African Fat Tail Savannah Viv
- Thread starter TEK9
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TEK9
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The grasses are a little bit of millet for some variety and the majority is canary grass.
The viv isnt that moist I keep the humidity at 50-60% on average sometimes up to 65% but thats short lived after the morning misting and quickly drops to 50-55% as it nears its max day temps, then slowly rises back up as the temps drop back to their minimum.
Ive seen their habitat too, I would hardly describe it as arid considering that significant numbers of the species live in the Togo Rainforest. The more northern areas of their range are Sub-Tropical/Semi-Arid but even there the humidity stays above 50%.
The viv isnt that moist I keep the humidity at 50-60% on average sometimes up to 65% but thats short lived after the morning misting and quickly drops to 50-55% as it nears its max day temps, then slowly rises back up as the temps drop back to their minimum.
Ive seen their habitat too, I would hardly describe it as arid considering that significant numbers of the species live in the Togo Rainforest. The more northern areas of their range are Sub-Tropical/Semi-Arid but even there the humidity stays above 50%.
lipico_Brazil
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Nice!
PassPort
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The humidity sounds fine, I normally consider them a bit more arid, since they're also found in Morocco.
No matter which country or region you're looking at, there are always some exceptions to the typical climate. Micro-habitats can be completely different from the accepted normal climate. There can be raging hot sandy desert for the most part, but also some cooler, humid woodland and grassland areas. Or it could be mostly rainforest, with some drier forest areas, but we still rate the region as rainforest because that's what most of it is. The geckos can live in these regions/countries but stay in the areas that suit them, the micro-climate that's way off the beaten track for the rest of the region.
Fat-tails do need more humidity, and do live in moist forests, but not rainforests. They also live in grasslands or along cliffs and rivers. As long as they get the right temperature and humdity, they can live on paper towels.... they don't care much as long as it's got what they need.
I like the planted vivarium, it's closer to what they've evolved to live in than the typical set-ups we see in the hobby. The plant would keep the humidity up without being too humid. I've tried the same thing over the years, but found the grasses were hard to keep alive. Some of the damage was due to crickets, mostly though, it was the geckos flattening it so often, the grass just gave up and died. Mind you, it also looked and worked pretty good with the dried grass.
Fat-tails do need more humidity, and do live in moist forests, but not rainforests. They also live in grasslands or along cliffs and rivers. As long as they get the right temperature and humdity, they can live on paper towels.... they don't care much as long as it's got what they need.
I like the planted vivarium, it's closer to what they've evolved to live in than the typical set-ups we see in the hobby. The plant would keep the humidity up without being too humid. I've tried the same thing over the years, but found the grasses were hard to keep alive. Some of the damage was due to crickets, mostly though, it was the geckos flattening it so often, the grass just gave up and died. Mind you, it also looked and worked pretty good with the dried grass.
Geckos and Goannas
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It looks nice but i did think it looked a little moist. even for their habitat. is that leopsis (dwarf amazon sword)? i think it is.
TEK9
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My AFT loves this tank his activity levels have significantly increased since I increased the density of the planting.
The same thing that happened to you Hilde happened to me most of the grass died I still have patches of living grass it seems that the canary grass is pretty tough as long as it stays relatively dry, the dead patches do look very nice though and my fatty uses the dead patches as hunting zones the crix and other bugs seem to love to live in the dead stuff and fatty knows what he is doing.
Theres no swords in the tank redtegu arent they a semi-aquatic bog plant? No way they could survive in there, its way too dry. The plants that are in their are Heart-Shaped Philodendron, Boston Fern, Dragon trees (Dracenea), Canary grass and some strange native plant that must have blown in the window and seems to be growing quite well and appears to be some wild grass which is starting to naturally fill in the tank.
The same thing that happened to you Hilde happened to me most of the grass died I still have patches of living grass it seems that the canary grass is pretty tough as long as it stays relatively dry, the dead patches do look very nice though and my fatty uses the dead patches as hunting zones the crix and other bugs seem to love to live in the dead stuff and fatty knows what he is doing.
Theres no swords in the tank redtegu arent they a semi-aquatic bog plant? No way they could survive in there, its way too dry. The plants that are in their are Heart-Shaped Philodendron, Boston Fern, Dragon trees (Dracenea), Canary grass and some strange native plant that must have blown in the window and seems to be growing quite well and appears to be some wild grass which is starting to naturally fill in the tank.
Geckos and Goannas
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ok. it just looked like liliopsis. i know a couple of people that have been able to grow liliopsis out of water but they keep it really moist. liliopsis isnt really a sword. its a trade name to make it sell.
GeRu Reptiles
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Nice setup!
Sinosauropteryx
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Soil and moisture
That set-up is brilliant. I love the fact that you have actually planted something in there. I am much too lazy so I use fake plants :blushing:
You might be able to twik the humidity/moisture levels by changing the soil you have right now. As PassPort suggested, you could always trade it for a drier, sandier soil that holds less moisture, but then you might need to change the vegetation too... But really, as long as you have the right amount of humidity, it shouldn't matter too much what the set-up looks like. If it does what you want it to do, then keep it.
That set-up is brilliant. I love the fact that you have actually planted something in there. I am much too lazy so I use fake plants :blushing:
You might be able to twik the humidity/moisture levels by changing the soil you have right now. As PassPort suggested, you could always trade it for a drier, sandier soil that holds less moisture, but then you might need to change the vegetation too... But really, as long as you have the right amount of humidity, it shouldn't matter too much what the set-up looks like. If it does what you want it to do, then keep it.
*ZERO*
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buy some canary seed from the local pet store, works great.. when it dies dies u just mix the soil and re seed
