New tank finally!

[Muffins94]

Today I finally got around to giving Fatty her own 40 gallon breeder tank. I currently have everything set up the way it was in her old 20L. I have half tile and half paper towel as of right now. However I want to ditch the paper towel and do something else. I was thinking of doing a sand/ Eco earth mixture as I want to plant a few desert plants, plus she REALLY loves digging. Would this be a problem? I feed her in a separate 10 gallon tank so I'm not too worried about impaction, but I still want to know what people think. I don't really want to do all tile again, and would like to have a small portion *somewhat* naturalistic. Also, I was thinking of adding a lot of rocks and wood throughout the terrarium. Do you think she would like that? I want to make it something nice and new but need some help coming up with ideas. That's where you all come in. Thanks guys!

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Today I finally got around to giving Fatty her own 40 gallon breeder tank. I currently have everything set up the way it was in her old 20L. I have half tile and half paper towel as of right now. However I want to ditch the paper towel and do something else. I was thinking of doing a sand/ Eco earth mixture as I want to plant a few desert plants, plus she REALLY loves digging. Would this be a problem? I feed her in a separate 10 gallon tank so I'm not too worried about impaction, but I still want to know what people think. I don't really want to do all tile again, and would like to have a small portion *somewhat* naturalistic. Also, I was thinking of adding a lot of rocks and wood throughout the terrarium. Do you think she would like that? I want to make it something nice and new but need some help coming up with ideas. That's where you all come in. Thanks guys!

Pictures, Merissa, or it did NOT happen :razz:.

How is your leo doing when you feed her in a separate tank? That could be stressful.

If you place live plants in the enclosure, I would leave them in small pots. Your leo would very likely uproot them . Many "desert" plants thrive on heat and sunshine. How would you provide the necessary light and heat?

Digging opportunities are obviously missing when using tile. However, there are just too many horror stories "out there" for me to want to take the risk.

Maybe Aliza will chime in. Think she mentioned that she keeps one leo in a tank with a bio-active substrate.

 

[Muffins94]

Not the best picture, as I just stuck things in to see how they looked. Still have work to do and other things to buy. Thinking of getting rocks and wood to spruce it up.
She does alright while in another tank, however with the new tank change I may just feed her in her new big cage. I would then block off the part with loose substrate.
I would keep any plants in the pots, and would probably rely off of my heat and day lights to keep them alive. This is if I do not find any fake plants I like. I love the idea of real plants but if I can work around it and fine nice fake plants I definitely will!
Hopefully Aliza does. I really like the idea of a sand Eco earth mixture but my girls health and happiness is my #1 priority.

 

[GeckoManiac91]

View attachment 25030
Not the best picture, as I just stuck things in to see how they looked. Still have work to do and other things to buy. Thinking of getting rocks and wood to spruce it up.
She does alright while in another tank, however with the new tank change I may just feed her in her new big cage. I would then block off the part with loose substrate.
I would keep any plants in the pots, and would probably rely off of my heat and day lights to keep them alive. This is if I do not find any fake plants I like. I love the idea of real plants but if I can work around it and fine nice fake plants I definitely will!
Hopefully Aliza does. I really like the idea of a sand Eco earth mixture but my girls health and happiness is my #1 priority.

Still got the purse in there I see :lol:

With all that extra space you might have to remain Fatty to Skinny

 

[Muffins94]

I don't plan on keeping it in there. :lol: I'm going to go for a more natural look; stone wood etc. Purse doesn't fit in hehe. She was exploring around once I turned the lights off and running a bit! Hopefully she'll slim down. She'll always be my chunky monkey though

 

[GeckoManiac91]

I don't plan on keeping it in there. :lol: I'm going to go for a more natural look; stone wood etc. Purse doesn't fit in hehe. She was exploring around once I turned the lights off and running a bit! Hopefully she'll slim down. She'll always be my chunky monkey though

Come on Merrisa, I'm sure she likes that purse It probably makes her feel stylish :lol:

Looking forward to what you come up with!

 

[Muffins94]

HA HA :lol:

Thank you! I'll keep this tread updated with what I do.

 

[Muffins94]

I have PM'd Aliza to see what info she has to share on using a bio-active substrate.
I will be visiting petsmart either today or tomorrow for substrate and more tank furnishings. Anyone have any other ideas for making this tank look awesome?!

 

[GeckoManiac91]

I have PM'd Aliza to see what info she has to share on using a bio-active substrate.
I will be visiting petsmart either today or tomorrow for substrate and more tank furnishings. Anyone have any other ideas for making this tank look awesome?!

Perhaps if you're going for natural, one of those 3D, climbable backgrounds? Don't think they encounter spider man in the wild :lol:

 

[Muffins94]

HA I totally forgot about the Spider-Man background! Oh goodness I'm embarrassed. I got it for $1 at the pet store awhile ago and this was my hamsters tank until recently. Just moved her to another and gave fatty this. That will definitely be coming off! The rock backgrounds for a tank this size are very expensive, I think maybe I could make one? Maybe cork could work? Except I'd hate to have her fall. It's 18inches tall I believe, that's a long tumble Hmm, I will have to think about it. I'll see if a can find some stuff at the store that would work. Worst case scenario I'll just a desert background. I was also thinking of adding wood like beardie owners do, and maybe some plants (real/fake not sure) with some rocks at the surface. Do you think that would look good and be functional? Of course the rocks will be large so she doesn't eat them. I found these on Instagram, they don't belong to me, however I like some of the idea behind it: (the plant & rock idea)

 

[GeckoManiac91]

HA I totally forgot about the Spider-Man background! Oh goodness I'm embarrassed. I got it for $1 at the pet store awhile ago and this was my hamsters tank until recently. Just moved her to another and gave fatty this. That will definitely be coming off! The rock backgrounds for a tank this size are very expensive, I think maybe I could make one? Maybe cork could work? Except I'd hate to have her fall. It's 18inches tall I believe, that's a long tumble Hmm, I will have to think about it. I'll see if a can find some stuff at the store that would work. Worst case scenario I'll just a desert background. I was also thinking of adding wood like beardie owners do, and maybe some plants (real/fake not sure) with some rocks at the surface. Do you think that would look good and be functional? Of course the rocks will be large so she doesn't eat them. I found these on Instagram, they don't belong to me, however I like some of the idea behind it: (the plant & rock idea)
View attachment 25037 View attachment 25038

I see how you would be scared of the drop. I have a climbable back ground in which I made, not the nicest thing by any means, and she climbs all over and hasn't fallen yet. I made it so her farthest drop is only 3 or 4 inches.
Maybe a desert like wall paper to replace spider man? I'm sure he'll be very upset :lol:

The wood, rocks and plants would look nice. I like these fake desert plants from Exo-Terra. They look nice IMO and I just don't have the experience or time to deal with real plants I also like these flat rock things that I got from Pets-Smart, they are easy and nice to stack up and add like a corner of the tank with like a pile of rock. Sort of like stairs to the corner? If you understand what I'm saying :?

Personally, I don't like those small pebble things in the picture. Don't know why, just doesn't do it for me. If you use them though I'm sure you'll find a way to make it work

 

[Muffins94]

Ah yes! They are kinda like jagged looking tiles right? I actually bought those before, returned them due to no room for them. However now I think they would work lovely! Think I might get them again actually. I like the look of the pebbles however they give a tropical look to me, so I think if I go that route I will use some sort of rougher desert looking stones, maybe lava rocks or something within that look.

 

[Mardy]

I think once you figure out a theme you want it'll be easier to piece them together. Like figure out whether you want a tropical forest theme with a forest/green background, or desert theme, or a theme from famous places like a Greek theme, etc..

If you are going for a desert look, you can use tiles that are kind of white/cream color to make it look like sand. Use lots of desert colored rocks, large or small, and pick out hides that match those color. Rocks & pebbles can cover up portions of the tile floor to make it look more natural. I'd stick with fake plants for safety & health concerns, as real plants will increase the humidity inside the tank by quite a large amount. Plus real cactus is dangerous.

I always love it when I see people build tunnels. You can use some stable pieces of rocks and build a hide or tunnel out of it. After all leopard geckos in the wild do live in rock crevices. Just make sure it's not something a gecko can knock over or collapse.

If you're going with tropical theme you could use a gigantic wooden branch/log that goes across the terrarium, one that elevates a bit from one end to another. There are a lot of fake greens you can put in there, stores sell more green plants than desert themed plants. There are green foliage you can buy that hangs down from the top that'll make a tropical theme look good. Get tiles that look brown to match the forest brown color, and cover parts of the tiles up with coco fiber (which happens to also be brown).

Lots of things you can do, definitely do post pics when you're done

 

[Muffins94]

Thanks Mardy! I will keep that all in mind when I go shopping tomorrow. I currently have lighter tiles and desert colored hides so I believe I will go with that theme. I will of course post pictures. I will also stick with the fake plants. Do you have any suggestions for my second half side substrate? I want something she can dig in. Warm side currently is and will stay tile.

 

[Mardy]

That's a tough one. The only thing that looks like sand is... sand lol. For digging I've always favored coco fiber (ecoearth), but I suppose you could mix coco fiber with rocks and pebbles maybe? I don't know how that would look but it'd be something that's different from tiles. Or build a rock cave for your gecko and put coco fiber inside that rock cave?

Whatever you put in there, just keep in mind that while you could feed your gecko outside the terrarium, the gecko will still need to shed. When she's shedding she's going to be rubbing her body, head, and tail on everything inside the tank. So make sure there's nothing sharp that could cut her.

 

[Muffins94]

I was thinking of mixing sand and Eco earth. The adding rocks and plants and covering in it. I would still keep her moist hide as well, probably will have two now actually.

 

[AlaskanBlizzard907]

here's a pic of what i've done. I got some natural wood from outside an baked it in the over after some boiling to clean an clear bacteria an such dirt an stuff. Then I glazed it with some water based acrylic Glaze. Medium Gloss. I also took some fake silk flowers an vines I had from my mother all dusty stored away, washed in plain warm water. An clipped an made my own flower an vine arrangements then hot glued them to the wood after glaze was dry. Hopefully you dig it, I did several different ones so i can change tank setup once in a while without having to re-due an pull out all the stuff again. Thanks there was too much in the tank for Randal my blizzard to like, but this shows some of my other wood creations, an final design. I also just grabbed cool looking rocks from outside, washed them an hot glued some flowers in their crack to see natural an hide the glue from sight.

 

[Muffins94]

That's a good idea!!! I love it! Thank you. I'm going to the store in a few hours and who knows what I'll pick up!

 

[Mardy]

That's a good idea!!! I love it! Thank you. I'm going to the store in a few hours and who knows what I'll pick up!

Don't look at the geckos or you'll come home with another! :lol:

 

[Muffins94]

So it is finished! Well I haven't taken the Spider-Man background off teehee. I'll do that later. So here are some pictures!! Went with a sand/Eco earth substrate, wood, fake succulent plants, and a few rocks.