Gecko safe clay type soil?

[JessJohnson87]

I would water the succulents once a week and see how they do, if they still don't look great after adding a light, water twice a week. Some succulents do not need as much water as others, I killed off one of mine from lack of water but yet the agave is doing great with less water.

 

[Britt005]

Hey Elizabeth and Jess,

Yeah there is a lot of space to get in and out of both caves. I understand why you ask, but with the toilet paper rolls out its a lot more open. She should be able to easily move out of one and right into the other.

I haven't applied any heat yet, so not sure how it'll do temp wise. I was planning to have bought another UTH by now, but the last vet visit wiped me out. The gecko budget has been temporarily frozen.

EXCEPT for the grow light, so my plants don't die. The only ones at home depot were like 40+ so I didn't buy one last night. I was looking on Amazon last night though, and found some desk clamp grow lights made for indoor plants. Linked here Do you think something like that would work?

 

[JessJohnson87]

GE 18 in. Fluorescent Light Fixture-16466 - The Home Depot I have a fixture similar to this.

2 ft. T8 17-Watt Daylight Deluxe (6500K) ALTO Linear Fluorescent Light Bulb-431998 - The Home Depot and a bulb like this (this is the 24" bulb but you would have to look in store for the 18")

The bulbs have to have a color temperature between 5000-6500 or the plants will not do as well, there's other things that plants need from lights but you would have to buy Arcadia Jungle Dawns for optimum plant growth and those are around $40+ for a bulb. Succulents love bright light and will "reach" for it where they can get it and that will result in crooked plants.


Shop GE 15-Watt 6,500K Daylight Fluorescent Tube Light Bulb (Common: 18-in; Actual: 18-in) at Lowes.com this is the exact bulb I use.

Shop Utilitech 18.25-in Hardwired Under Cabinet Fluorescent Light Bar at Lowes.com this is the fixture but mine is the plug-in not hardwired, could not find a link to the plug-in on lowes' site.

 

[Britt005]

Ta da!

Behold, my completed bioactive vivarium!



It's a bit hard to see with the purple light on, but it was even harder with it off because of the reflection. The temps on the warm side got to over 100 unchecked. The heat definitely radiates better through the slate tiles than through the clay but it's all pretty warm. I replaced my succulents with a hardy aloe I found at Home Depot. It looks a lot better I think, hopefully I can keep it alive!

I introduced her on Saturday and she didn't seem to take to it well at first lol. Spent the first few hours desperately trying to climb out of it. I think it was partly because I had too much stuff in there initially so I took some of it out to give her a little more space. She settled down on Sunday and started exploring the caves and tunnels. Don't think she likes the darkling beetles though, they seem to bother her a bit. But boy do they clean up that poo quick.

 

[Zux]

It looks great, but what is that purple 'light' and how often is that on?

 

[Britt005]

Thanks! It's the grow light I ended up buying for my plants. It's on for 12 hours and off for 12.