Leachie arriving Thursday... newbie advice appreciated.

G

genevieve

New member
My first Leachie is arriving from LA on Thursday. He/ she is 4 months old and has the cutest pinky pattern.

Although I have over 70 Cresteds (give or take), this is my first Leachie and I am looking for any helpful hints/ tips ya'll may have.

More specifically,

Do they need a higher humidity than Cresties? I see a lot of threads on here about screen cages not keeping it humid enough for Leachies. I have all my Cresties in screen (with a couple of exceptions) and they have been doing great.

What is the recommended MRP for Leachies? I have seen posts saying that people feed Auric diet to them, and then others saying to use the Leachie diet. I already have ciliatus and auric diet on hand, so it would be nice not to have to order more, but I will do whatever is best.

Finally, what is their preferred interior decor? I have cork bark for the little one, but from what I have read it seems that they don't like as much foliage as the ciliatus. Is this correct or have I misinterpreted what I have been reading?

Thanks in advance for all your help,

Genevieve
 
Haroldo

Haroldo

New member
I personally keep my leachie in a kritter keeper right now. I feed all my rhacs the same thing--I mix mostly ggd with some cgd, a bit of lgd and some extra minerals/vitamins for good measure. I'd say the first thing to get is a cork hollow and some cork slates. How you decorate the cage will depend largely on how big the leachie is.
 
G

genevieve

New member
He (she?) is four months old. I have a ten gallon tank that I will be using until the little fellow is ready for an upgrade. I am in the process of roughing out plans for the next step up in his housing and I thinking of going with a 30L 16W 26H custom acrylic enclosure with front opening door and a screen ceiling. Does this sound appropriate for housing an adult Island E eventually? Or, at the very least, will it be OK for him/ her until about 3 years of age (at which point I will be graduating vet school and moving into a bigger house and my Leachie can subsequently have a larger house as well)?

Also, what types of plants and best in Leachie enclosures? I use a TON of pothos in my Crested enclosures and it does wonderfully. I will need something that can take a beating and won't outgrow the dimensions mentioned above.

Thanks in advance,

Genevieve
 
Haroldo

Haroldo

New member
genevieve said:
He (she?) is four months old. I have a ten gallon tank that I will be using until the little fellow is ready for an upgrade. I am in the process of roughing out plans for the next step up in his housing and I thinking of going with a 30L 16W 26H custom acrylic enclosure with front opening door and a screen ceiling. Does this sound appropriate for housing an adult Island E eventually? Or, at the very least, will it be OK for him/ her until about 3 years of age (at which point I will be graduating vet school and moving into a bigger house and my Leachie can subsequently have a larger house as well)?

Also, what types of plants and best in Leachie enclosures? I use a TON of pothos in my Crested enclosures and it does wonderfully. I will need something that can take a beating and won't outgrow the dimensions mentioned above.

Thanks in advance,

Genevieve
Click to expand...

-Genevieve, I have a 6 month old Nuu Ami that is still in a smaller kritter keeper. With that said, I think that 10g will be a bit too large in my opinion. As far as an adult sized cage, I suggest something with a bit more height--like at least 36" and 18" square. I have recently converted all my rhacs (except my leachie) to using ficus benjamina as hides and foliage cover. As for leachies, especially the size you have, I would go with the aforementioned kritter keeper and some cork bark hollows/flats.
 
J

JBReptiles

New member
pothos work great..or u can get something like a mother in-law plant thing....their very strong thats what im going to use when i get my male pine isle...
 
G

genevieve

New member
Ok, so I finished roughing out the woodworking for the cage he (I am going with he for simplicity sake) will be living eventually. It is 38H 30L 16W (has to fit a certain dresser top). When (eventually) I get around to decorating/ furnishing it, what are the recommended hides for Leachies? With my Cresteds I just throw some fake pothos in and they are thrilled. Do I need to have cork bark hides up on the sides of the caging, or will a curl on the floor be adequate?

Jeff, do you have pictures of what the mother in law plant looks like? Or any idea where to find one/ some?

Thanks for all the advice so far!

Genevieve
 
cookreptiles

cookreptiles

New member
basically anything that emulates a tree hollow makes a good leachie hide. cork bark is one of the best natural ways to emulate that kind of hide. right now i am using empty paper towel rolls propped around a tall rubbermaid enclosure for my young leachie (only about 4 inches long currently) but when he gets bigger i'll move up to larger cork tubes and hollows silicone glued to the sides of a larger permanent enclosure. he seems to like hiding out in the rolls right now and they aren't so big that he can't feel secure in them.
 
J

JBReptiles

New member
motherinlaw.jpg


motherinlaw2.jpg



thats the mother inlaw its really strong...and can grow in the dark...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top