Ackie Humidity/Misting, live plants in desert enclosure

[Jesse_H]

I've read a few good books on monitors now, I'm still looking for some definite answers on humidity for a desert style ackie enclosure. I have read they you should spray/mist the tank a few times per week. What are keepers thoughts on this?

Also, I'm considering live succulents in a desert setup. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Laghairt]

Rather than misting the whole enclosure, why not put a plastic tub full of damp sand at the cool end for them to burrow in? You can leave the lid on and cut holes for the ackies to get in and out. That way they have a choice of micro-climates at all times.

Also I wouldn't bother with live plants for ackies, they are very active diggers and will most likely kill the plants.

 

[cadwallader]

like rondo said above live plants will have all odds of survival against them, so probs not the best idea. i always mist when in shed just to try to help them with the process.

 

[Jesse_H]

Thanks guys. Hey Rondo I'm looking at putting about 20cm of clay-based desert sand (designed for burrowing herps) along the bottom of the tank to allow lots of burrows: should I just mist maybe 1ft of this at the cool end to keep it moist for micro-climate choice? If so, how often should one do this? I'm guessing maybe every 2-3 days? I'm going to get a hygrometer but I still haven't seen a set figure of preferred ambient humidity for the enclosure. As for plants, I think the fake succulents and desert spinnifex looks pretty awesome anyway, so that's all good.

 

[Laghairt]

Your plan with the red desert sand sounds great! They will love it; however they will be stained red from digging in this sand. You should think about making a stack around 20cm high and then burying it in the sand so it can give them a structure to make secure burrows. This might make it a little hard to catch them though.

As far as misting goes it will depend on your setup and ventilation/basking light/ambient temps etc so you may need to use a bit of trial and error and work out what works best.

 

[varanophile]

I never bothered misting mine, but made sure that the substrate was always damp. I would pour water over the (Retes) stack about once a week, which they would love. Make sure the enclosure is fairly well sealed to hold in the humidity, keeping in mind that the substrate holding moisture is more important than the air humidity.

Burying the stack in the sand is great advice. I would make mine with about 6 levels, with the bottom 3 buried in the sand.