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savy bedding

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I just purchased a baby savy ibought some red cedar chips to keep in heat and control the smell bought i heard they were toxic.I got it from the pet store and use it for my dogs. Is this true? I dont like how the chips get in his mouth while feeding is this harmful too?
 
Do a search of this discussion forum on savannah substrate, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for. Good luck.
 
Cypress mulch is fine (and cheap). Cedar and pine are not. Dirt/sand mixture is the best, allows them to dig burrows (which is what they do naturally).
 
John is right. Dirt, or sand, is a natural substrate for Savannah's, they do dig a lot and bury themselves, it is also a natural hide for them. Play sand from a Home Depot is your best route, $4 for 20 pounds found in the concrete isle.
 
thanks for the info guys he was only in there for 2 days with the cedar chips do you think i harmed him in anyway? I got some vita sand now went home and set up a whole new habitat now he has a cave some drift wood so he can climb and get different levels of heat and a large water bowl he can cool off in the only prob. is my critter cage i have a screen sliding hood with a lock but i just read that i now have a beef jerky machine i put cardboard over the screen and i have a humidifier and vaporizer for my child will any of these help?
 
Mix some dirt into the sand. You want to provide 8-10 inches minimum. Savannahs need to burrow to thrive. It's their nature. Also, that is correct. You want a solid lid on your cage to hold in the humidity. Without good humidity, the lizard will become chronically dehydrated and develop visceral gout which WILL kill the lizard. It's irreversible and virtually undetectable until it's too late. You want to go out and buy an infrared temperature gun if you don't already have one.

The basking spot needs to be around 130º SURFACE TEMP. You can get the surface temp by using an infrared temp gun. I strongly recommend against using big monster 100+ watt heat lamps. What you do is take smaller wattage flood halogens you can buy from Home Depot or Lowe's. Make sure it doesn't have a clear center because that will create a super hot spot and cause thermal burns. Take something like 2 40-60 watts and put them side by side so you create a basking spot that can heat up the entire lizard, not just a spot on the back. The reason for avoiding higher wattage bulbs is because they tend to dry out the air causing the humidity to go down.

You can either dig the dirt up out of your back yard (don't worry about parasites, we don't have any in the US that would affect monitor lizards) or buy organic topsoil from Lowe's or Home Depot. If you buy it, make sure it has NO chemicals, NO fertilizers, NO animal dung of any kind, that it's pretty much just straight dirt.

Good luck.
 
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