I have been wanting a leapord gecko for a while now, and I saw you say that this cost about to about 175, could you maybe link all the stuff you have in the description?. I've been looking for the stuff you talked about but have had no luck. Thank you!
This is awesome. Im about to build a vivarium with excavator clay for my leo too but i wanted it to be bioactive. This gave me some great ideas 🥰 thanks for posting
That looks sooooooo amazing. This looks like a mini professional zoo display. So jealous. I need to check out this excavator clay asap. Nice kitty too!!!!
wow!! (: absolutely gorgeous & very well thought-out set-up, esecially the removable slate roofs & that lusciously beautiful succulentscape in the corner. what a delighted animal you will have. -- correct about the crepuscular, so the best way to follow that is 2.5 to 3 hours of light each at dawn & dusk, which follows their normal exposure & activity patterns, rather than 5 hours in one middle shot. additionally a mist at dawn would replicate dew collection, which is when they normally drink. they will use bowls, but their natural & preferred staple hydration behavior is lapping dew at dawn before they go in to hide for the day. you have things set up so well that you could probably introduce low 2.5% UVB at those times & the gecko will position itself to absorb just what it needs/D3 production, but then you would of course eliminate the D3 supplement. there are some good videos out on this natural D3 approach, & a UK company called Arcadia provides good information on this as well. thanks for the video!
That's amazing! Love the trenches, I'm gonna do the same for a chuckwalla. I've got a few questions, where did you get the stones from both the top and bottom parts and how did you form it? Did you just press it into place? Also, how many bags of clay did u use? Thanks :)
Very beautiful! I used your setup as inspiration for my own, with a few changes, and I absolutely love it! The excavator clay + slate idea for hides is genius.
Your tank inspired me to custom build my own a while back. I used your cool little slate-lid hide idea and excavator clay. Mine isn't bio active, and I added Eco earth so he can have a little digging area and he uses it often. Anyways, thanks for the ideas! I wish more people would put forth the effort into their tanks. I know that my leo loves it.
How did you get the holes in the clay to mould like that? Did you just place some balloons or something in there? And popped them when it was hardened?
This is incredible! I just started my vivarium, and it's similar to this, but I am a new gecko owner, and you really answered a lot of questions that I had about my setup. I wondered if you could tell me how many pill bugs you started with? I don't want to overwhelm our geckos.
I love the set up a lot, I just got my leopard gecko a few months ago and she's been doing well. But I wanted to do something similar for her when I got her a bigger tank. Where did you get everything?
so basically half the soil is the clay you made little hides from, which will dry completely, but you also have top soil and sand underneath for the clean up crew? just alittle confused to how everything is working in there. its a beautiful set up. id like to make something similar, but I still want loose soil for my geko to be able to dig his own tunnels. Can yours do that with all that hard clay in the tank? or is she not a digger?
80% of it looks to be Excavator clay with all the rocks and decor. The other 20% is the soil that the plants are planted in and the clean up through will thrive in. Although if I were to make a clean up crew in this tank I would be worried about the insects straying from the soil and dying, I wonder how it is working! As for tunnel digging, Leopard geckos usually won't dig an entire burrow, much less in Excavator clay! That clay will dry pretty solid, it is holding up those rock slabs. So no, she can't dig if she wanted to. Instead you could provide Eco Earth! It is a safe substrate provided you have a healthy Leo and your husbandry is on point! They can dig in it but it won't be huge burrows, they aren't really made to dig. It is more like you put half a log on the ground and they go in and dig it a little deeper. Nevertheless it would be a fun project, I wish you well! Ps. She doesn't have sand underneath, if she did, the insects can't access it and if they could that means the Leos could ingest it and get impacted, sand is very unsafe.
As Mara said the substrate used throughout the viv is a mixture of 80% clay, 20% sand. It has hardened up completely, so no digging for her, though she does have some moss/coir in her moist hide she snuggles up in a bit. The areas where the plants are however, have soil/sand mixture for the CUC to dig around in. So far she hasn't shown any interest in digging around that area. A more digable/layered substrates are definitely great alternate ways to create a viv, it was just my understanding when making this that leos aren't all necessarily the biggest diggers, and so far for mine that seems to hold true.
Haha I'm not really trying to start a channel or anything, I can tell you she's doing really great, has gained a bit of weight, loves roaches, and is friendly as can be (comes out of her hides when I talk to her, likes to climb around outside her viv for short periods of time)
Are you planning on getting a second Leo? I have one that I basically rescued from my local PetSmart(they thought he was dead when he was sleeping🤦♀️) and I am planning on getting another one and I was wondering if you had a rough amount of how much this tank cost? Btw this looks AMAZING! By far the best I have ever seen👏
I'd say it ran me about 150-175, I started from nothing though, with no previous reptiles/reptile supplies. I also probably could have saved some money by buying a used tank, checked Craigslist and such for some supplies etc...
I would get rid of that bright coil bulb. If it's a uvb, it actually breaks down the plants on a molecular level slowly. It also can damage the geckos eyes. I would recommend a white light LED bulb. It'll grow the plants and won't damage the Leo's eyes. Also, I would get some soil to put under the clay. Or put soil somewhere where the isopods can go and get humidity.
Interesting, haven't heard that about the bulb yet, will definitely look into! As I said, this is my first setup/reptile, so the advice is very much appreciated! I do have soil/sand in the areas where the plants are, as well as some moss/coir in her moist hide. CUC seems to be doing well so far. Thanks!
Good vivarium but Leopard Geckos do not live in the desert if our you I would use eco-earth because sand and stuff can compact your gecko other than that great vivariumAlso the myth that was told about leopard geckos is that they cannot see red light but instead of seeing red light they see it as white Lite I hope this info helps
A mix of eco earth and sand will allow them to burrow, and the sand will let the water drain. Eco earth can impact them, too. If the gecko is cared for properly, they won’t get impacted.
go on . . . don't keep em waiting. . . they live in . . . . come on . . . they come from highlands of Asia and throughout Afghanistan, to parts of northern India.
and they are found in rocky grassland habitats. the popular pet gecko: the leopard gecko. A common misconception about Leopard Geckos is that they live in dry, arid deserts, but they are from the rocky grasslands in southwestern Asia. They avoid deserts. Just did a quick check in wikipedia but i'm sure this is old news but just putting it out there. Dad, (not delaney)
Thanks for the input! My CUC seems o be going strong so far, she does burrow a bit in the moss in her moist hide, but otherwise hasn't shown much inclination for digging up the planted areas, it's something I'd consider though I if I ever re-do it.
Only if the substrate being used is calcium sand, the temperatures are too low, or the leopard gecko is dehydrated. Impaction is from husbandry as a whole- NOT loose substrate.
Hi, I explained in the video that I have both! You're right though, belly heat is most important, I just have an exeptionally chilly house, so I think she appreciates the ambient temp going up a little too.
