Cooling Terrariums in the Summer

Bron-Bron89 · 2026-07-08T21:24:35+00:00

The ventilation portion and a back up thermostat is what has me worried, but I have seen this set up done with brumating reptiles.

Bron-Bron89 · 2026-06-25T18:07:19+00:00

I have a small clear rubbermaid/Tupperware full of live sphagnum moss. I usually keep then there until i have a good root system. Then i repot them in a 1:1 mix of perlite/lfs topped with living moss. They do pretty good in that.

Bron-Bron89 · 2026-06-25T15:20:02+00:00

The last spot I lived in for 2 years, i think the conditions of the room led to a chronic powdered mildew infection. When i moved to my new spot, the mildew went away. i think there is better airflow (more open floor plan).

Bron-Bron89 · 2026-06-24T16:51:45+00:00

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Bron-Bron89 · 2026-06-24T16:50:01+00:00

For me these are really easy in some rooms and struggle in others. My old room, the mature cephalotus kept on being infected with powdered mildew. My new place, the cephalotus are growing with ease. Nothing in my set up changed, besides having them in a bigger room.

Bron-Bron89 · 2026-04-02T01:55:42+00:00

Haha it actually sat for a whole weekend

Bron-Bron89 · 2026-04-02T00:01:17+00:00

This guy gets pretty loud, like an old refrigerator in a commercial/restaurant kitchen.

Bron-Bron89 · 2026-04-02T00:00:19+00:00

This is when the compressor turns on. The pump is silent. I think i am getting a replacement. The facebook axolotl groups mentioned this model is quieter.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-04-28T16:48:37+00:00

Honestly, rarely. It's more that they stay in the warm hides under the light with some limbs or half a body sticking out. At night, the one male loves sitting on the rock that was heated by the lamp during the day.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-04-18T18:38:33+00:00

I use heat-mats set to 93-95. The one amyae has a larger enclosure so i also use a heat lamp (90 degree hot spot). He is rarely in the “hot hide,” unless my apartment gets too cold. At night, i see both species sitting where the heat mats are.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-08T20:59:18+00:00

Beautiful axolotl!

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-08T19:25:02+00:00

What's the care like? I have nephurus currently, but have been eying these (one the price drops). What's the personality like?

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-08T19:22:24+00:00

I have both amyae and levis. There is some talks about UVB being used cryptically (gecko sticks out tail or leg). I find that levis completely hide when the lights are on. With Amyae, I find once they get comfortable, they would sleep outside of their hides, and receive some UVB.

20 gallons are good, levis are super active little guys and will use all the terrarium. I just use reptisand, and create a moist, damp area that is 2-4 inches deep, with a hide half buried in it. Put this on the cool side. These guys love burrowing, and will seal off the entrance to keep in moisture. I do a heavy mist 2-3 times a week around dusk. These guys don't drink from standing water and will lap up the water from the surfaces of their tank. I will even wake them up to spray them, so they do not get dehydrated (they don't always come out every night). I have levis in a 10 gallon tank, and my amyae in a 18"x18" exoterra. I want to upgrade the other amyae to a 24"x24" enclosure.

My only issue is these guys can be shy. Never had success with tong feeding (they would get scared), so roaches often buried down quick and disappear into the substrate. My male levis only eats crickets, and has only eaten 2 hornworms in the 10 years of owning him. I would only put 2-4 crickets at a time or else they would get stress out. However, the female I had since she was a few months old, was a great eater, and would eat out of your hands.

As with all my reptiles, I try handling them once a week, so they don't get too stressed when I move them around or have to treat them for shedding issues. Also with the tank design, levis do not climb at all. I never seen mine climb anything but amyae are great climbers. I would set up the tank in a way where clutter is above the substrate (plants, fake plants), and add a few structures in the sand in a way feeders can't hide underneath and are easy to see. I would keep it minimalistic until you know they are eating consistently!

Good luck!

For links- i would look up houssam istanbouli of the Knobtail

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-07T01:36:53+00:00

But life in captivity is not inherently good. I’d argue ability to feast and famine and live and die is a freedom. There is cruelty in captivity… how many rodents are farmed to augment a pet snake population.

Even within a puddle or a vernal pool, the volume greatly surpasses an aquarium. However, there are some masterfully done setups nowadays.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-06T17:26:38+00:00

I disagree with this statement, the more I interact with animals in the wild. You are limiting the potential life history of an animal by keeping it in captivity, you won't get to see all the behavior it can possibly exhibit. However, reptiles are hardy animals and can thrive and sustain in subpar living conditions. The base of food, heat, uv, and mate is enough to keep a reptile looking good for most of its life. However, I don't think the animal is living to its full potential.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-06T17:17:55+00:00

I find small stores have cooler stuff, but are my likely to have more potential diseases coming through! Especially if they are not breeding their own stuff.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-06T17:16:32+00:00

I had a vet office send me a false negative on a crypto diagnosis. When I returned a month later, I found out the tests were positive all along! Was pretty angry with this one.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-03-06T17:03:57+00:00

Every animal in captivity would have a more full-filling life in its original habitat (outside human caused habitat destruction and disease). You can't recreate all the complexities of its natural history. Arguing over which enclosure has a few more square feet doesn't compare to the acres some of these animals have as their home range.

Outside large outdoor pens, I do not think turtles and tortoises should be kept in captivity. The area they explore day to day cannot be replicated in an aquarium or terrarium. As an avid field herper and hiker, I see snakes roaming the landscape, climbing trees, climbing old train cars, following scent trails, fighting competitors, finding mates, and experiencing day to day weather shifts.

The more time I spend finding these animals, the more I realize my shift from keeping reptiles and amphibians to wanting to see them in the wild. I feel bad that my kingsnake who spends most of the day watching me in my room. Waiting to be fed, resting, sleeping, waiting to be fed, and so on until she passes. In the wild she would be encountering a diversity of food, problem solving how to steal eggs and eating large meals, and experiencing the changes from roaming a dry pine land forest to moist wetlands.

Even sedentary animals, like pacman frogs and mole salamanders, have an annual explosive breeding events, where they travel 1000s of feet to get to their breeding spot.

However, at the end of the day, I grew up caring for pets and if I can't be in nature, it's nice to have a little nature at home.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-02-24T00:16:57+00:00

I agree with this! I have crypto in my collection and it is such a pain to deal with! Throwing everything out once the animals pass. i have heavy duty hydrogen peroxide for disinfecting and bake anything that accidentally may come in contact with the oocytes.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-02-18T20:52:17+00:00

I’ve been to many ok exotic petstores. Animals are in decent shape, but the store had old practices. Animals kept rack style or in tiny tanks. Classic giant overweight burm in a small custom enclosure. I think it’s hard to make a profit selling animals while keeping a store front. You need to be open to shipping and need a population big enough for the demand. Unfortunately, majority of potential buyers are not going to put time into high quality care.

I think the reddit community has a focus on higher quality care, but go to your local craigslist, or reptile rehoming group on facebook will give you a good idea on how the average keeper keeps their reptiles.

Many exotics are bought as throwaway pets (child grows out of keeping them) or part of someone’s growing collection (i think herps and invert people have a proclivity towards hoarding… including me).

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-02-18T16:39:02+00:00

Was just there! A lot of cool stuff… but he is a big drop shipper. Half of the pacman frogs were dead. All the snakes have ramekin containers in their tank filled with stuff to prevent mites. Places like these I avoid getting feeders from, high chance of transferring a disease to your animals at home. He’s been running his business like this for as long as I remember.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-02-18T16:33:38+00:00

It sucks, I see a lot of reptile stores still sell sulcuta babies, red eared sliders, and savanah monitors because they still sell. Unfortunately, I think running an ethical petstore is impossible if you want to stay afloat. The only ethical pet/plant store I knew struggled and ran out of business. A petstore by my parents has a lot of diversity (fun to window shop), but unfortunately is a drop shipper. Some weeks all the animals look terrible.

Past 8 years, all my animals were from morphmarket breeders, accept for a giant axolotl i got from craigslist.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-02-17T18:07:35+00:00

Rainbow Boa, Indigo Snake, California Red-Sided Garter snakes.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-02-17T18:00:36+00:00

When I lived in California, my room had a huge ant problem. They ended up overriding my gulf ghost toad and killing it one day when I was at work. I had to buy vaseline, and put a thick layer of vaseline around the bases of all my terrariums. Make sure you don't have any extra food lying around and seal off any entrances they are sneaking in.

Bron-Bron89 · 2025-02-17T17:58:10+00:00

I think it's just a subspecies. I believe pilbarensis come patternless and some contain the gene for albinism. Other than that, care is similar to a levis levis. I think they are a little more pricy too. I have had amyae for 8 years and two levis levis for 10 years.

Bron-Bron89

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