im getting an ackie next weekend!

That's what I thought at first too, but the guy has great luck with his monitors. *shrug*

Congrats on the ackie, take lots of pictures when you finally get it home!

My only guess on the photo period would be that it would be fine on 24/7, however I would want to know longterm effects; but it's definitely not natural to have constant lighting so personally I'd go with the red bulbs.

hhmmm, im gonna see what proexotics says. i emailed them and asked.

oh yeah, update: i might go to east bay vivarium tomorrow and get one.

Sure any animal can "withstand" a 24/7 daytime period but it not natural.. Any monitor will need a basking spot.. I always used halogen with my kims.. Works great but they went off at dusk:)

cool! thats what i have, a 45 watt halagon flood light.

i just went to east bay vivarium. i cannot believe how rude they treated me. some guy was tryin to tell me that sand was the best for an ackie, the basking spot should be 115 F MAX (completely wrong) and i NEEDED a full sprectrum light for my ackie. he thought i was buying it out of impulse which offended me. yes, i am 13 but that doesnt mean i dont know how to research an animal before i get it. little did he know ive been researching them for MONTHS! he wouldn't give me the gueruntee because i told him i was gonna keep it on dirt and the basking spot would be 130-150 degrees F (WHICH IS CORRECT!!!). WTH IS THAT!!!! that's just rediculous.

their animals were in good condition and everything was clean, but i would NOT reccomend them. they were trying to push false information on me, atleast one of their employees was.

im going to order an ackie from www.ProExotics.com.

Sorry to hear they were so rude to you.. it can be hard when you're mature for your age. Pro Exotics is a good choice. They have always been courteous to me answering my e-mails and quick to send supplies when I ordered from them.

Matt - you have kimberly rock monitors? Any pics?

Sorry you got treated so rudely just because of your age.

He wasnt entirely wrong though, while sand isnt the best subtrate for them a sand/dirt mix works real nice. Also basking temps he cave are only slightly off for a hatchling ackie and depending on cage size. I kept my hatchlings at a basking temp of 120-125 when they where in the 20L (any hotter and its nearly impossible to give them a thermal gradient) now that they are in a larger enclosure I bumped the temps up to 130-140 as any hotter and they stopped basking and eating.

really? thanks Sean. i thought they needed a small area of intense heat then for example with each retes stack or slope on a rock/branch it got slightly cooler so they could pick where they wanna bask.

i was planning on having a rised up basking spot on a retes stack or something like that so it would be a lot cooler then the hot side.

I would get a monitor from Jason at Rare Earth. This gentleman knows his monitors and they are top notch!! http://www.rareearthinc.com/ I dont have Kims any more I sold them about a year ago.. Awsome animals.. Emeralds would have to be my favotie but they are super hard to keep, for me anyway..lol