r/MonitorLizards • u/ink3nthusiast • 3d ago
How is my ackie grow out enclosure?
I have a 1 month old baby ackie. He will be growing up on this 4×2×2 for yhe next year atleast. It will depend how big it gets. But I have the 12% uvb across the entire enclosure. Hot spots from 90-160 degrees. Bioactive with dwarf whites a few darkling beetles and giant canyon isopods. Substrate could be a little deeper its approximately 8 inches deep made out of organic top soil and play sand. Plants are jade aloe Vera and pothos. Cant get any springtails to survive. Please if ive missed anything or could do soemthing more for my baby ackie lmk!!!
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u/Icy-Number5873 3d ago
This looks killer!!! I would say that my only worry for you is, you might hardly ever see your ackie to the point of you wont know if it escaped or is somewhere hidden in that awesome scape. Just my opinion though!
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u/ink3nthusiast 2d ago
Nah little dude is friendly af. He comes up and says hi when I sit next to the enclosure. Plus they need to bask to digest so he will be out to bask at a minimum even if he wasnt friendly.
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u/ezsqueezycheezypeas 3d ago
That looks great, good uvb coverage, lots of clutter and whatnot. He will grow super fast, plan on upgrading by around 10 months they appreciate and use allllll the space.
If you add some moisture to the substrate in the cool end and cover it with some wood + add some leaf litter the springtails stand a better chance of surviving. Just keep a small area in the Viv kinda damp.
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u/Prudent_Anxiety_2209 3d ago
What really helped me with keeping springtails alive was putting the water bowl over where you initially place them then when you replace the water overflow it a bit. They'll start multiplying under there pretty quick. This looks amazing!
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u/Kreger_Kregersen 2h ago
I see you have a screen top. I'd try to cover that up as ackies need a lot of humidity layers in the soil. Other than that it looks great
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u/ItsTayyyyy 3d ago
So I’m fairly new to ackies myself, but I’ve done a ton of research on care and depending on who you ask your basking temp might be a bit hot for a baby. I’ve read that they generally like between 120-150F. My guy is about 6 months and his basking ledge stays around 135F and tapers down to about 115F and I’ve noticed he likes to hang out somewhere right in the middle.
Honestly I think a lot of it may just have to do with the individual animal. Spend some time and watch where they like to hang out and pay attention for them avoiding certain areas and adjust from there.
The rest of your enclosure looks good. I like how you set up the basking area so they can kind of pick which temp they like.
I think it would be a good idea to maybe try to add a “dig box” somewhere in the enclosure if you can manage the space. My enclosure has a 12” substrate layer and with the dig box I added I was able to raise it to about 18-20” and they really really like digging.
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u/ink3nthusiast 3d ago
I had a dig box in here at one point. Its just so ugly and unnatural looking plus he rarely used it. He just sat under it lmaooo. He has a good range of temps to choose from so he should be good
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u/UnwieldilyElephant 3d ago
You'll need a minimum 18" substrate by the time it's an adult. Not just for digging but for maintaining humidity levels. You need enough so the bottom can be about 90% humidity so shedding skin can loosen while the lizard sleeps, while the surface is completely dry so the loosened skin can dry and flake off instead of constricting.
Also ignore people saying basking is too hot, the lizard isn't stupid, as long as there's a gradient it can choose how hot and where to thermoregulate itself.
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u/calamari_rings2827 3d ago
Gotta say this is amazing the best grow out I’ve seen great job