Anyone have experience with lizards? (m)

We have a leopard gecko and just bought a Mountain Horned Dragon. They both belong to my 12 yr old son. We bought the dragon at a pet store, which after reading some things on line, seems to have been a mistake. The dragon has a vet appointment this afternoon to verify he is in good health, no parasites, etc. Hopefully, he's fine because we've all gotten a little attached to him.

One thing we're having problems with is keeping the humidity level right. We're misting the whole tank (plants, bottom, sides, etc.), we bought a fountain (which is running out of water every few hours), we have a water bowl, and yet the humidity level drops too low within a couple of hours. Right now, we're using a 30 gallon aquarium with a screen top. We have about 2 inches of reptile mulch stuff on the bottom. Lots of climbing stuff. We have a UV light during the day and a heat lamp on, although I'm not sure whether that is on all the time or just during the day. We also have 2 heater pads on the bottom of the tank. I've read conflicting advice on whether or not to cover up the top with glass instead of screen, but how would he breath and wouldn't that be dangerous with the heat lamp thing on top?

Norbert the dragon and I thank you for any and all suggestions.
Debbi

but that sounds like a lot of heat. no wonder it is driving off the water.
we used to have an iguana, and it had a heated rock, and fluorescent lights.
hope you have a good, qualified vet. it is hard to find a good exotic vet.

During college I worked in our herp lab for two years (cleaning cages, feeding, etc.) and we didn't use that many heat sources for our leopard geckos. We had a IV light (on a timer) and a heat source and that seemed to be enough.

It sounds like there's enough water, which is good, but I think it's evaporating too quickly. You should also figure out whether the heat lamp is on all the time or not. If you cycle it off and on, that may solve the problem. I would use a screen to cover the top--that way the heat doesn't get trapped in the aquarium. You definitely need some sort of air circulation in the tank. I would ask your vet--he'll be able to give you better advice.

Good luck with your leopard gecko--out of all the critters I took care of, those were always my favorite! :hi:

If you can't keep the whole area humid enough you can provide a humidified area without severe drops in temp at night. Red tails need to be kept pretty warm day and night so turning off the heat lamp was not an option or the temp fell too much at night so here's what I did.

I took a large plastic coffee can with the lid (folgers) cut a small hole in the side about 2 inches up from the bottom. Inside I placed 2 or 3 folded up paper towels to cover the bottom and then wetted the towels every 2 days or as needed. Replace the paper towels as necessary, when they're dirty, wash out the plastic can and place new wet paper towels, pop the top back on and replace in tank :-) Stays nice and humid in there and it's easy to maintain and clean.

That way they can bask under the heat lamp or go into the humidity box as they please.

Reptiles are awesome creatures:thumbsup: Give the humidity box a try and good luck. Make sure you ask your vet about metabolic bone disease(calcium deficiency) and how to avoid it. It's almost sure death for certain herps once they get it.

:hi: