Just after some pointers on lighting

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ghillies

Not so new Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
65
Reaction score
5
So I’m setting up a new enclosure for a hatchling monitor and haven’t really only dealt with snakes I’ve never really installed lights for heating and UVB.

My worry is getting the right UVB light/heat lighting and getting it the right distances for them to bask and get the right amount of UVB.

The enclosure is going to be a basic 4x2x2 or 4x2x3 to start it off in for the first 6-12 months. I’m currently thinking 2 sockets 1 for a basking light and the other for a CHE for only at nights, for UVB I was going to go a fluorescent tube type.

I’d really like photos of others lighting setups for young monitors, tips and advice, distances from basking spot and UVB and whether or not I’m just over thinking things.

Species in question is going to be a Rusty Monitor. I’m pretty right with the rest of the husbandry I think.

Thanks.
 
I experimented with UV and monitors when I was first keeping them. All options gave the exact same result, including not using any UV at all. Monitors don't need UV, but since they're very tolerant of it, the only harm it will do will be to your wallet and time budget. You'll hear a lot of opposing views on what type or distance is best, but the good news is that you can listen to any of them, including mine, and the results will be exactly the same :) I ditched UV for monitors, skinks, geckoes and several other herps and continued to produce generation after generation of happy, healthy lizards including small monitors for many years. The big breeders of monitors don't use UV, I personally know many monitors keepers who don't use it, I'd never bother again. People will give you various reasons to believe they need it, but the real world evidence, the proof in the pudding, says don't bother.

CHE are complete crap, don't bother with them. They have several problems and I can't see a single benefit. They're not cheap, they're prone to blowing and unlike lights they don't let you know when they've blown, they're cumbersome things, and they're completely unnatural. Spotlights mimic the sun, the big hot thing in the sky which emits light and heat on the world from above. The ground heats up and at night reptiles can get warm from the ground, typically while the air is cooler (don't take my word for it, go outside at night and I guarantee you will not find a celestial dark heater bathing you in radiant heat from the sky). Or the air may remain warm, but this is ambient heat not radiant heat as put out by a CHE. The best option for night time heat is floor heating - heat cords or mats. Cords are my personal favourite but many newer keepers find mats easier to work with. Whatever works for you. These essentially never blow and they are the cheapest option to run, as well as typically being the most natural option. Win, win, win.

Distance from spotlight to basking spot depends on your ambient temperature, enclosure design (particularly the amount of ventilation and insulation) etc. I personally like to use relatively insulated enclosures which allows me to use lower wattage heat lamps (just personal preference, go for a completely ventilated top and 200W spotlight if you want to, the monitors will be just as happy). I used to use 40 or 60W spotlights (just the cheap ones for a few bucks from the hardware store). I used large flat terracotta tiles for the basking spot as they heated up beautifully in the spotlight and acted like a rock. The middle of the tiles got to around 70-90 degrees C (yes, if you rested your hand on them it would be painful. Actually, if you rested your hand on a basking lizard it would hurt). This sounds extreme to many newer keepers, but wild monitors almost all come from places where 70+ degree ground temperatures are normal for most or all of the year (ever burned your feet on the road on a hot sunny day? The air temperature may have only been around 40 but it takes temperatures far hotter than that to burn your feet. Monitors love to utilise these high termperatures). The low wattage spotlight at one end of a long enclosure placed very close to the tile meant I could get a very hot basking spot without cooking the entire enclosure. You'll probably get away with a 60 degree basking spot, maybe even 50, but I'd give them at least 65 degrees (well, I'd personally give them at least 70 and shoot for a bit higher in the middle of the basking spot, especially at the warmer part of the year).

Make sure you give them dietary supplements and don't be stingy with the feeding - these aren't snakes, they have high metabolisms (unless you keep them too cold as many people do!). Have fun, monitors are great to keep! :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top