[acpart]

I am going to be moving my coleonyx v.b. tank in a few weeks and am thinking a lot about substrate. This may be a little long because I've been trying to figure it out for awhile. At the moment, they are on ceramic tile, but I also have in the cage a plastic container of moist eco-earth, a low ceramic container of dry eco earth and a low ceramic container of rounded rocks (too large to ingest). I've read about coleonyx liking to dig and burrow, and I want to give them that opportunity if it makes sense, but I have some reservations
So here are my thoughts and questions:

1. Natural habitat: I'm unclear about whether in nature they are in sandy, dry river bank areas where they can really dig and burrow, or if they're in more of a carved rock area where they're just fitting themselves into cracks and crevices in rocks. If they're naturally diggers, I'd like to find a way to give that to them, but if it's the latter, it makes more sense to me that I'd set up some rock levels and let them hide there.

2. Moisture: assuming they are diggers, it's hard to find a substrate that will maintain enough shape and body to support tunnels without needing to be constantly moistened; I'm concerned about humidity for these desert creatures, although they do seem to be doing well in their current overly humid cage. Eco earth dries out easily, and I imagine sand does too. I've been thinking of trying some kind of eco-earth and sand mixture, but am open to other ideas as well. I'm looking for something that they could dig in without collapsing their tunnels but that won't be wet.

3. Safety: as I've said in other posts, I don't keep my leopard geckos on particulate substrate and it's hard for me to imagine keeping these little guys on it since they're so much smaller. Eco earth seems as if it would be less likely to lead to impaction than sand but, as I mentioned above, it needs to be moistened frequently.

I'm leaning toward some kind of mix, unless I decide (with your input) that I should go for a rocky "landscape". Any thoughts, especially accompanied by objective information, would be useful.

Aliza

[Coleonyx]

Ive found them in nature to be most common in the crevices of rocks. In captivity I once had a group of 8 adults in a tank and they all crammed themself under a single clay saucer that was on top of a rock under a spotlight. The substrate was sand and although they dug, They always retreated into this ceramic hide or in a crevice that a few of the rocks in the tank made. I have not found Coleonyx to dig burrows for shelter.

I hope this helps.

[John_E_Dove]

I have a dry set up 10 gallon aquarium for my Texas Banded that I traded a horse for and actually was shown the hard packed rocky place it came from. I agree they live in cracks, crevasses and under rocks. Since I got to see the site I also had the advantage of being able to bring home a bucket of the soil from the site along with some trash/artifacts.
I tested the soil composition by placing a cup of it in a glass canning jar, filling the jar with water, shaking it up to completely separate the soil then waiting for the mixture to settle out. The mix tested out to be about 45% Sand, 50% Adobe Clay and 5% other matter/dirt rotted plant matter etc.
Here is how I constructed the enclosure;
1. I started by placing tipping and bracing a 10 gallon aquarium so it sat at about a 45 degree angle.
2. I wet the bucket of gathered soil to a soft mud state and micro waved it.
3. I took the cooled mud and started layering it with flat stones using the mud like mortar to create a wall against the back of the enclosure. As I did the construction I included caves under and between some of the stones for her to use once it was finished.
4. I pressed in a bunch of polished stones I had laying around into the mud in various places as decorations. Actually they are detractors from the looks IMO now.
5. I placed about 2 inches of the mud on 2/3rds of floor level in front of the wall leaving the other 1/3rd clear of substrate.
6. I sat the aquarium upright and waited for the excess water to start draining into the clear area.
7. I siphoned out the excess water as it accumulated in the clear area. Took about 3 days till there was not enough accumulation to siphon.
8. I filled the cleared area with moist Eco Earth and covered it with the pottery pieces I had gathered from the site of capture along with a small bottle I also picked up there.
9 I waited about a week, with 2 100 watt bulbs shining on the enclosure, for the enclosure to dry.
10. Lastly I re-moistened the Eco Earth by siphoning in a cup of water, added a drinking tube & calcium bowl, put in some crickets, some ground fish food in the little bottle and added my Gecko.
I tried taking a couple of pics but I am not much of a photographer so forgive the poor quality of the attached pic.

[Kelentari]

Wow, John, that is really neat!

[acpart]

That set-up is really wonderful, John. It's beyond my scope, though. Your substrate analysis was helpful. Here's my plan, so far based on the responses I got: tile substrate to start with. A container about 10"x4"x 3/4" deep with smooth, rounded rocks and a piece of slate lying over the top of part of the container so they can hide under there. A small rocky planter that can accommodate 2 succulents. A plastic container with eco earth for a humid hide/lay box. Possibly a ceramic tube structure that I'll make at some point. I also have a piece of cholla wood that they like to hide in. I regret the plastic and may replace it with ceramic at some point. They should have lots of crevices and different textures to explore at any rate.

Aliza

[strikedistance]

Alright. Whoever states that coleonyx spend time in crevices doesn't go out looking for them. They spend most of there time in burrows, under rocks (under debris) and artificial cover. I've personally seen abbotti, bogerti, variegatus, and switaki in the wild. None of which were ever found in cracks, crevices, etc. That kind of habitat is for phyllodactylus and xantusia (henshawi and gracilis).

Make a take where they can burrow under rocks, add hollowed out cactus and they won’t really make holes. They do love to dig though especially the variegatus!!

Another thing you need to know is coleonyx love to move around. They need bigger tanks than people think. Well they do better in them. They are the biggest wonders at night.
Now the best substrate that I have found for coleonyx is fine dune sand. Basically the kind that blows around like dust because it’s so fine. The other is basic gravel. Like the kind of sand that is in the middle of washes. I'll get pictures later tonight.

List of Do:
-Great temp flux. During the summer make it hot in the tank during the day and dry for a flew weeks. They cool it down and mist it a lot. They also do well like snake when there brumated in the winter but you don’t have to.
-No mealworms, only crickets and roaches.
-Natural tank. They love it.
-Also if you want them to burrow make the sand really wet before you put everything else in the tank. It makes it compact then you add more sand as you see the sand compact together. It'll look like there is less sand in the cage when you know its the same amount

Now here's the list of don'ts.
-Never put them on Home Depot sand. NEVER!
-Don't put them on only rocks, it makes it harder for them to eat, and they love to dig.
-Another sand I really hate is that calcium stuff. It has impacted a bunch of leopards that I had a long time ago, as well as bearded dragons.

Take this from someone who has bred them and spent 8 years hiking, exploring, and doing research in there natural habitat.
I hope this helps.
Bruce

[strikedistance]

Oh and what John did for his brevis is great but they need it a lot more humid and cooler than the bogerti and variegatus do.

[John_E_Dove]

I really do not know much about Texas Bandeds but the average humidity where mine came from is 39%. It is good to know she can take higher; I was worried that the 50% I keep my house at was too high for her.
Also I was told by the person who caught her that he probed her from the crack in a rock formation/crevasse with a stick. That said she does spend most of her time under the pottery shards so she may have just been out hunting during the day which is not unknown for her to do from my direct observations.
Like I said I really do not know much about them but mine has been doing great for three years.
Anyone have any idea on the breed ability age on them? I have always wanted to get her a boyfriend.

[strikedistance]

50s a little high but nut to bad. Id drop it a little though. Bandeds can live in cracks buts its really rare but ive never seen brevis so i dk. Also bandeds can breed after a year.

[John_E_Dove]

I was wondering the older end of the breeding age. I have had her three years and I estimate she was full mature when I got her.