Uromastyx Setup
It's very easy to set construct this Uromastyx setup. The vivarium and cabinet come with instructions and should take around 20 minutes per unit to construct. They mostly use locki ng screws so don't worry if you make a mistake, they can be taken apart and re-built. Once the vivarium is constructed you will need to seal the joints inside with an aquarium sealant. This will extend the life of your vivarium and keep the joints water resistant. Make sure the panels are all clean and dry as possible before applying. Once applied you will want to leave the enclosure for at least 6 hours so the silicone can set and the fumes can disperse.For the following sections cables for each piece of equipment will be fed through the vents at the top of your enclosures back wall. The Vivexotic range now include removable vents large enough to fit the entire plug through so you should not need to re-wire any plugs. Creating the Basking Area This enclosure is designed to get to 110-130 Fahrenheit on the hot end but still leave the other side cool. To do this you should choose one end of the enclosure to be your hot end and one end to be the cool end. All of your heating equipment needs to be placed in the hot end.We provide our daytime basking temperatures using a very intense basking spot lamp controlled by a themrostat. This should be fixed to the centre of the ceiling close to the warm side. Ideally we want 1/3 of the enlcoure to be hot so we would usually space the bulb out 3 inches from the side wall. Once the lamp is fixed in place you can connect it to the thermostat on the outside of the enclosure. The dial on the thermostat should be set to 100f and its sensor should be fixed to the back wall of the vivarium around 1/3 of the way from the hot end and 3 inches above the floor. Night time Heating The Uromastyx requires very hot day time temperatures but they expect it to cool down a lot during the night time. As long as the night time room temperature is around 15C or so we would not provide additional night time heating. Controlling Temperatures In this set up we don't usually control our basking lamps. We would keep a thermometer on the hot side of the enclosure aiming for 110+. If the bulb exceeds 130f we would change for a lower wattage, if in winter it isn't hot enough we would increase the wattage.If you would like to control the basking lamp you could do so with a high temperature dimming thermostat connected to the basking lamp. Your thermostat will have 3 wires attached to a central box, on the central box is a dial with a list of temperatures around it's face. One of the wires ends in a plug, this is plugged into your power source. The second wire will end in a socket, you plug your lamp holder into this. The third wire ends in a sensor, this can be fed into the enclosure through one of the bottom vents and should be fixed in place around 1/3 of the way from the hot end and 1/3 of the way up the back wall. Setting up the UVB UVB is very important for reptiles as it allows them to produce their own vitamin D and use the calcium in their diet. Without the correct UVB levels some reptiles can become very poorly. All of the UVB in this setup is provided by a UV tube and reflector. To set this up you will need to open up your UV controller. Inside you should fine that it has one plug and two wires ending in connectors. Feed the connectors into the enclosure using the top vents and leave them dangling inside. Once they are in the enclosure you can fix the reflector to the ceiling. Simply screw the reflector into the ceiling as far back as possible leaving an inch on either end. The reflector is in a J shape, you want to fix it so the longest side (top of the J) is at the closest to the ceiling and facing toward the front of the enclosure.Once this is in place you can attach the connectors to the tube and clip the tube into your reflector. T5 lamps are a little more difficult so you will need to remove the waterproof cap on the connector, place it onto the tube leaving yourself a few inches of space. You then line up the pins on the tube and connector then press in until you hear a small click. When you hear this click bring the cap down the tube making sure not to relieve pressure on the fitting and screw it in place. It needs to be very tight to ensure the connection is made.The tube will deteriorate over time and need replacing. T8 lamps should be changed every 6 months while T5 lamps last 12 months. Running the Enclosure This setup is designed to provide an intense basking area and UV throughout the day then complete darkness and a temperature drop at night. If you would like to make it automatic you could have your thermostat and UVB lamp on mechanical timers to turn on for 12 hours and stay off all night. If you find that the lamp is constantly dimmed to almost no light you could try changing it for a lower wattage. Similarly if you find that it is on full all of the time and the temperatures are sub optimal you should get a higher wattage lamp.If you have any concerns or need any further advise please let us know.