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#1247280
Napolean
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Planning on a ackie 
As the name go’s i plan on getting a ackie in June-July, this would be my first monitor and i have seen that they are good beginner monitors, Ive read care sheets and I’m pretty sure i have a decent understanding of them.... the cage i will be giving the ackie is a 48"x22"x18" my only problem is that it only have a 3 inch gap for substrate at the front but i had a idea to build it up in a huge mound at the back to try and compensate for the of substrate at the front, would this work? for a substrate i have planned on digging up some soil from my moms vegetable garden as it seem to hold burrows well ( at least when i would dig my hand into it did ) should i bake it anyway to kill off any bacteria that might be in the soil? i no I’m going to have to sift through it and pick out an bugs and stuff...this wouldn’t be my first herp!! Ive had experience with keeping herps for 1 year now but when i was little i would catch Gardner snakes in my backyard and by the dike...i still remember the stench they would give off lol, I have one other concern cage wise...the temp at night.. how low do you think it could drop at a max before it would have a adverse effect on the ackie? i read that it shouldn’t drop below 80 degrees at night is this correct? The reason i ask is because i live in Canada near Ottawa and when we get winter we really get snow winter last year made our power go out for the night and my herps had no heating for the night, i did my best to keep them like holding them so they would get heat from me but when i eventually had to go to sleep i put them back in there cages for the night and the next morning i checked every one to make sure they had made it threw the night, they all did =D i was just shocked that my Bearded Dragon made it threw the night because his digital probe temp reader has a max/min and his temp had dropped to 31.6 F!!!! but he made it threw the night...if the power was to go out again this winter i will have a purchase those heating packs for a sore back and wrap that in a towel for them i just don’t think the pad would make it up to 80 F should i be worried about this? also any general knowledge on monitor keeping would be appreciated
Thanks,
Spencer
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#1313875
ValleyDragons
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Message To: Napolean In reference to Message Id: 1247280
Planning on a ackie
Ackies make a great pet! They are not nearly as cold-tolerant as dragons. They should not go below 75*F. A heat pad will not be enough at night where you live. I recommend a ceramic-heat emitter for nights. For the substrate, I would buy a bag of chemical-free potting soil or top soil and mix in a bag of play sand. A 50-50 mix works well. Keep it semi-moist so that the ackie can dig tunnels. if you can only get 3" of substrate in the front, then mounding it up at the back will help - but keep in mind that the ackie will probably rearrange the whole cage, and you may end up with the dirt pushed up all in the front, lol. As far as general monitor keeping goes - I recommend starting with a baby and handling it on a daily basis. Be sure to feed it a diet mostly of insects, with pinkies and turkey only once or twice per week. Dust all food 5x per week with calcium with D3 (these guys do fine without a UVB light, but make sure they get their supplements), and a vitamin powder 2x per week. I recommend soaking them in warm water during their sheds because ackies can sometimes have shedding problems and loose toes if the skin does not come all the way off.
Valley
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