bulb for basking. You can use dimming stats for ceramics if you only wanted to have one thermostat, but i dunno if I'd want to use a bulb without a thermostat

On Youtube there was someone feeding a Leopard Gecko to an Ackie, he had a great setup tho.
When you start with a new species it's good to see other peoples setups as opposed to reading about them.
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A lil bit of Madagascar

[dantro]

Yeah i agree, its good to get a view of lots of setups ... they all have spots for basking ... May have to face having to get a 2nd dimming thermostat for the viv for the spot and keep the ceramic for the night time temps .... Set the spot on a timer to turn off at night and have the ceramic which is on a timer anyway to come on low when the spot goes off for the night temps....
That would work ok i think ... What do u reckon ... anyone?
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Cheers
Dan
1.1.0 Ackies (10 eggs cooking) 4.9.6 Stenodactylus S. (22 eggs cooking)

[Jase]

Sounds good to me, although over the summer I pressume you'd get away with no additional heating over night.

Are you going for deep substrate or shallow substrate and a tub of dirt? Cos I read they burrow alot and to have 12-18" of substrate?!
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A lil bit of Madagascar