Ackie Care

[jbowers]

Hey all,

I know a lot of this stuff has been covered, but I hear some varying things about a few of these so I'd like to just get a few direct opinions of some experienced ridge tailed monitor keepers.

1. Where should I look to get some red desert sand? I know many people dont like it due to colouring the animals etc, but i just think it looks super cool

2. Hydration - how do you do it? I've read things from 2 hour soaks every week (a looong time to be sitting there watching an ackie....) to spraying them once a week, and then also just leaving a bowl in their enclosure.

3. Basking temps. I've made a stack out of some MDF stuff (a little smoother/more slippery than i'd hoped but hopefully they dont mind). Wondering what temp I should be aiming for on the very top level on the surface. Again, covered a shitload but I've read things varying from 45-70 degrees c. What works best for you guys?

4. If it turns out I have a male/female pair, I don't really wanna have to incubate the eggs etc. Anything I can do to prevent them makin babies?

Cheers,
James

[Notorious_Guf]

Hey all,

I know a lot of this stuff has been covered, but I hear some varying things about a few of these so I'd like to just get a few direct opinions of some experienced ridge tailed monitor keepers.

1. Where should I look to get some red desert sand? I know many people dont like it due to colouring the animals etc, but i just think it looks super cool
You can get it from Petshops generally...

2. Hydration - how do you do it? I've read things from 2 hour soaks every week (a looong time to be sitting there watching an ackie....) to spraying them once a week, and then also just leaving a bowl in their enclosure.
I find my Ackie drinks somewhat regularly from the water bowl, but I do spray him once a week or so and he seems to like that too.

3. Basking temps. I've made a stack out of some MDF stuff (a little smoother/more slippery than i'd hoped but hopefully they dont mind). Wondering what temp I should be aiming for on the very top level on the surface. Again, covered a shitload but I've read things varying from 45-70 degrees c. What works best for you guys?
Personally my hotspot sits around 50+ degrees, but it does vary depending on outside temperature too, which I think would be somewhat normal anyway.

4. If it turns out I have a male/female pair, I don't really wanna have to incubate the eggs etc. Anything I can do to prevent them makin babies?
My petshop sells little condoms for reptiles, maybe you could try that? otherwise you could send the eggs my way.

Cheers,
James

..

[jbowers]

Everyone else do kinda similar things?

[sweetangel]

Hey all,

I know a lot of this stuff has been covered, but I hear some varying things about a few of these so I'd like to just get a few direct opinions of some experienced ridge tailed monitor keepers.

1. Where should I look to get some red desert sand? I know many people dont like it due to colouring the animals etc, but i just think it looks super cool
Personally i think its too dusty! the best option is beach sand as its very fine and is much easier to clean. plus when desert sand gets wet it goes hard like cement so its very annoying to clean. plus it gets smelly easily
2. Hydration - how do you do it? I've read things from 2 hour soaks every week (a looong time to be sitting there watching an ackie....) to spraying them once a week, and then also just leaving a bowl in their enclosure.
mine i always see drinking in the sumer. in winter they kinda dissapear during burmation. but i just leave a water bowl. in summer i might spray them a bit only to aid with shedding but i will do it a bit now. only bacause its so dry in winter, but also a bit to cold to get them all wet.
3. Basking temps. I've made a stack out of some MDF stuff (a little smoother/more slippery than i'd hoped but hopefully they dont mind). Wondering what temp I should be aiming for on the very top level on the surface. Again, covered a shitload but I've read things varying from 45-70 degrees c. What works best for you guys?
it varies between 40-50. in summer its more towards 50 but as they get older they tend to not sit under it for too long. the babies love it hot and are like a battery and get charged up by the heat then go crazy. they will also like it this hot when you are feeding them and will see them somtimes sitting with just their bellies touching cos its too hot for their feet
4. If it turns out I have a male/female pair, I don't really wanna have to incubate the eggs etc. Anything I can do to prevent them makin babies?
nope! the will breed no matter what the conditions. u dont even really need to cool them. but yeah u cant avoid it. if the male wants it he will just do it. u can always just chuck out the eggs or give them to a friend. but dont over breed the female as the male will try to mate her again.

Cheers,
James

[jbowers]

Err... One more thing.

About substrate. How the hell do you sift sand? I bought some washed 'sifted' playsand from bunnings but there are still some little bits in it. I tried sifting with a siv but that will take ages, and clogged up the siv horribly. Do I even need to sift out small pieces of whatever?

[jordanmulder]

when you get your sand and after a week or so in the lizards cage and is getting a bit dirty just get a sieve and sift it through and it will temporaly clean the sand
though evantualy you will need to replace the sand completly it goes without saying that you will need to dedicate a serperate seive for that purpose rather than the one you use for your kitchen needs!

[jbowers]

Sure.

I'm basically just wondering if some lumps/rocks in the sand will bother ackies at all? If so, how the hell do I go about sifting 20 kilos of sand that I've already put in the enclosure?!

[herptrader]

Two points:

1) Red brickes sand makes a good substitute for desert sand.

2) With young accies in particular it is important to keep their substrate very dry to avoid fungal damage to their toes. I would not be spraying them but have a small water bowl on hand most of the time.

[jbowers]

I've already got this stuff in here, so I'm kind of keen to use it...

It seems pretty moist. Im running the lights on full bore to try and dry it out over the next few days. Still, anyone else just use the bunnings playsand stuff for ackies and just pour it straight in?

If this really is a terrible choice then where would I find red brickies sand?

I think I know a place that sells white brickies sand... Will that do?

[jbowers]

Oh and just so everyone knows - I don't actually have ackies in there yet!! I'm not that stupid. I wont get them until I have my temps and substrate sorted.

[jbowers]

Gah, not liking this sand very much. Seems like it's either wet and damp or dry and powdery - the top layer is starting to dry up a little.

Herptrader, will brickies sand be more likely to act in a more natural way - ie. clump up pretty hard with a little loose sand on top. I can offer then about 12 cm of burrowing room and I'd like them to actually be able to dig some little holes which I don't see being possible with this playsand. Not really sure why people rave about it so much.

By the way, really f-ing confused by this whole substrate debarkle so any input at all is HUGELY appreciated. Basically want to know if brickies sand will be better than this with compacting in a more natural way, and also whether or not I need to sift and wash it?

[Jeannine]

we drive 5 mins out of town and can get as much red sand as we want to

love living here

[ron_peters]

Hey
i recently got some reddish sand from a pet supplies place, i believe the brand is Petpac or something and its called Natural Reptile sand, ive used it for some terrestrial geckos as a breeder i know was very adament that the sand should be fine without dust and it should not clump even after being wet, so far this sand has been excellent ive misted on it and spilt water on it with no probs, ive not noticed any impaction problems and it seems to dry out their droppings making it easier to clean, not to mention looks like awesome desert sand.
hope this helps pm me if you need, i may be able to get a pic of it

[Bushfire]

Most people that have the play sand stuff dont use it for burrows. I moved away from the desert sand as it stains the animals thus hiding just about all their great patterns and colouring. I experimented abit with different sands but had to check and destroy tunneling activity twice a day to lessen the risk of a collapse trapping animals inside. In the end after five rescues instead of having a deep substrate I went to a thin sand layer with a nest box. Brickies sand was ok in holding burrows but found it very harsh on their claws often to the point where it seemed they had totally wear them. When I used the play sand I would only have it about 3 or so cm thick.

Now days I have done away with sand as a substrate with all my monitors, they have a perm next box with sand mixed with soil that they dig in but it isn't deep enough to totally trap an animal if it collapses and they still nest in it, making it easier locating eggs.

[jbowers]

So I think I will use brickies sand to promote a harder more compact substrate for burrowing. Do I need to wash or sift if?