Hax's husbandry review (It's a girl!)

[Steve A]

The Fox Farm is great soil. If you wanted, you can use a 50/50 mix of it with the sand. I would say to stick with a larger plastic bin for a lay bin rather than a plant pot. Rectangle gives more area for them vs round. However, if you are using a 50/50 mix, you can put a plant in the bin (add more soil at that area for the plant). They do like to lay their eggs up against root balls. The bin can easily be hidden behind plants. Since you’ve got a little bit of time before she becomes old enough for eggs and laying, you may want to think about going bioactive. It’s much easier than it initially looks and then the whole floor is her lay ‘bin’. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/intro-to-bio-activity.2429/ I started my girls off in regular no substrate enclosures and plastic lay bins. After much anxiety, I learned last year that at least the one doesn’t recognize her bioactive soil ‘floor’ as suitable for laying and will only lay in her plastic bin. So now I have a kind of stupid looking set up of a nice bioactive with a big pink plastic bin sitting in it.
For play sand, I’m very limited to whatever my local Lowes or Home Depot carries and I don’t recall brand...quikcrete maybe? One of our most experienced members suggests King brand, but I believe that’s only available in Canada. The most important thing is that it be the same type of sand that you would fill a child’s sand box with.
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I actually ordered the substrate bottom tray for her enclosure last night. I was contemplating putting that soil down completely in that, because I've been having water issues on the bottom of her cage. However, I think it is only like 2" deep, so I don't think it would work for that. I will try the mixture, I will just find a suitable tub for it so that she has some room to do her thing, and in privacy. Do you think laying down the soil like that is a good idea? I just want it to soak up that water, basically from the misting. I plan on just laying the plants in pots on top of it.

 

[MissSkittles]

I actually ordered the substrate bottom tray for her enclosure last night. I was contemplating putting that soil down completely in that, because I've been having water issues on the bottom of her cage. However, I think it is only like 2" deep, so I don't think it would work for that. I will try the mixture, I will just find a suitable tub for it so that she has some room to do her thing, and in privacy. Do you think laying down the soil like that is a good idea? I just want it to soak up that water, basically from the misting. I plan on just laying the plants in pots on top of it.

I wouldn’t put any soil down like that. It will turn into a muddy mess and probably be a bacterial soup. Dealing with drainage is always a challenge. Some keep a wet vac nearby for regular use. Some come up with the simplest to more involved drainage systems with pvc pipe, washing machine pans, etc. Before going bioactive I got the ReptiBreeze stand to go with my ReptiBreeze enclosures. I drilled some holes at the center of the substrate tray (that I bought extra as well), got one of those little rubber sink mats for a spacer and put my heaviest plant or lay bin on top to direct the water. Had a 5 gal bucket beneath. This is the only pic I really have that shows much. Yeah…I started off like this. You can see my big opaque lay bin. I use the same type…just different color and don’t fill it so deep. I’ve got the dragon ledges pulling their weight…lots of it too!

 

[Steve A]

I wouldn’t put any soil down like that. It will turn into a muddy mess and probably be a bacterial soup. Dealing with drainage is always a challenge. Some keep a wet vac nearby for regular use. Some come up with the simplest to more involved drainage systems with pvc pipe, washing machine pans, etc. Before going bioactive I got the ReptiBreeze stand to go with my ReptiBreeze enclosures. I drilled some holes at the center of the substrate tray (that I bought extra as well), got one of those little rubber sink mats for a spacer and put my heaviest plant or lay bin on top to direct the water. Had a 5 gal bucket beneath. This is the only pic I really have that shows much. Yeah…I started off like this. You can see my big opaque lay bin. I use the same type…just different color and don’t fill it so deep. I’ve got the dragon ledges pulling their weight…lots of it too!
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Interesting. I think what I'm going to do for now, is just leave that bin as it is, with nothing there except the plants and eventually her nesting area, and then I'm gonna use a turkey baster or something similar to get the water out daily. I am doing a 'hard' cleaning once a week or so. I think this should suffice for now but I will see how that goes. Max's cage rests on top of a book shelf and we don't have much room. But I do like that Reptistand though. I may invest in that when I get her larger cage.

Do you have a rough estimate on when I will need to have her bigger cage ready? I really wish I knew her actual age but I asked at petsmart and they didn't know.

 

[MissSkittles]

Interesting. I think what I'm going to do for now, is just leave that bin as it is, with nothing there except the plants and eventually her nesting area, and then I'm gonna use a turkey baster or something similar to get the water out daily. I am doing a 'hard' cleaning once a week or so. I think this should suffice for now but I will see how that goes. Max's cage rests on top of a book shelf and we don't have much room. But I do like that Reptistand though. I may invest in that when I get her larger cage.

Do you have a rough estimate on when I will need to have her bigger cage ready? I really wish I knew her actual age but I asked at petsmart and they didn't know.

She can go into a full sized enclosure at any time. I would say that by the time she should have her lay bin put in is the time that she should be in it by.
One thing that may make it a little easier to at least collect the drainage would be to have just the slightest tilt for the water to settle more to one side. Another is to watch where the majority of drips are falling and place a plant beneath that area. Really, there shouldn’t be too much excess drainage. Currently one of my enclosures is bare floor and it dries out almost completely between mistings. I don’t use drippers.

 

[Steve A]

She can go into a full sized enclosure at any time. I would say that by the time she should have her lay bin put in is the time that she should be in it by.
One thing that may make it a little easier to at least collect the drainage would be to have just the slightest tilt for the water to settle more to one side. Another is to watch where the majority of drips are falling and place a plant beneath that area. Really, there shouldn’t be too much excess drainage. Currently one of my enclosures is bare floor and it dries out almost completely between mistings. I don’t use drippers.

Well I've been trying to figure out the best way to use our auto mister. The water isn't terrible now after some adjustments. However, I am running it for 2 minutes approximately 20-30 mins before we turn her lights on, and 2 minutes 20-30 minutes after we turn her light off. It was very manageable when we were just hand misting (which we did in the morning, when we came home from work, and then at night but not nearly for 2 minutes straight). I think with this pan it will basically go back to just drying on it's own to be honest. I just want to keep things as clean as possible and make sure everything is staying in her cage lol. Do you think we should make adjustments on our auto mister? I'm literally only using 1 nozzle, even, and it puts out quite a bit of water for 2 minutes. But with these coming adjustments to her setup, I think it will be just fine as far as water collecting goes.

 

[MissSkittles]

The only change to your misting that I would make is to have the evening one run 20-30 minutes before lights go off. If your night time temp gets below at least 70, you could run a cool mist humidifier for a few hours during the night/early morning which simulates the natural hydration they get from fog.

 

[Steve A]

The only change to your misting that I would make is to have the evening one run 20-30 minutes before lights go off. If your night time temp gets below at least 70, you could run a cool mist humidifier for a few hours during the night/early morning which simulates the natural hydration they get from fog.

ah ok that makes more sense. See I heard from elsewhere it should be after but that didn't make sense to me lol. I'm going to do that. Her cage temps get down to 60 degrees actually! From what I've read and can tell observing her, it's totally fine. Kinda freaked me out at first but she seems to content when shes sleeping. IDK why it gets quite that cold. We keep our ambient temps in the house at 73f.

 

[Steve A]

@MissSkittles hello so I have an update on Max's husbandry. I swapped the Ficus with another Pothos (for now). I added an empty upside down pot underneath this pothos so that it would be higher in her cage. I feel like I finally am providing her a decent living space I also added two more vines to walk on. I've been keeping her basking area around 77-80f. I noticed the past couple of days she is not eating. I started freaking out but then I quickly noticed she's shedding! haha. So she is working through that, and seems to be doing well with it. I'm keeping the ficus right next to the cage on the outside for now to let it grow more, and to still provide her with some privacy. Once I get her larger enclosure I will re-incorporate the ficus. How does this look!?


PS: Don't be alarmed at her eye being closed.... it freaked me out at first and I got worried. Then I saw her other eye was closed too....Then I noticed I was taking too long with her husbandry and it was past her bedtime! She's just sleeping. Which I thought was sweet considering I still had my hands in her cage lol

 

[MissSkittles]

Looking great! That is a big pothos! I always feel so bad for them when they shed...so itchy. Sweet little girl though, dreaming of her fresh pretty scales and yummy bugs.

 

[Steve A]

Looking great! That is a big pothos! I always feel so bad for them when they shed...so itchy. Sweet little girl though, dreaming of her fresh pretty scales and yummy bugs.

Thank you! Yeah I was so surprised. I had a money tree in my hand but it didn't provide hardly any cover because it was small. then I ran into this pothos and I was like that's it, that's the one! Speaking of bugs, should I refrain from offering her crickets? I honestly haven't SEEN her eat in like 2 days now. There are some crickets alive hanging out in her enclosure. I was thinking of just putting some BSFL in her dish in the morning. She hasn't been eating those either but those are easy for me to remove when I come home from work if she doesn't eat any.

 

[MissSkittles]

Yes, definitely offer her something to eat. Maybe offer some bsfl first and if she eats those, give some crickets. Make sure you’ve got a little piece of something in the bottom for the crickets to eat so they won’t bite her as she sleeps.

 

[Steve A]

Yes, definitely offer her something to eat. Maybe offer some bsfl first and if she eats those, give some crickets. Make sure you’ve got a little piece of something in the bottom for the crickets to eat so they won’t bite her as she sleeps.

Ok I will continue to do that. You may not be able to see in the pictures, but at the bottom of the cage I have a small dish filled with rocks+water, and another dish filled with cricket food. I always keep those in there so they don't bother her I use the same setup in the cricket housing.

 

[Steve A]

@MissSkittles Max's shooting gallery arrived! I love this thing. And I also ordered some Dubia roaches to give her more variety when eating

 

[Steve A]

double post deleted**

 

[MissSkittles]

@MissSkittles Max's shooting gallery arrived! I love this thing. And I also ordered some Dubia roaches to give her more variety when eating

Just remember that the little bsfl maggots are able to easily squirm their way to freedom. You’re doing great though and I hope your sweet little one is eating better now.

 

[Steve A]

Just remember that the little bsfl maggots are able to easily squirm their way to freedom. You’re doing great though and I hope your sweet little one is eating better now.

Yep I am keeping them in their white dish! Not gonna put them in the gallery. I'm just gonna use the gallery for crickets, roaches, and hornworms. I think I'll try some silkworms in the near future too. But yeah I like the little dish we have for her bsfl ty so much! I'm getting rod of the mister we got and I'm either just gonna get the reptimister or go all out on the king mister.

 

[Steve A]

Her appetite seems to be restored as it looks like she's done shedding. She likes her shooting gallery

 

[Steve A]

@MissSkittles managed to grab a video of Max drinking

Wouldn't let me upload the video here so I used Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnis26v5h8sxznu/20230520_182117.mp4?dl=0

 

[MissSkittles]

@MissSkittles managed to grab a video of Max drinking

Wouldn't let me upload the video here so I used Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnis26v5h8sxznu/20230520_182117.mp4?dl=0

Aww…so adorable!