If I am going to use substrate it is going to be dirt, now I have explained why I will not use other substrates and why I am hesitant about dirt.
Now you completely misunderstood my monitor post. If we did not adopt the blackthroat, Precious would be in juggernauts cage. Nothing would have changed except for maybe taking the dirt out (Maybe). There would be no monitor in the cage and I am ceretain she would have done fine in the cage. One of the other reasons we did not use such a deep cage was because Lou was dragged into a deep cage which made it difficult to get to the snake constricting him. So despite the retic being able to live in that cage, for our safety we are building a different cage. All of these decisions were talked about before we adopted the blackthroat.
Do not assume you know, and don't worry I am constantly cleaning cages any ways, I just find constantly dumping substrate in the trash to be wasteful and not necessary. Here is another good quote
"Razeraze, there's a very simple answer to your question. If I want to go out herping, I will choose different times of the day to herp for different reptiles, even if it's the same day and in the same locale. In the middle of the day on the hottest summer days, when the sun is directly above and it's uncomfortably hot you will rarely, if ever, see something like a red-bellied blacksnake out basking or foraging, but that sort of day is almost guaranteed to get you a few sightings of active monitors. Diamond pythons, which share a lot of the same habitat as lace monitors in my area, are nocturnal during the hot summer, but will happily wander around by day in winter.
So, we have the same locale, same general climate, yet each reptile uses it differently - accessing a different microclimate temporally. They may have to deal with the same ambient temperatures, but their basking temperatures are entirely different." crocdoc
"Thank you. I thought it would only be different for diurnal and nocturnal species, I did not think two diurnal lizards would not do well in a similar enclosure. If the cages are set up with natural environment in mind and the cool spots are offered as well as the hot spots wouldn't the reptile thermo regulate as it saw fit? For instance if you kept a bearded dragon and a lace monitor, wouldn't the monitor just use the spots it felt necessary and the bearded do the same?" me
"Ideally, yes - provided the lace monitor didn't eat the bearded dragon first, which is the most likely scenario
There's one problem, though. In captivity we are limited by space, so we tend to make each enclosure have as much of the preferred conditions for the animal being kept. Bearded dragons and monitors are not as far off each other as a snake and a monitor would be, though, in terms of basking spot preferences. Monitors just like it generally hotter. You'd probably find that you'd see less of the bearded dragon and more of the monitor if the enclosure were a bit on the hotter side, and vice versa if the enclosure were a bit cooler.
I have a favourite wild lace monitor spot that I take visiting herpers to when they're in town. If it's a hot sunny day, we'll see lacies. If it's a bit overcast and not quite as hot, sometimes the lacies aren't readily found wandering about so I'll stop at a waterfall that's on the way back and will be almost guaranteed to find a pair of water dragons that lives there. That way we're not completely skunked. On hot days, the water dragons are much harder to find, as they aren't out in the open but are wedged into crevices. Consequently, it's usually an 'either or' thing." crocdoc
So a snake a lizard or what ever can be thrown into a large cage they will just use it differently. Currently in the
BCI cage we have a hot spot of 150F+ I told my fiance it was too hot and she put it in anyways. Do you know what happened? The snake never uses it, it is just dead space. The snake does not go up there and cook, or burn herself she simply does not use it.
