2.5 gallon vert built for newly hatched L. williamsi

dom · #1 03-10-2011, 01:35 AM

The 2.5 gallon vertical tank build for my newly hatched Lygodactylus williamsi. Following this method you can convert any fish tank into a vivarium!

First I began with a 2.5 gallon tank from petsmart and took out the one of the small side panels. I need a screen top for UVB , if you dont need a screen top you can omit this step and a few other.

The Next step is to build the top replacement, I needed to have a screen top due to the need for UVB lighting. Its built from screen window framing, and the window screen material from Home Depot.

Top view

Bottom View

I add hot glue around the trimming to make sure its stays there.

You will need to build a new front to hold in substrate and a door. I just buy the Glass sheets from Homedepot, its pretty thing and easily cut with a hand tool. There is trimming on the edges of the glass that the geckos would be able to climb over so they don’t accidently cut them-selves. Front side is spray painted black for good looks.

Now we grab all out Tools and pieces together

Beer
Tank
Replacement top
Front Glass pieces
Front Hindge
Glue Gun (EVERYTHING I PUT TOGETHER WAS WITH A GLUE GUN) it’s a breeze and so much nicer and cleaner than silicon.
Beer

After the glass is all cleared from the top we can glue in the top screen

I had some extra room on the sides so I filled it in with Hot glue

Glue on the bottom glass piece

Add the door and hindge

Put on sweet knob and latch to keep door shut, If you notice you have a gap between the door glass and the black trimming, you can add a dab of hot glue under were the latch will sit, this pushes the glass onto the black trimming nice and snug.

Now that your tank is all put together lets add the substrate.

It’s a mix of fluorite and orchid bark.

Add some moss to the ground and add a few plants. I used a sweet begonia.

Then added a totally awesome piece of Cork Bark with a brom mounted on it.

then you guessed it .. add some leaf litter!!

Your tank is complete.

Final Product Pictures

and the newly hatched (3-10-2011) Lygodactylus williamsi

Hope you all enjoyed, I will be playing around with adding some creeping plants as well just to get some good green foliage in there as well. I plan on seeding this with spring tails to get a nice food source for the little guy as well.

so stoked this is my first hatchling!

hexentanz · #2 03-10-2011, 10:01 AM

Very nice! You should add some bottom front ventilation though in your next tanks. It is very important that air flow can pass across the soil or bacteria will build up and eventually lead to death of the little ones.

dom · #3 03-10-2011, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexentanz

Very nice! You should add some bottom front ventilation though in your next tanks. It is very important that air flow can pass across the soil or bacteria will build up and eventually lead to death of the little ones.

Thanx Maureen, I will definetly do that when I build its perminate enclosure!

hexentanz · #4 03-11-2011, 04:06 AM

No problem!

Btw is the screen fabric or is it the pictures making it look like the fabric type?

If it is fabric you will want to switch to something else, crickets could chew the screen if they get up there leaving a big enough gap for babies to come through. Also those fabric screens in general have a tendency to stretch out over time, a baby could try and squeeze through. There is also a chance for it to melt under the lighting.

dom · #5 03-14-2011, 01:13 PM

The screen is normal Fiberglass wire screening used for windows. I dont feed with crickets. I use FF's , so unless i get some mutant FF i dont think i have to worry about them chewing through the screen . God help us the day FF's can do that

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexentanz

No problem!

Btw is the screen fabric or is it the pictures making it look like the fabric type?

If it is fabric you will want to switch to something else, crickets could chew the screen if they get up there leaving a big enough gap for babies to come through. Also those fabric screens in general have a tendency to stretch out over time, a baby could try and squeeze through. There is also a chance for it to melt under the lighting.