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Post by mark68 on Jun 3, 2007 7:56:40 GMT
I have tried around 6 of these for small lizards. At first I thought they were really good. They seemed to work well for Jacksons chameleons. Any wind seemed to tip them over when they were in the upright position. So I tied this one to bamboo canes. However a month or two later during very strong winds the structure again blew over. Unfortunately when I failed to find the chams I noticed a large hole in the bottom chewed through by rodents presumably. This is the main problem I have with them the material used for the sides is not that strong. Certainly animals of the size of a subadult green lizards is able with time to make a hole in them. This has happened several times, when I had them, luckily within a greenhouse structure. Also the mesh will reduce UV rays by around 30-40 %. Although this still means your animal will recieve more UV than the UV tubes currently on the market. There used to be another make on the market called apogee and they were much stronger.
I have not tried them with amphibians. Anybody else used them for this ? I hink that maybe where they are ideally suited.
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Post by mark68 on Feb 11, 2007 15:28:20 GMT
I have used spot lamps in greenhouses and large home made coldframe like structures in London. Some species adapt to them well. I found tortoises and most lizards (especially lacertids) love them. However I found bearded dragons would wander away from the light, get cold and fall asleep in a corner somewhere !!
Also if the aim is to keep the enviroment warmer in the winter, Bert Langerwerf (agama international) recommends using sunken enclosures. He say the earth keeps the temperature more stable (warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer). The Chinese create sunken beds to grow vegtables in the winter using the same principle (ref Joy Larkom in her book "Oriental vegetables")
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Post by mark68 on Feb 10, 2007 7:42:34 GMT
It could be used to keep enclosures a little warmer in winter, but it really is much easier to take the animals indoors or to a frost free outbuilding. I don't know what animals willj had in mind but i can't imagine many herps would benefit from it.
I have never heard it done by amateurs or professionals and I think that there is a very good reason for it !!
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Post by mark68 on Feb 9, 2007 20:21:00 GMT
The Victorians used to grow pineapples outdoors using a similar method. They had huge amouts of manure to heat them. this had to be changed frequently and would be too time consuming I think. As somebody who regularly mucks out equines I wouldn't recommend it !! There are much easier ways to adapt the enviroment to suit more warmth loving animals. Or, Dare I say this on this forum..... you could keep in them indoors for short periods of the year !!
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Post by mark68 on Apr 21, 2007 6:42:39 GMT
Hi lee
Are the tanks in a warm place ? (i.e near any heating devices) Do they recieve any direct sunlight at any part of the day ? Where did you get them ? Are they captive bred or wild caught ? how long have you had them ? Can you provide any pics ? Why did you choose to house them seperately ?
I can't see any reason why you couldn't put any healthy animals outdoors now. It would not do any harm to describe the outdoor housing in detail or provide pics especially if you are new to keeping amphibians.
Mark
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Post by mark68 on Mar 18, 2007 15:49:14 GMT
I dont think you could do better than the yellow bellied and Fire bellied Toads (Bombina sp). They would be the most likely to call on warm summer afternoons and evenings without annoying the neighbours. The green water frogs like the edible frog (rana esculenta), Pool frog (Rana lessonae) and the marsh frog (rana ridibunda) are very loud and not to everyones taste ! The Tree frogs tend to be even louder like the common tree frog (Hyla arborea). I can clearly hear while in bed tree frogs calling a hundred metres away.
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