I recently picked up a pair of Phelsuma grandis from Julie Bergman, both Blue Blood, to try my hand at breeding. The last time I had these and some standingi was about 40 years ago. The thing then was to have the enclosure as sterile, small and simple as possible to facilitate keeping it clean, newspaper and one small sansivera. Not very enriching.
This time I used an ExoTerra 18x24x36" enclosure, cork bark background, biosoil with charcoal and drainage layers, variety of plants, bamboo, Mist King, Arcadia T5 lights. I have added dwarf white isopods and springtails to the tank, springtails are doing well, haven't seen a single isopod since I added them. I'll add 100 more next week. However, since they burrow into the substrate and a lot of the poop is on the leaves of the plants at the bottom of the enclosure (large bromeliad, large bird's nest fern, several pothos plants, and selaginella that died out), I don't think the dwarf whites climb up on the plants to scavenge.
I'm looking for something that climbs instead of burrows, will go after the stuff on the plants, is small enough that it is less likely to be eaten, wouldn't cause any problems if the geckos eat them, and wouldn't become a pest. I've sort of narrowed it down to either powder orange or powder blue. Their exoskeleton appears to be less hard and hopefully less chitinous than the Armadillidium sp, and they are pretty active and climb. The orange appear more active, and are more attractive to me, but the blue will probably be less noticeable to the geckos when crawling around and therefore less likely to be eaten.
Thoughts and experiences?
This time I used an ExoTerra 18x24x36" enclosure, cork bark background, biosoil with charcoal and drainage layers, variety of plants, bamboo, Mist King, Arcadia T5 lights. I have added dwarf white isopods and springtails to the tank, springtails are doing well, haven't seen a single isopod since I added them. I'll add 100 more next week. However, since they burrow into the substrate and a lot of the poop is on the leaves of the plants at the bottom of the enclosure (large bromeliad, large bird's nest fern, several pothos plants, and selaginella that died out), I don't think the dwarf whites climb up on the plants to scavenge.
I'm looking for something that climbs instead of burrows, will go after the stuff on the plants, is small enough that it is less likely to be eaten, wouldn't cause any problems if the geckos eat them, and wouldn't become a pest. I've sort of narrowed it down to either powder orange or powder blue. Their exoskeleton appears to be less hard and hopefully less chitinous than the Armadillidium sp, and they are pretty active and climb. The orange appear more active, and are more attractive to me, but the blue will probably be less noticeable to the geckos when crawling around and therefore less likely to be eaten.
Thoughts and experiences?
