TruffleMonster
Member
My little guy (3 1/2 months old) seems really healthy except for one thing - he misses his food with his tongue quite often - even at just over an inch away. He still eats plenty, just usually involves sticking his tongue out a very short distance or getting close enough to gobble them with his mouth.
This has me worried as I know this can point to bigger issues/problems with their husbandry, so I’m looking for some feedback about what we might be doing wrong, or some suggestions about how to tell what else might be going on (such as an eyesight or tongue issue).
Enclosure: Dragon strand hybrid enclosure, 2x2x4. Live plants, oak sticks. I’ve attached a photo of his setup. A fan runs low outside the bottom to encourage airflow through the enclosure.
Basking/Heat: We’re using a 150 watt incandescent bulb hanging 16” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:30am to 5:30pm. Basking temp (measured with heat gun and a digital thermometer) ranges 84-86.
Ambient daytime temp: low-mid 70s.
Nighttime temp: Mid-high 60s
UV & Grow Light: We’re using arcadia T5 12% UVB hanging 14” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:00am to 7:00pm. We also have a grow light (Sansi 70 watt full spectrum LED) that is on for the same hours, and sits about 8” above his cage. UVB measures 2.5 to 3.0 on the solar meter at the top of the cage.
Misting: Twice daily (6:30 am and 7:30pm) for 3 minutes, a half hour before lights go on and a half hour after they go off.
Fogger: 30mins on, 30 minutes off from 1am to 5:30am
Food: Marty eats an average of ~11 bugs/day, consisting dominantly of black soldier fly larvae (~40%) and small dubias (~25%), with some super worms, wax worms, crickets, and the occasional hornworm thrown in. All but the black soldier fly larvae are dusted with ReptiCalcium (no D3) daily and all bugs are dusted once every couple of weeks with Repashy Calcium Plus. We gutload daily with carrots, sweet potato, dandelion greens, and bee pollen, and throw in occasional fruits (mango, blackberry, apples). So far he almost exclusively cup feeds - he’ll take horn worms off the branch.
Daytime humidity: ~45-60%
Nighttime humidity ranges ~67%-86%.
Water: Aside from misting and fogger, a dripper goes from about 9:30am-1:00 daily, and he also has a shot glass full of water. We’ve never seen him drink but he doesn’t seem to be dehydrated from what I can tell (Eyes aren’t sunken, no persistent skin wrinkles, urates are white or creamy white). Also may be worth mentioning all the water we use for his cage is distilled water to avoid lots of buildup on the plants/in the misting system.
Behavior: Marty stays mostly in the top half of his cage (wonder if he needs more of a warm temperature gradient?). He basks a lot but moves around to different places and positions (he’s active) during the day and snuggles up in a hiding spot to sleep at night. His coloring seems healthy - most of the time his coloration is about as pictured, though he gets a bit darker when basking sometimes, and brightens and poofs up if we do something that frightens him. He usually will eat first thing in the morning and go back for a second round sometime midday.
Alright, I think that’s all the pertinent information. Any advice appreciated
This has me worried as I know this can point to bigger issues/problems with their husbandry, so I’m looking for some feedback about what we might be doing wrong, or some suggestions about how to tell what else might be going on (such as an eyesight or tongue issue).
Enclosure: Dragon strand hybrid enclosure, 2x2x4. Live plants, oak sticks. I’ve attached a photo of his setup. A fan runs low outside the bottom to encourage airflow through the enclosure.
Basking/Heat: We’re using a 150 watt incandescent bulb hanging 16” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:30am to 5:30pm. Basking temp (measured with heat gun and a digital thermometer) ranges 84-86.
Ambient daytime temp: low-mid 70s.
Nighttime temp: Mid-high 60s
UV & Grow Light: We’re using arcadia T5 12% UVB hanging 14” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:00am to 7:00pm. We also have a grow light (Sansi 70 watt full spectrum LED) that is on for the same hours, and sits about 8” above his cage. UVB measures 2.5 to 3.0 on the solar meter at the top of the cage.
Misting: Twice daily (6:30 am and 7:30pm) for 3 minutes, a half hour before lights go on and a half hour after they go off.
Fogger: 30mins on, 30 minutes off from 1am to 5:30am
Food: Marty eats an average of ~11 bugs/day, consisting dominantly of black soldier fly larvae (~40%) and small dubias (~25%), with some super worms, wax worms, crickets, and the occasional hornworm thrown in. All but the black soldier fly larvae are dusted with ReptiCalcium (no D3) daily and all bugs are dusted once every couple of weeks with Repashy Calcium Plus. We gutload daily with carrots, sweet potato, dandelion greens, and bee pollen, and throw in occasional fruits (mango, blackberry, apples). So far he almost exclusively cup feeds - he’ll take horn worms off the branch.
Daytime humidity: ~45-60%
Nighttime humidity ranges ~67%-86%.
Water: Aside from misting and fogger, a dripper goes from about 9:30am-1:00 daily, and he also has a shot glass full of water. We’ve never seen him drink but he doesn’t seem to be dehydrated from what I can tell (Eyes aren’t sunken, no persistent skin wrinkles, urates are white or creamy white). Also may be worth mentioning all the water we use for his cage is distilled water to avoid lots of buildup on the plants/in the misting system.
Behavior: Marty stays mostly in the top half of his cage (wonder if he needs more of a warm temperature gradient?). He basks a lot but moves around to different places and positions (he’s active) during the day and snuggles up in a hiding spot to sleep at night. His coloring seems healthy - most of the time his coloration is about as pictured, though he gets a bit darker when basking sometimes, and brightens and poofs up if we do something that frightens him. He usually will eat first thing in the morning and go back for a second round sometime midday.
Alright, I think that’s all the pertinent information. Any advice appreciated
Attachments
Last edited: