jpstodwftexas: New Marble Gecko Vivarium

[jpstodwftexas]

Well I got around to finally using the Waterfall I bought at last years NABRC in Arlington.

Here is the old set up



and here is The New.

Here is a View Of the Top of the Old Tank for those of you who ask if 6500 K Buld is Sufficent for Plant growth. The Plants had grown through the Screen Top and into the Light Fixture.


A Few Minor details before I move over the Gecko from the Old Tank. Like blocking the Top of the Water Fall Pump Access. Adding a Top.

I will take more pictures later. As Always there are more Pictures on My Webshot Album

 

[Ingo]

Hm,

G. grossmanni is a rockdweller who needs the ability to run on a sandstone like but smooth surface in a vertically orientated setup.
Even though your tank looks really nice, I would never put G. grossmanni in it.
The height of the tank is not sufficient. The rock in it is too small and too strongly strucured. A nice tank for terrestrial forest dwellers, but not for marbled geckos.
Can you use that tank for some animals which would like it and prepare something more apt for the marbled geckos???
To give you an idea, here is, where I keep my breeding group in.

Best

Ingo

 

[jpstodwftexas]

Hm,

G. grossmanni is a rockdweller who needs the ability to run on a sandstone like but smooth surface in a vertically orientated setup.
Even though your tank looks really nice, I would never put G. grossmanni in it.
The height of the tank is not sufficient. The rock in it is too small and too strongly strucured. A nice tank for terrestrial forest dwellers, but not for marbled geckos.
Can you use that tank for some animals which would like it and prepare something more apt for the marbled geckos???
To give you an idea, here is, where I keep my breeding group in.

Best

Ingo

Interesting

Kitra was in the Top Tank for a about 2 1/2 Years. The Majority of the Time Kitra stayed on a Driftwood Log on the Floor. Never liked stone, preferred the glass. So I took out most of the Stone to just glass. Kitra's Sleeping spot was on the grapevine log on the Back Side. Now Kitra runs on all four sides of the tank.

Here is one of the Sources I used when I got Kitra
http://www.reptilecity.com/Merchant...=reptiles&Product_Code=M2&Category_Code=Gecko

 

[Ingo]

Both tanks do not even vaguely resemble her natural habitat but allow her to stay alive. So she behaves somewhat somehow...what else should she do?
None of the two tanks could ever provide the kind of rock surface she needs. Zhey are just not tall enough.
Marbleds also do not accept all kinds of rock; should be sandstone like, vertically orientated, covered with vines and provide larger even surfaces.
So even though you can keep a marbeld in the setups you show, its just because they are hardy and robust. I repeat: Both setups do not fulfill their natural needs for a habitat. If you like it or niot: They are rockface dwellers and climbers and their enclosure should reflect this.
Nothing more to say. I do not want to start a quarrel and thus, I stop reading and posting here. Just think about what I said.
Look at my tank (see the gecko?) It is very easy to build sth apt. Why insist in not doing that?


Best Ingo

 

[jpstodwftexas]

I appreciate the Information.
I will work on an appropriate Enclosure. I will leave Kitra in the old tank since Kitra is accustomed to it.

Can you please describe your building method.

Like I said before, I got my information off line and they never really described the Natural Habitat let alone showed pictures of the actual Environment.

The reason i joined this Forum is to learn about the true care of Geckos. Not from Generic Sources. I did not know about this forum when i got Kitra.

I apologize if I insulted you by my response.

 

[jpstodwftexas]

Took your Advice and got some fire-bellied toads for the Tank.

Went to get the Camera and the little brats found a way behind the Waterfall. So I had to take it out and then rearranged it a bit. Looks like I have the Waterfall for another project now. So Glad I did not permanently attach it.

Naturally the battery was dead on the Camera.

Do you have a Build on your Cage? I have several pieces of Glass that are about 60 inches and 72 inches long and about 30 to 36 inches Wide. I have been saving for projects. Now I have an excuse to use them.

 

[Ingo]

Hi,

you are right. Asides from the original species descriptuion paper form 1994, there still is no first hand information on the exact natural habitat of this species available and thus people do speculate a lot. However, being in the petricolus group already to some extent puts a likelihood for rock dwelling on this species. Moreover, after I and many others had problems with effective continuous breeding of this species in the 90s, I did quite some research on habits and preferences of captive specimens which I got rewarded for by the Alfred A Schmidt price and which was then puplished in 2004 (Kober, I. 2004 Haltung und kontinuierliche Nachzucht des Marmorgeckos, Gekko grossmanni GÜNTHER 1994. Salamandra 40 (3/4): 261-280 ). It turned out that the geckos not only preferred sandstonelike surfaces over everything else, but also the productivity problem was fully solved if such rock surfaces covered by vines are offered. Egg laying never was a problem in grossmanni breeding, but a significant percentage of eggs was typically eaten again short after deposition. This completely stops if you provide the said places. Females preferably deposit their eggs underneath the mid line of a leaf covering a rockwall. Many always put every new clutch under a seperate leaf. Some do more follow the typical Gekko habit and accumulate larger numbers of clutches at one place, which tahn has to be covered by a quite bushy vine area. Whereas adults hardly ever leave their rock face, hatchlings have a tendency to sit on thin branches. Probably to be out of the way of the cannibalistic (yes, they do not care for their young but rather eat them) adults.
The rocks in the tank I showed you are custom made from PU foam, covered with concrete on which I threw sand before it dried. The cage itself is made from simple melamine and wood. I described its construction in a short paper (Kober, I. 2005 Rock Wall in the Living Room. Reptilia (GB) (41): 18-22 ).

Best regards

Ingo

 

[jpstodwftexas]

This is Kitra