Dome and UVB on top

[Yoshi_88]

Hi everyone,

I recently bought my new crestie, Yoshi, from a family who didn't want him anymore.

He is in a fully planted terrarium that only came with a what feels like slightly big CHE and dome.
But I also want to provide UVB for him. Which is why I purchased the Arcadia Shadedweller 7% (not the 2.4% since then I can make up for the loss due to the mesh).


The dome is about 14.5cm(5.7") in diameter.

The terrarium is 40cm(15.7") wide, 40cm(15.7") deep and 70cm (27.5") high.

The (I think stainless steel) mesh strip in the middle of the top glass is 8cm (3.1") deep and spanning the width of the terrarium.

But I forgot that the dome and UVB bar shouldn't touch and now I am at a bit of loss at what to do as the UVB bar of Arcadia that I ordered is 30cm(11.8") wide.

Could anyone help me out please on what to do?

Like would a smaller dome work with a smaller CHE or any other option that could work?
I prefer not having anything hanging inside the terrarium.

I also read in a lot of sources that they might not even need a CHE/heater.
The room temp here is not lower than 18 degrees here, quite often about 19.
Should I just remove the CHE entirely and just use a plant light and UVB as the CHE is used as a basking spot for the highest climbing point he can get to.

I want to give him everything he needs.

Thanks a lot!

 

[acpart]

I would ditch the CHE. It's just going to dry out the air and decrease the humidity. If you feel strongly that you need heat in the winter (I don't use it and my oldest crestie is 19), you can tape some heat cable on one side of the enclosure. UVB is fine, but I don't use it and everyone is thriving.

Aliza

 

[Yoshi_88]

I would ditch the CHE. It's just going to dry out the air and decrease the humidity. If you feel strongly that you need heat in the winter (I don't use it and my oldest crestie is 19), you can tape some heat cable on one side of the enclosure. UVB is fine, but I don't use it and everyone is thriving.

Aliza

Ow really? I thought it was just outdated info to not need a CHE or similar. That will make things a lot easier. I’ll just use the UVB bar on the mesh and a plant led behind it on a riser since thats fine over glass with little to no heat from the leds.

Thanks

 

[acpart]

There are lots of ways to do things. The best bet is to make a choice, based on your best estimate of what may be best for the animal and what you've learned from your research and others' advice, as well as what resources you reasonably have, apply your methods and keep an eye on the animal. If it seems to thrive, you're probably doing something reasonable. There is, of course, always the chance that the animal will appear to thrive but is suffering in unknown ways, but in the long run, there's no way to be 100% sure of that either!

Aliza

 

[Yoshi_88]

There are lots of ways to do things. The best bet is to make a choice, based on your best estimate of what may be best for the animal and what you've learned from your research and others' advice, as well as what resources you reasonably have, apply your methods and keep an eye on the animal. If it seems to thrive, you're probably doing something reasonable. There is, of course, always the chance that the animal will appear to thrive but is suffering in unknown ways, but in the long run, there's no way to be 100% sure of that either!

Aliza

Very good point. Think my “issue” if you will, is that I don’t want to make mistakes when it comes to taking care of any animal and overthink/stress when I get contradicting or confusing info. I need to chill and accept trial and error.

I took the basking light off now, getting the Arcadia UVB bar in today and Hygger planted tank lights in later this week.

I’ll keep checking if the little guy appears to be doing well. But as he has just been moved from a family two hours drive away in a small box to my home, he is hiding and I don’t want to stress him I’m sure I will manage to spot if he is doing okay and see if he wants to eat. He has it available at least.

 

[acpart]

Keep us posted! I have to say that I have some crested geckos and gargoyle geckos that I have literally never seen eat anything, yet they are 8-12 years old so they have to be eating something!

Aliza

 

[Yoshi_88]

Sure! ^^.

I saw he has been eating at least. This morning I saw the Repashy in his cup was less and licking signs in the food. And I think he took some of the calcium in his other cup too ^^ So all good signs at least.

Today will be the first day he has his UVB available too as I put that on the top last night. Curious to see if it will make him more active.

I'll post some pics later on ^^

 

[acpart]

Looking forward to pictures. If you're feeding Repashy and he's eating it I don't know that you need calcium as well. The Repashy is supposed to be a complete food and too much calcium is not necessarily a good thing,

Aliza

 

[Yoshi_88]

Ah good to know. I thought I read somewhere you should have both available in case he doesnt eat but needs calcium. You think I should take out the calcium then (the seperate calcium is without D3 since he has uvb and Repashy)?

Added two photos too! I do think I need to add some sort of hide or branch higher up but im trying to think of a way/find something for that.

 

[Yoshi_88]

Aaaand updated!

 

[Yoshi_88]

Keep us posted! I have to say that I have some crested geckos and gargoyle geckos that I have literally never seen eat anything, yet they are 8-12 years old so they have to be eating something!

Aliza

If you don’t mind me asking here. I noticed that since I’ve set it all up that the humidity stays very high. It’s nt dropping much at all.

I have a front intake mesh which is horizontal and top mesh which is horizontal too but deeper than the front. I have taken off the uvb bar since he is getting uvb from the Repashy already so the top mesh is clear.

Could be that the whole enclosure is too wet due to misting all the plants, wet moss, cork etc. in the evening and this morning. And from just before changing his enclosure to this setup since old one wasn’t properly set up and most of the plante were toxic for him.

So should I wait misting again even if that might take two days or more to let it drop to at least 50-60%? And just having a water dish in his feeding ledge?

Sorry if I should have asked this in a different post.

 

[acpart]

I mist in the evenings only. The idea is that the humidity rises in the evening and gradually slacks off during the day. To get some more "cover" higher in the cage, I use pothos which will ultimately twine around the wood up at the top. It can take awhile but the plant is really hardy. Spencer, my 19 year old crestie, likes to wrap himself up in the leaves for sleeping during the day.

Aliza