Position of UTH

[appps]

Well bother on both fronts.

This was a good post on them too.
http://www.myturtlecam.com/lighting.php

Going to need to do a rethink myself, may have to give them some glass free time and see what that does to my temps and humidity. Probably means a screen of some sort though.

[ladybug15057]

Good information from a couple years ago too, a warning:

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... +-+warning

[appps]

Thanks ladybug, that's the article I was thinking of that I mentioned earlier. Thanks for sharing that, going to bookmark it this time!

[Andy]

Great information everyone, there's so much to learn. Will be difficult to implement the UV bulb given that the tank needs to stay humid as well. Guess it is easier in a reptile enclosure where you can use a screen lid because humidity isn't a concern.

Had my glass lid cut today including a hole for the ceramic heat emitter. Will post a pic once I've got it setup. Will have to think about UV lighting later. There is daylight in the tank because it is next to a large window, just not direct sunlight (which is not recommended anyway) so therefore no UV.

[Andy]

Finally got the tank setup, and it was a rush in the end, but I'll explain that in another post. I had an 80mm hole cut in the glass at a local glass and mirror factory, which only took 5 minutes. I installed some hooks in the timber hood of the tank, and hung the wire cage that the ceramic heater is installed in from one of the hooks. I used another hook to hold the power cord as it trails out the back of the hood. I've got a dual probe thermometer with the sensors at each end of the tank. The ceramic heater is controller by a PID thermostat, which regulates the current to the heater in order to maintain the temperature I've set.

So far it is working very nicely. We are at the tail end of Summer, so temperatures are still rather mild, but I'm hoping the heater will hold up in Winter as well once the temperatures drop. It is a 150W heater, so I don't think it is working very hard at the moment. But temperature is being maintained very nicely. Humidity is the challenge now. I have a salt water pond setup in a pyrex dish with some aquarium gravel, so that helps a bit, but I think I will need to add some other things to the tank to keep the humidity up, like perhaps a moss pit. I have coconut husk covering most of sand so that retains a bit of the moisture, but the heater is drying things quickly.

The tank is a little bare at the moment, but it's a start.

[appps]

Looks good so far! Doesn't really need the wire because they can't jump or climb up there but it's a clever way to hang the heater. Might steal that idea less the cage bit for another tank I'm going to convert.

For the humidity Is your sand damp (sandcastle damp). Looks like it could be but hard to tell from the photo. The top looks quite dry. You could try misting it all to get the humidity up but I think you may find a larger water source is a better, less maintenance solution. Are you going to add a second water source? (One salt one fresh)

[Andy]

The wire cage was more for me, to prevent me from accidentally touching the heater while working inside the tank i.e. restocking, refilling, etc. I admit it looks a little ugly, but I'd rather that than a burned hand or arm, and it did make the heater easy to hang in the end.

I've mixed the sand with both coconut husk and bottled water before putting it into the tank, so it is damp underneath, but the top dries out quickly due to the heater. I mist the tank morning and night, so humidity hovers between 65 to 80%, but I recognise that I need more.

The fresh water is currently in some small dishes next to the glass, but I think I will take up your idea and put in another large dish, perhaps just a ceramic one, with more freshwater.

By the way, if anyone in Oz is looking for a good source of bottled water, this brand I found in the supermarket appears to be pretty good. See http://www.noblebeverages.com/. It has 0 chlorine, 0 fluoride, 0 nitrates, 0 bacteria, etc. It is not distilled however, but is triple-filtered. I'm not sure if it has any minerals in it, so whilst being safe from an impurities point of view, it may not contain the essentials that a hermit crab needs, although I would have thought most of the essentials would come from food anyway, but I'm not sure.

[appps]

You only burn yourself once ;-) I speak from experience, much more careful afterwards!

[aussieJJDude]

Wow, that idea looks really cool! the only thing I worry about is the size of the hole, can the crabbies escape through it?

[Andy]

There's only a few millimetres on either side of the ceramic heater, so not enough space I would have thought to squeeze through. Also I'm not sure how they would reach it unless they can crawl upside down on the glass lid.