Question about Shingle activity

[Greywolfe]

Hi all,
We have a newish shingleback, about 4yrs old. He's in a 4ft+ tank with 3inches of reptile bark as substrate, hollow hide rock at the cool end and a basking rock at the hot end. Hot end hits about 30deg ambient in the middle of the day, cool end tops out at 25.

My question is: is it normal for them to spend a large amount of time (I guestimate about 70%, more when we are home) of his time curled up inside the hide rock? He rarely seems to come out to the basking side for more than an hour or two - I literally had to spy on him with a webcam to make sure he comes out at all. I'm worried that the temps are wrong or he's not well. Any opinions?

Cheers!

 

[Chris1]

if youre worried about him not getting enough heat, try using a heat cord.

i find mine rarely use a basking rock, they dont seem to like being out in the open unless cruising around, so for now im using lights that heat the floor area under the basking rock to around 31. not very energy efficcient, so i'll be changing to heat cord and a flouro for light when eventually pull my finger out,....

 

[Greywolfe]

He does enjoy burrowing himself into the substrate - I have noticed him not sitting on the basking rock, but curling up around it

If he was not getting enough heat, I would have expected him to stay over the hot side, but he's staying over the 'cool' side, so now I'm worried that he's upset with something in the tank.

 

[Chris1]

make some tightish/dark spots for him on the warm side, i rearranged mine till everyone was happy, there was alot of rearranging done,....

i find the ones that are o the warm side are under the rocks or under newspaper, i now throw a bunch of loose sheets in next to teh paver divider for them to bury under,..they love it. (they also crap on it which makes poos a breeze to remove,..)

the right side with all the vines is their burrowing side, i use ozpet litter, its great fro removing stinkyness, and keeps the humidity low.

heres a few pics of mine, the top layer of rocks has now gone since that was just preventing the cave from heating up.

 

[Greywolfe]

This is what the tank looks like now. Perhaps it's too 'open'?

If I put a hide over the warm end, I can just see him hiding in there all the time as well :/ I'm not sure if he's scared or doesn't like being out in the open...