alright, help me put together a vivarium for my sikorae pair

[armagedon48]

I just moved and had to get rid of their 40 gal glass cage which was loaded with pothos leaves and worked really well.

currently they are sitting in my 37 gal aquarium (which i need for fish), and i hope to build them a much larger cage.

my ideas are to make a 24"x24" base, 3-5' tall. two sides will be cheap plywood sealed with a waterproof paint. the other two sides will be acrylic or plywood/acrylic (depends how much acrylic i have around).

the bottom will be water tight, with a drain in the bottom. this way i can soak the entire vivarium nightly (rain shower vs. misting), i hope to eventually do this with a sprinkler or drip system on a timer. all water will drain down into substrate and through drain and into a bucket below the setup.

the top will have a few energy saver spiral florescence lights. i plan to find the 5k temp so that the plants benefit. also the top will be screened and also have the drip/sprinkler worked around the lights.

the vivarium will get full sun in the morning and indirect light from noon till night.

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ok, there is the introduction to my idea for the construction of the cage.

now, what substrate should i use? i have been using coco fiber bedding for some time now.
how can i keep my temps down, my floor is heated cement, and i'm also just down the hall from the biggest heater i have ever seen. plus my room is south facing that gets a lot of light, i will have a lot of plants in the window as well (hibiscus, dracena, figs, pothos)

i have herptivite and miner-all. i feed crickets as needed, they seem to be eating less lately.

also, could i use red LED lights for night time observation?

 

[snowleopard]

well, heres a set up for my mossy leaf-tails. acually one of my females layed this morning too. this is a great set up.

Basically,
If your a begginer and you want less cleaning, use wet paper towels. but if you would like it to look more natural, then yes, coco fiber is good. I use bed-a-beast. And for proper humidity it's best to have live plants in the cage as well as some water source, like a waterfall or water dish & I also use seran wrap on top. I mist my cage down 2-4 times a day.

I'm not sure what to say for the temps though, it sounds like a tough situation? my cage isn't on the ground but mine is behind a wall. The only thing I can say is to move the tank somewere cooler.

 

[allen]

So i can follow, did you put plastic over the entire screen top? I know that a complete screen top isn`t good for the humidity, but to cover it completly....?

greetz
Allen

 

[snowleopard]

no i dont completely cover the cage, i put it over half.

 

[armagedon48]

im not much of a beginner, but at times its good to ask questions like a beginner to make sure im on track.

your setup looks alot like im going to try and make. i have had my male for nearly two years now, female is almost at her 10 month mark. my female is not acting normal, she had a bump on her foot swell real big then it went away, but i have not seen her eat at all and she doesnt lay up against the bark like the male does in the daytime. yet she is full looking, could be impaction though.
im just glad you use coco-fiber as well with success. i use it for my tiger salamanders too with success.

im sure they are currently dehydrated, i hand feed them water nightly right now and soak the cage down good.

basicaly these past 5 months i have slacked off on my geckos. college, moving out of state, friends, job,reef aquairum, everything is taking up my time in a hurry but im working hard to make these geckos happy.

 

[snowleopard]

Well, I’m not sure why but my geckos tend to lay on the glass most of the time. I have 2.2 in my tank and have no problems. I have had them for about a year now. and surprisingly the males don’t fight and the females rarely lay eggs. it sounds like your having a tough time but this particular gecko does take up some time to make them happy, they are very picky. the people I bought them from had no clue as to how to sex them or how to house them. and im not sure what’s going on with one of my females... she’s 2 times bigger then the rest of the group and has HUGE calcium sacks. im starting to think she is a U. Sikorae Semeti or however you spell it. Her throat is tan unlike the rest of the geckos.
And most of the time you don’t see them eat, as long as the crickets are disappearing, your ok.

good luck on your cage!

 

[armagedon48]

thanks, yea i agree that as long as crickets are disappearing, things are good. i used to see them go after the crickets as soon as i added them, any time of the day. now they wait till night.