[evogirl]

Hi Everyone!

Im New to here! Some really intresting posts and pictures on here, very helpful!

I wonder if some one could suggest an ideal set up for my wee fat tailed gecko, Peeps!
Ive had him about 2 years now and hes fab! hes currently in a 2ft viv but ive just purchased a 3ft vivexotic for him and want to set it all up just right for him!

Any recommendations for heating, lighting and layouts would be much appreciated ( anybody with ftg viv set up pictures that are bit different- would love to see!)

Thanks!

evogirl

[HepCatMoe]

well, if youve never done it before, i suggest giving your aft someplace to burrow. they will actually construct quite elaborate burrows if the substrate is deep enough. a good way to make sure the substrate doesnt collapse is to put lots (i mean a lot, crossing every which way) of twigs through the substrate.

however, if youve had your aft for a while now you know they are pretty shy. and once your aft makes a huge burrow, you will almost never see it come out. (but if you can figure a way to direct its borrow along the glass, you can see it move around in its burrow). also, it will be very hard to access your aft once it creates a burrow, so you will not be able to handle it very much. so really it all depends on what you want.

if you want to use live plants, the best one is pothos. it grows with no extra lighting, it is very hardy, it is not poisonous, and it has some very attractive variegation.

the best heating for aft is underbelly heating. this is agreed on by all the breeders.

[evogirl]

Thanks very much for your help, I am currently using a heatmat and have just purchased a thermostat which I have set up. The thermostat doesnt seems to be making any difference to the viv heat, even when turned up to 92?? During the day I turn a reptile 40w light on to give a day/night cycle.
Where should the thermostat sensor be in the viv and where should my thermometer be??? Currently I have the sensor touching sand at middle of heatmat and the thermometer centre back of the viv, is this right? How can I regulate the viv temp more at nights?

Thank you soo much for all your useful information!

evogirl

[acpart]

Here is a description of my fat tail enclosure in a 20 gallon long which I'll try to proivde a picture of (it houses 1.2 AFT's):

20 gallon long with coco fiber substrate.
2/3 of the tank has hydroton clay balls, a mesh divider and coco fiber with plants, a water dish and a ceramic lay box set into the substrate (you will not see the laybox in the picture which is older. I had a plastic lay box that you'll see but replaced it with ceramic)
1/3 of the tank has coco fiber only and the UTH. There are 3 ceramic hides: Two have ceramic bottoms with removeable lids and are partially buried in the substrate to be nearer the heat; one sits on top of the substrate.
There is a plexiglass divider to keep the substrate without the drainage layers separate from the substrate with the drainage layers. It has the added advantage of keeping the crickets on one side of the tank since it's lower. The fatties spend most of their time in the hides but do visit the other side.

Aliza

[HepCatMoe]

you want to be measuring the temperature inside your warm hide because that is where your gecko will be spending most of his time. put your thermometer right inside in the warm hide (be careful of your gecko!). the thermomter does not have to be there all the time, but it will have to be there while you are figuring all this out.

use your thermometer to measure the temperature in the warm hide. set your thermostat so that the temperature inside the warm hide is around 85. if its lower that is ok. i would not go above 95 in the warm hide. i would not go below 78.

ideally the sensor for the thermostat should be in the hide, that way the hide stays at a constant temperature. however, that does not always work, so then put the sensor somewhere close to the heat mat. if not in the hide, then right on top of the heat mat is best. depending on your setup, the temperature over the heat mat will not match the temperature in the hide. so your goal is to experiment to figure out which setting for the thermostat produces the temp you want in the hide.

finally, if you cant get it hot enough in the hide, you might be using too much substrate, or maybe you are using the wrong substrate. some substrates act as insulators and block the heat from the heat mat.

if you put your thermometer in the back corner it is not measuring the temperature in the hide. if your hide is over the heat mat, it could be much much warmer in the hide than in the back corner away from the heating elements. especially if the air in your house is cold.

after all those crazy paragraphs the two most important things are:

1)measure the temp in the warm hide.

2)control the temp in the warm hide.

3)be careful, since you have not actually been measuring the temp in the hide, you might cook your gecko!