Q. Hi I am setting up a viv for some Cordylus Tropidosternum.

A. Hello and thank you for your enquiry about the heating options for the Dwarf Sungazer (Cordylus tropisternum). Below is a brief description of the conditions that they require.

But first to answer your query on heating options. I would recommend two options.

Option1. (recommended)PT-2047 150Watt Ceramic heat emitter and PT2060
porcelain wire clamp lamp for the heat emitter. This is best connected to a day/night thermostat so it can be set for a different night temperature. Around 30C day basking temperature and about 25C ambient day temperature. A night time drop of about 5-7C.
Option 2. Same as above but running on your dimming stat and an algard heat mat 11"X17". This is left running 24/7 and the heat emitter turned off during the night. The heat mat is placed at the hot end of the vivarium. This will give the correct day night temperature.

Vivarium
The vivarium set up should dry savannah, the substrate should be forest bark aspen beech chips or a mixture of Coir and playpen sand with rocks creating lots of rock crevices and bog wood to hide in and under. These lizards live in the savannah and forest areas so they like wood and rock crevices to hide in or under. They love climbing so give them plenty of branches or netting
to climb up.

Temperature.
The temp should be 25?C. The basking area under a basking heat lamp should be around 30?C, a 100-150w lamp on a thermostat should be sufficient. A heat mat should be placed on the rear wall or floor of the vivarium for background heat, the basking spot should be turned off at night so giving a day length of 10-12 hours and a night time drop in temperature.

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