Simon_Archibald
Very Well-Known Member
Hi all,
Well there was some discussion a little time ago between myself and some other members about housing of Mitchell's Water Monitors. I'm currently keeping a trio of hatchies and am soon to take delivery of 2 more.
I thought to give anyone else interested an idea of what sort of setup works. Originally in this tub I had water as the substrate and a plastic tub filled with sand, but this was not easily managable and the monitors had trouble being fed because the food used to jump into the water and eventually drowned. With more land area the insects now walk around and are happily eaten.
There are 2 heat globes in the enclosure...a 100watt and a 60watt reflector globe. This helps to keep the hot end temps at a really good level and counter-acts all the heat lost through the lid.
The pool is a small plastic tub that has a 25watt Aqua One aquarium heater in there...temps are set on the heater to 25 degrees. There is also a water pump to circulate the water. I believe the monitors are much more inclined to use the water if it is running (something we discussed in that old thread in relation to water dragons). When the pump is on the monitors will normally launch straight into the water if my presence happens to startle them. If the pump is off, every time they will run for the hide box, no matter how far they are from it.
Enjoy....
Simon Archibald
Well there was some discussion a little time ago between myself and some other members about housing of Mitchell's Water Monitors. I'm currently keeping a trio of hatchies and am soon to take delivery of 2 more.
I thought to give anyone else interested an idea of what sort of setup works. Originally in this tub I had water as the substrate and a plastic tub filled with sand, but this was not easily managable and the monitors had trouble being fed because the food used to jump into the water and eventually drowned. With more land area the insects now walk around and are happily eaten.
There are 2 heat globes in the enclosure...a 100watt and a 60watt reflector globe. This helps to keep the hot end temps at a really good level and counter-acts all the heat lost through the lid.
The pool is a small plastic tub that has a 25watt Aqua One aquarium heater in there...temps are set on the heater to 25 degrees. There is also a water pump to circulate the water. I believe the monitors are much more inclined to use the water if it is running (something we discussed in that old thread in relation to water dragons). When the pump is on the monitors will normally launch straight into the water if my presence happens to startle them. If the pump is off, every time they will run for the hide box, no matter how far they are from it.
Enjoy....
Simon Archibald