Setting up

[RESowner34]

I have a 20 gallon long aquarium sitting around so I thought I'd get a couple female leos? Is this too small? I really want them to thrive.

As for every thread I have some questions..I'll number them so it's easy to answer.

1. Can I use an Infrared Heat Lamp (Zoo-med) at night and a regular light bulb during the day?

2. Is 88 degrees a good temperature for the "warm" side of the tank? Can the other side of the tank be kept at room temperature. This will fluxuate from 68-72 degrees.

3. For substrate can I use this. The link is Here

4. Hides, one on the cool end and one on the warm end right? Are there any comericial hides available? How often and how should they be misted?

5. I should provide a dish with calcium in it? What kind?

If the questions could be answered as 1,2,3,4,5 I'd love it.


Thanks in advance for helping out a newbie!

[tigerlily]

1. You can use the infrared lamp 24/7. There's no need to switch them out. (unless you have them in a dark place that doesn't get sunlight)

2. The warm side seems ok, but 68 is a bit too cool. I think if you can keep it at 72 and no lower you should be fine. The warm side should also help warm the air, and you can always insulate the cage a bit to hold a bit more warmth in.

3. The substrate looks ok, but be warned that cleaning it will be a pain. You may want to consider just using paper towels. (easier to clean and replace when needed)

4. If you're going to have multiple leos you may want to have multiple hides on both sides. They can be as simple as a plastic sandwich container with a hole cut out on the side. To the half coconut hides availabe at the store. You will also want to be able to offer a humid hide as well.

5. Yes you can provide a dish with calcium in it. Rep-Cal’s Ultrafine Phosphorus Free Calcium with D3 supplements would be good.

Here's a link that may help as well.... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=30994

[RESowner34]

Wow! Thank you for the awesome reply!

I'll make sure and monitor the cool side temperature. So even during the day they don't need real light? Or can I put the regular bulb far away just so there's some light (no heating from it)

To keep the hides moist, I know you can use a moist towel ,but what is moss? Is it commericial moss or actual real moss? I'm assuming that 2 hides on each side will be enough?

How often/how long should I put that calcium out? Like once a week for one full day?

Thanks, I'm going to print out that care sheet and post it by my tank.

I'm sure you get bored answering these same newbie questions over and over again!

[Kristy]

I wouldn't use a day lamp for leos they are pretty sensitive to bright lights. I use undertank heaters for both of mine with no lamps.

The moss is terrarium moss or sphagnum (sp?) moss. I like papertowels though cause they don't get stinky like the moss does. I just mist the humid hides every other day.

The pure calcium should be in like a milk jug cap and keep it in the tank 24/7. They need to have it. I have seen mine eat it multiple times.

Also, remember that two females can fight. Mine did and I had to seperate them. One female wouldn't let the other hide, eat or drink. She was also biting her. So i had to buy another set up. No one told me this could happen when I first got my leos.

A 20 gallon is kind of hard to fit all those extra hides in. So I would start with one leo in one tank. They do a lot better by themselves.

[RESowner34]

Alright, I'll just leave the infrared lamp on 24/7. How do you know if they're eating too much of the calcium? I was lead to belive that females would never fight! Thanks for telling me that in advance. I guess it's just one leo for me.

Thanks Kristy

[Kristy]

Oh yeah, Females can fight like you wouldn't believe. No problem. I just didn't want you to run into the same problem i did having to go out and buy a whole extra complete setup when/if they fight.

Well, If you get a baby or juvie, this is the schedule I used

Monday-Saturday Pure Calcium (t rex Bone aid is what I used)

Sunday- Multivitamin with D3 (Reptivite)

As adults I do this

For two weeks I give them pure calcium both dusting their food and in the tank. Then after two weeks I give them the multivitamin. They slow down a lot with eating as they grow older, some do some don't.

But for a year I have stuck with those two schedules. Too much calcium wont really hurt them as long as they have the D3 to process the calcium

Too much d3 can be just as bad as No calcium. It has similiar affects as Metabolic bone disease. Thats why you only use it once a week for babies and juvies. You can use it once a week for adults too but I find mine are brighter and more active only using it every two weeks as adults.

Don't forget you ned to measure the substrate temps, they really rely on the belly heat. So the substrate can be between 88 and 94.

I personally use Ceramic tiles for substrate and its awesome. So easy to clean and they heat nicely. I have pics of my tanks with the tiles, if you would like to see them let me know.
Kristy

[RESowner34]

I'll have to look into the tiles also. For the feeding schedule you were mentioning, do you mean for Monday-Saturday you put the bone aid in the bottle cap and then on sunday the multivitamin in the bottle cap?

As for feeding, is it just crickets? I know how to dust them ,but do they come gutloaded?

[Kristy]

The schedule is for dusting, Don't put d3 in the tank. Just pure calcium. You don't want them eating d3 all the time. So always just keep pure calcium in the tank.

They can eat a variety of different insects.

Crickets, Mealworms, Adults can eat superworms, butter worms, silkworms and roaches.

Silkworms being the healthiest feeder but also the hardest to maintain and the most expensive.

I use mealworms as their staple diet, cause I breed them and never have to buy them food. Then I feed crickets or supers to mix it up a little.

They can also eat waxworms but those are really high in fat and aren't good for them to eat as a staple. They do love them. So I use that for treats. Or if I get a rescue thats really skinny I will use those to fatten them up.

They don't come gutloaded, they are empty shells when you get them. I use a mix of wheat bran, dry oatmeal and some multivitamin mixed in for the mealies, this will work for crickets also. Then just provide thin apple slices for moisture for the insects. you can also get some awesome gutload at www.cricketfood.com. Don't buy commerical gotload like flukers that stuff is a waste of money.

[RESowner34]

Gutload? Does that mean you just feed this cricketfood to them or do you have to like inject it into them?

For dusting it's just making sure there's some calcium on the food?

[tigerlily]

Gutload is just a term used for feeding them nutrious food. Normally done 24-48 hours prior feeding the crickets off.

For dusting, think of it like shake and bake. Just stick the crix in a bag or container with a bit of the powder and ... well shake. Gently though.....