Naturalistic, yet breeding practical viv

[cambarner]

I want to keep my viv looking naturalistic, but i am going to start breeding soon. I dont want to use paper towel as a substrate, but i still want my female to for sure lay in a lay box. is there any way to do this? do other people breed in natural vivariums???

 

[zohariels]

I keep all my adult cresties in naturalistic terrariums, including my breeders. So far I've had excellent success, I dont use a lay box but eggs are easy to find since they seem to pick out one spot in their enclosure to lay eggs. Once you find the females favourite lay area, it takes 2 seconds to remove the eggs. I've also had 4 cresties hatch in situ, all in all I think naturalistic is the way to go!

 

[scrletbegonias]

i have heard you can use large flat rocks and place them over the substrate. That way the only place for the female to dig is the lay box

 

[Emilylovesherps]

I keep all of my geckos in natural vivs, and have had great success. My babies hatch out in with the parents. I have 1.2 in a 30 gallon planted tank with moss over terralite. I just look in every morning and check for surprises. Never had the parent eat the lil ones, so it's been great for me to not have to remove eggs like I do for so many of my other kinds of geckos.

The ciliatus tank is in the middle:

 

[spykerherps]

I also keep all my rhacs in naturalistic set ups. and find thats one of the nicer things about keeping them. I offer my cresteds a fairly shallow layer of coco fiber that is sprayed down multiple time a week but for the most part stays dry from evaporation. and offer the females a 4" diameter 10" tall cylinder laybox with a hole cut in a screw top.place lots of desirable lay medium such as moistened coco fiber, or a mix of coco/soil and some sphagnum moss and fill it half way full. My females chose it more often then not. if you keep the floor substrate damp enough they may choose that in which case because it is shallow your more then likely to see a lay spot if your observant.