Habitat thoughts and advice?

[Elliriyanna]

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I have an 18x18x24 terrarium set up and think it may be missing a little something ( other than a gecko) What do you think of it? And what would you add?

I need to do something with that right side I think, and maybe add a chill bar and a feeding ledge.

[Elizabeth Freer]

WOW, Elli, that's gorgeous! Your crestie will be stoked. S-m-i-l-e!

I love your textured back wall!!!

Did you just wrap moss around some of the twisty vines? May I ask what substrate?

You could add a medium tall sansevieria in the front. A chill bar will give additional enrichment.

[Elliriyanna]

It's actually a moss vine wrapped around jungle vines. It's eco earth substrate, hydrated with conditioned water and I most with distilled ( so I don't end up with hard water drops on the glass) in the front left I have another terrarium plant. The background is cork bark. I am trying to figure out how to make a chill bar.

Sorry I meant the left side in the picture.

I did bring home a baby crested a couple weeks ago but it's only 5 grams according to my scale so I can't move it in yet

I was hoping that top vine would work as a chill bar of sorts

[Elizabeth Freer]

That top vine will work as a chill bar. Jessica used a flat section of cork bark for her chill bar.

A word about planting directly in Eco Earth's coco fiber: plants don't grow well in it. Josh's Frogs carries an ABG soil mix that's supposed to be tops!

Click: ABG Mix (4 Quart/1 Gallon) | Josh's Frogs

Click: Correlophus ciliatus (crested gecko) Caresheet Summary & Tips......February 2015

[Elizabeth Freer]

Chill Bars for your crestie!

Cresties feel safer the higher they climb. So I suspend a "chill bar" from the screen top.

Here is JessJohnson87's awesome August 2016 update to her bioactive crestie vivarium.

Attachment 39812

Chill Bar Idea #1 (Thanks to Jess Johnson!)
A flat section of cork bark makes a great basking bar for Jess Johnson's crestie in her 18x18x24 Exo Terra. Jess drilled one hole in each end and one on the back. Maybe 2 side-by-side holes in the back would work as well. Suspend this basking bar from the screen top with fishing line. A narrow cork tube would work too.

Chill Bar Idea #2 (Thanks to meloha!)
................................__________________ _________
Here is your platform: |__:__(crestie sits here)__:__|

• Take a 6 inch or so section of bamboo (or PVC).
• Split it lengthwise.
• Drill a pair of small holes near both ends where the red dots are.
• Cut two wires 8 inches long.
• Thread the wires through the holes like this: U so that the bamboo's opening faces down (like a tunnel).
• Poke the wires through the screen top.
• Bend the ends of the wires at right angles like this to hold: L

Chill Bar Idea #3

• Use ~1.5 inch diameter bamboo or PVC.
• Cut a section a smidge shorter than you need.
• Get some large suction cups. Remove the hooks.
• Put a suction cup in each end.
• Mount the chill bar a couple inches from the viv's top. When you use suction cups, you'll have no sticky mess!

= happy crestie!

[Elizabeth Freer]

#6---Custom Soil Mix especially for Sansevieria (snake plant): no fertilizer

Cresties are hard on plants, because they bounce around like Tigger. Use resilient plants like sansevieria.

Sansevieria grow well in this custom mix:
2/3 Wonder Worm Earth Worm Castings (pure form of humus)
1/3 Eco Earth coco fiber

I plant sansevieria in terra cotta pots or sometimes just plastic pots. CrestedRick's cork bark planters will work well.

This potting mix did not work well for pothos.

[Yoshi'smom]

This terrarium will be wonderful for your crestie when it reaches an appropriate size.
I'd probably add another plant or two.
The more the better.

[Elliriyanna]

I added the spider plants because I have a " mother " plant that gives me so many I could easily replace them as needed. I am not ready to make this. Higher maintenance habitat. Thanks for the help guys I will see about a chill bar and in time I plan to add more plants in time.

I can't wait for my baby to grow a bit, for now I know he/she is eating because it's pooping though. Maybe I should introduce my baby

[Elizabeth Freer]

I have some info that mentions distilled water is not safe to drink. Would you like me to share it here?

Edit:
To find more info, scroll to post 122 on the Leopard Gecko Caresheet link in my signature! Use the left side post numbers.

[Elliriyanna]

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Don't worry I am misting the empty terrarium with distilled and his with conditioned water, the distilled is purely for humidity and he has access to conditioned water at all times. Our water is just very hard and cleaning hard water stains can be very rough and involve chemicals that would not be safe for him. I try not to mist to the point large droplets that he would be tempted to drink are formed