New excavator clay setup for Merlin

[lizardmom]

My new leopard gecko Merlin in currently set up in a 10 gal tank but is rapidly growing, so he will need a new home soon.
This is an exoterra medium low 24x18x12 with the outback backgrond.


Warm hide ( it will have a felt curtain to cover the hole at the glass so there isn’t as much light)


Cool hide


The big rock is a multilevel hide on the warm side, and I will be adding the Exo Terra gecko cave from his current setup for the moist hide. It wii go close to the center partially over the heat mat. I have the Flukers large heat mat 11x17 installed on the warm side and plan to use it with the great start thermostat I am currently using for his 10 gallon. I will pass the probe down the channel in the background and into the warm hide. I tried to keep substrate depth minimal so the heat will pass through well. I will also use a ceramic heater as needed.

What do you guys think?


I have no idea why all the pictures loaded upside down??

 

[echopaw]

nice!

 

[Seth9999]

Looks nice. I was just thinking on how well that substrate going heat up. Flukers is better one , I think.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Looks nice. I was just thinking on how well that substrate going heat up. Flukers is better one , I think.

Seth ~

Recently I had some heat mat feedback from a personal friend who has had much more heat mat experience than I have. She's used several brands. She totally recommends the Ultratherm heat mats!!! She's never had an Ultratherm heat mat fail.

 

[Seth9999]

Elizabeth


I was thinking if heat mat would be able to heat up enough, get threw the dirt. So little marlin is warm.
Your friend with experience likes uth mat in general or a pacific one?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

The big rock is a multilevel hide on the warm side, and I will be adding the Exo Terra gecko cave from his current setup for the moist hide. It wii go close to the center partially over the heat mat. I have the Flukers large heat mat 11x17 installed on the warm side and plan to use it with the great start thermostat I am currently using for his 10 gallon. I will pass the probe down the channel in the background and into the warm hide. I tried to keep substrate depth minimal so the heat will pass through well. I will also use a ceramic heater as needed.

Elizabeth

I was thinking if heat mat would be able to heat up enough, get threw the dirt. So little marlin is warm.
Your friend with experience likes uth mat in general or a pacific one?

That's what I thought too: Will the heat be able to reach Merlin through the Excavator Clay? Excavator Clay is an insulator. lizardmom seems to have considered everything.

My friend specifically loves Ultratherm brand heat mats. I'll ask her Saturday whether she's ever used a Fluker's mat.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

The big rock is a multilevel hide on the warm side, and I will be adding the Exo Terra gecko cave from his current setup for the moist hide. It wii go close to the center partially over the heat mat. I have the Flukers large heat mat 11x17 installed on the warm side and plan to use it with the great start thermostat I am currently using for his 10 gallon. I will pass the probe down the channel in the background and into the warm hide. I tried to keep substrate depth minimal so the heat will pass through well. I will also use a ceramic heater as needed.

What do you guys think?


I have no idea why all the pictures loaded upside down??

You've thought of everything. Merlin's new habitat is complete with "petroglyphs"! He's lucky to have such a creative and resourceful mom!

Images upside down or sideways? Here's the fix.

• Go to the picture in your gallery, look to the bottom right, under "User Options" in the blue bar, you'll see "Edit Photo".
• That takes you to the edit options. It will display a thumbnail of that picture, and the flip or rotate options are listed below it.
• "Could this option not be available for mobile users? I am not seeing what you are speaking about."
• Click on your photo when you get to that screen. It should go to the one with the options.
• When you're done, save the changes.
• For the actual thread click: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/n00b-central/83037-uploading-gallery.html#post472578

 

[Seth9999]

Thats only ones I use , Ultratherm vavarium heat mats. Made in Scotland. I think there one best, hope, since it's heating up my little ones in my house. I have few , sandwiched between there floors. ( with space)
We ran away with marlins post, sorry about that. :?

 

[lizardmom]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am hoping that by keeping the substrate layer to just about a 1/4” in his hot hide and on the floor outside, the heat will get through. If the Flukers doesn’t work I will try to get my hands on an ultra therm. They can be harder to get in the States so that’s why I went with the Flukers first. I have heard they do a bit better than some of the other options. Now, I just have to wait for it to dry out so I can test run.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am hoping that by keeping the substrate layer to just about a 1/4” in his hot hide and on the floor outside, the heat will get through. If the Flukers doesn’t work I will try to get my hands on an ultra therm. They can be harder to get in the States so that’s why I went with the Flukers first. I have heard they do a bit better than some of the other options. Now, I just have to wait for it to dry out so I can test run.

You're welcome.

Amazon carries Ultratherm heat mats. Amazon has a return policy.

Many thanks for all your details. Keep us posted.

 

[lizardmom]

I thought I would update. I am STILL waiting for this stuff to dry. I live in the humid south and i guess that is contributing, but it is STILL wet. Also, the hot hide tended to collapse as it dried so we took it out and will be using his current cave. I will let you know if/ when it finally gets dry!

 

[Varalidaine]

Zoo Med says not to use Excavator Clay with a heat mat. It will trap the heat and crack the glass. They say in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao5pAFc7pfk (by ZooMed) to never use heat cable or a heat mat with the clay.

 

[lizardmom]

thanks for the info. I hadn't seen that. I am having problems getting it dry anyway. I may be making some modifications. I saw a video recently where the person building laid tile on the hot side and used the excavator as a sort of grout between them. I may try that instead.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

thanks for the info. I hadn't seen that. I am having problems getting it dry anyway. I may be making some modifications. I saw a video recently where the person building laid tile on the hot side and used the excavator as a sort of grout between them. I may try that instead.

Have you seen swisswiss's experiences using Excavator Clay?

Click: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...wisss-terrarium.html?highlight=excavator clay

 

[lizardmom]

That is helpful, thanks. I will probably see what I can do with tiles tonight. I have some 6x6 tiles that I can incorporate on the hot side, and I think I ca do that without disturbing the cool side too much. Hopefully I can get this going the way I want. If not, I may end up just going bio active. i would likely do tiles under the warm hide if I did that.

 

[lizardmom]

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on some slate like swissswiss used in her setup??

 

[lizardmom]

Latest update:

thicker clay on the cold isde is still not dry, and what is dry on the warm side is crumbling. I think the layer was just too thin to hold up. I will be looking at coming up with another plan.

I am considering a true bio active setup. I am thinking I would put tiles under the warm hide to provide belly heat and gradually transition to bio active on the other side. Thinking of ordering the bio dude kit. My only concern is plants over the heat mat, and how they would do. Right now I have a flukers 11x17 for it, but I have an 11x11 I could also use.
The other option is exo terra sand mat, which is what I have him on now. I was really hoping to do something a little more naturalistic though.

 

[lizardmom]

So, excavator clay never dried. We scrapped it and went with great stuff from. I am pretty happy with the results. Just need the add in a couple more thubngs and plants in the planters. Just letting everything cure a while before we plant.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Will Merlin have some ground-level hides? Some leos don't climb much.

It may be much easier to keep plants on the cool end of your leo's enclosure......maybe planted in their own pots. The heat mat will always dry out the soil pretty quickly.

I use terra cotta pots for the Phelsuma barbouri I keep and a green plastic pot for my crestie's sansevieria.

 

[lizardmom]

Everything is not in yet. I just set in a couple of things to get and idea of what I am looking at. The left side is the hot side, away from the planters, which are the holes on the right side. He will have plenty of hides. A dry and moist on the hot side and at least one on the cool side. I have a tree that has a hide in the bottom, an Exo Tera’s gecko cave for moist hide, and a couple of different choices for other hides. I will post finished pictures once I decide what goes where.