Naturalist Leo Terrarium?

[Wind Dancer]

Does anyone have any info on setting up a more naturalist display-type leopard gecko terrarium? plants and substrate are really hanging me up. i don't know if maybe i'm just 'barking up the wrong tree' here, but i'd really like to have a leo but i'd like something a bit less sterile looking:?.
thanks so much for any help/input

 

[lemonjello]

Get him/her some natural clay (Ya know, not the zoo-med stuff).. Usually there is HUGE piles of it in cemetaries after they dig holes to put coffins in. There's tons of it and it's free- I doubt anybody would care if you took some.


If you want to sterilize it, bake it for half an hour at 350. If you want to be able to have plants growing in it that thrive out of their pots, don't sterilize and let the natural bacteria help the plants...


The only natural plant that I have found info on that lives with leos in the wild is zygophyllum. There is some in the US, marketed as the Syrian Bean Caper. It is also an invasive species in some states, so you could prob go wild collecting if you wanted to.

 

[theturvs]

One thing you need to keep in mind is the age of the leo. I can't wait to set up a naturalistic Vivarium, but right now SoCo is too young for clay and sand and what not, and is much better kept on papertowels. We don't just do the sterile thing for lack of creativity, its also for the safety of the leo.

 

[myk3]

You can use clay make some pre digged burrows and ledgesn if you want and for plants i personly like to use succulent plants .

 

[hyposhawn]

Substrate maybe tile or slate. Some caves and a cool background.

 

[Dendro_Dave]

Here is mine, i've been broke last few months though so i still havent added all the heating equipment nor a leo yet

Here is a link to another bb thread detailing it more...
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members-frogs-vivariums/37379-glowing-desert-viv-finished.html

i think i also have it on here if you search "desert viv" or all posts by my user name

 

[theturvs]

That's a pretty awesome set-up Dave. Makes me jealous. Can't wait til SoCo is big enough for a naturalistic Vivarium.

 

[PassPort]

try plants from the genus Haworthia

 

[Wind Dancer]

oOo:yikes:, hi Dave! i've seen(...hem...been drooling, actually...)your tank somewhere online before. that thing is amazing!

few questions about some posts-

• can i buy clay in the store anywhere?(i doubt my mom is going to take me to a cemetery......:?)
• would succulents be all right if they didn't have spines/thorns?
• at how old/how many grams is it safe to have leos on sand?
• does the clay...um..bio..something-or-other? like the eco earth/coco husk/etc does with some of the setups for (rain)forest geckos? sorry, know that wasn't all that clear!

ETA Dave-i went to dendoboard and i've had the glowing zebras and they died really, really fast. they seemed to be a lot more delicate than 'normal' zebras . just wanted to warn ya!

 

[lemonjello]

oOo:yikes:, hi Dave! i've seen(...hem...been drooling, actually...)your tank somewhere online before. that thing is amazing!

few questions about some posts-

• can i buy clay in the store anywhere?(i doubt my mom is going to take me to a cemetery......:?)
• would succulents be all right if they didn't have spines/thorns?
• at how old/how many grams is it safe to have leos on sand?
• does the clay...um..bio..something-or-other? like the eco earth/coco husk/etc does with some of the setups for (rain)forest geckos? sorry, know that wasn't all that clear!

ETA Dave-i went to dendoboard and i've had the glowing zebras and they died really, really fast. they seemed to be a lot more delicate than 'normal' zebras . just wanted to warn ya!

Than just walk to the cemetary or ride your bike. No big deal there. And all store bought clay has chemicals of some kind that probable aren't the best things to have around you leo...

I wouldn't use sand; use clay. Sand isn't naturalistic at all.

Natural clay would have natural bacteria which would be good for nitrogen fixation and other biological processes that plants need

Here is mine, i've been broke last few months though so i still havent added all the heating equipment nor a leo yet
[

Here is a link to another bb thread detailing it more...


i think i also have it on here if you search "desert viv" or all posts by my user name

That really doesn't look good for a leopard gecko. With that large pond, many plants and all that moss I'd imagine it would be pretty humid in there (Excessive Humidity=Bad for leos!). That would be a rockin' fat tail enclosure though!

 

[Dendro_Dave]

The pics are from when the tank was new, its dried out considerably since then...it has an all screen top and all the moss on the right hand side is dead, dry and very dense/kinda hard....I got more calcification of the moss then i expected from washing the loose calci sand off the walls and stuff so i may pull it all and replace it and let the whole process of drying start over again.

But i'm adding an eva dry dehumidifier to the right side to increase the dryness along with all the heating equipment and a fan or 2 to increase evaporation, and the lighting ofcourse...it should have a humidity range from about 50-70% in the open on the left humid side going to 20-40% on the far right by the time im done.

it has 3 hides built in that range from cool humid/moist, to fairly dry a and kinda warm, to completely dry and hot.

There is mention of a guy who did a similar setup in one of the lepoard gecko books by tremper i believe who had fantastic success in a similar setup. So im not to worried.

 

[Wind Dancer]

when i say my mom won't take me to a cemetery, i mean she-won't-take-me/won't-let-me-go/there's-no-way-that's-happening. plus i have type 1 diabetes and there are no cemeteries close by, which would be one of the reasons mom wouldn't want me to go on my own, and i wouldn't want to go by my self anyway. so i'll just have to do it another way.....;-)

ok, more questions-

• i'm thinking maybe a greatstuff on the back and maybe half way down to the front. can i use spray paint in the tank? i'm thinking about the kind that's textured in either a redish-clay color or stone-gray.
• if i made hides in the greatstuff, like with a balloon or carving it out would that be ok? i don't know how messy it would get with poop and/or how or how much it would need to be cleaned...?....

 

[hyposhawn]

I think you can spray paint things. I made my own screen top whichI spray painted black. Just make sure to let it air out for a few days so it doesn't smell. The smell may be toxic to the leos.

 

[Wind Dancer]

I think you can spray paint things. I made my own screen top whichI spray painted black. Just make sure to let it air out for a few days so it doesn't smell. The smell may be toxic to the leos.

cool:biggrin:.


ok, so i'm really liking the idea of greatstuff rocks in the back, but i'm having a bit of trouble figuring out the substrate. slate would be great, but the tank i'm going to be using if this works out is a really beautiful acrylic bow front tank with a matching hood and light combo that i happen to already have, so i'm not sure how the slate would fit with the bowfront.....:?

and heating......UTH? heat rock?(probably not, i know, i just thought i'd throw it out there. like if i buried it maybe ?) heat tape? what would work best here?

 

[lemonjello]

when i say my mom won't take me to a cemetery, i mean she-won't-take-me/won't-let-me-go/there's-no-way-that's-happening. plus i have type 1 diabetes and there are no cemeteries close by, which would be one of the reasons mom wouldn't want me to go on my own, and i wouldn't want to go by my self anyway. so i'll just have to do it another way.....;-)

ok, more questions-

• i'm thinking maybe a greatstuff on the back and maybe half way down to the front. can i use spray paint in the tank? i'm thinking about the kind that's textured in either a redish-clay color or stone-gray.
• if i made hides in the greatstuff, like with a balloon or carving it out would that be ok? i don't know how messy it would get with poop and/or how or how much it would need to be cleaned...?....

Why won't she take you? Ask her for a good reason. What is she afraid of?

 

[Wind Dancer]

Why won't she take you? Ask her for a good reason. What is she afraid of?

for starters she's in the middle of cancer treatments. it's just not an option right now. and honestly i don't think i want to go messing around where people's loved ones are resting for a gecko tank;-). anything i can get at a store, order online or find in my yard and sterilize is fine, but that's it.

i've seen a lot of people using eco earth or coco fiber bricks, those look pretty good, just how to heat it?! maybe if the layer wasn't too thick(like 1-2inches?) the UTH would still work?

 

[theturvs]

For sure go with a UTH, not heat rocks. The heat rocks, from what I've read, tend to get hot spots...that is certain spots that are extremely hot and can burn your leo. I love my UTH, it keeps my tank the perfect eat, and SoCo had never had any digestion problems. Just don't get too excited about substrate and put tons in there.
As far as substrate, I like the idea of tile as well as clay. If you do a little area in tile, and surround it with other substrates, it would mix it up nicely. You could do a light color tile and it should match just fine. As far as substrate, I will be using a mix of clay and sand. Just make sure that the sand isnt very coarse.

 

[Wind Dancer]

For sure go with a UTH, not heat rocks. The heat rocks, from what I've read, tend to get hot spots...that is certain spots that are extremely hot and can burn your leo. I love my UTH, it keeps my tank the perfect eat, and SoCo had never had any digestion problems. Just don't get too excited about substrate and put tons in there.
As far as substrate, I like the idea of tile as well as clay. If you do a little area in tile, and surround it with other substrates, it would mix it up nicely. You could do a light color tile and it should match just fine.

ok, no heat rocks;-). i like the idea of the tile/substrate mix, but i'm thinking it would look cooler if it wasn't just squares:idea:. anyone know where and/or how i could get tiles that aren't all 6x6 or whatever squares? like just random shapes, but not all sharp and nasty.....

i'm been playing with backgound and hide ideas with some one from another gecko forum and the bouncing of ideas has helped me come up with this idea-
for the background, the same basic idea as this background tutorial from youtube providing i can get my grandpa to help me with the power-tool bit, only instead of eco-earthing it, hit it with textured spray paint. and then for the hides i'm thinking same basic idea as this, only get a gladware or tupperware bowl, cut a hole in the side, put it lid side down and spray the greatstuff on the top and down one side to make a ramp to the top. that way i don't have to worry about covering the lid, what to do with the tab-y thing, etc. and then shaping it up and cover it with spray paint matching the background(this would be my humid hide ). and then another hide from petsmart or something, i saw a really cool one someone else was using, but now i can't find the picture:roll:.

ok, input, ideas, this-is-doomed-to-failures(or this-will-be-awsomes:lol, etc.

 

[theturvs]

As far as non-square tiles (I wanted to same...square is not natural!!), I just went and grabbed the squares ones (maybe 3 or 4 of them for like 5-10 bucks), took them home and dropped them. I threw away the pieces that were too small, sanded the few sharp edges, and then put them together like a puzzle with little gaps that were filled in with my clay/sand mix.

Great stuff also works out really nicely for a backdrop - i covered mine with quick-crete to make it look good. I didnt know how safe spray paint would be for him. I built an exact sized replica of his cage out of cardboard and covered it with tin foil. I used balloons to cover for hides and dix cups and more cardboard covered tin foil for ledges. Then I went nuts with 2 cans of great stuff. After all was dry, the tin foil peeled off easily and I popped the balloons. Now I'm getting ready to quick-crete it all to make his home. No power tools involved.

The whole thing, tile and substrate included, is costing me about $25, and so far its looking great.

I've also noticed that at Lowes or Home Depot, if they have tiles that have been previously broken, they will give them to you at a discounted rate, so i just dug down into the pile to find the ones they would throw away anyways and got them for even cheaper.

 

[Wind Dancer]

As far as non-square tiles (I wanted to same...square is not natural!!), I just went and grabbed the squares ones (maybe 3 or 4 of them for like 5-10 bucks), took them home and dropped them. I threw away the pieces that were too small, sanded the few sharp edges, and then put them together like a puzzle with little gaps that were filled in with my clay/sand mix.

Great stuff also works out really nicely for a backdrop - i covered mine with quick-crete to make it look good. I didnt know how safe spray paint would be for him. I built an exact sized replica of his cage out of cardboard and covered it with tin foil. I used balloons to cover for hides and dix cups and more cardboard covered tin foil for ledges. Then I went nuts with 2 cans of great stuff. After all was dry, the tin foil peeled off easily and I popped the balloons. Now I'm getting ready to quick-crete it all to make his home. No power tools involved.

The whole thing, tile and substrate included, is costing me about $25, and so far its looking great.

I've also noticed that at Lowes or Home Depot, if they have tiles that have been previously broken, they will give them to you at a discounted rate, so i just dug down into the pile to find the ones they would throw away anyways and got them for even cheaper.

wow, that's a ton of great info! you have a lucky gecko baby! did the foil make the great stuff look more like rock? i was wondering about that:?. i was told that as long as i waited for the spray paint to stop stinking, it would be safe;-). do you have any pictures? i'd love to see this, it sounds like a work of art and the balloon thing has be curious
i was considering a GS background, i just wasn't sure how the texturing(sp?) would turn out on it and/or how hard texturing(sp?) it would be:lol: