My Enclosures
Welcome to my gecko room!....You'll find here a break down of some past or present enclosures as well as plenty of images of current and old layouts to help give you some ideas for your own :)
Up first is a group enclosure example used for a few females that are with me (please see the careguide about cohab as its not for everyone. this style of enclosure is just as suited for one adult as it is for 3). Lower down i will be showing my temporary enclosures being used for hatchlings this year but can also be utilized as Temp enclosures for quarantine, moving and cleaning (size to vary depending on the job!), as well has setups i've done in the past. To the right is a cohab setup, i've done a couple of these over the last few years..Bioactive (meaning i have a population of springtails and woodlice that eat the poop, any mould and any waste making my live setup self sustaining..there are many bugs that can help you achieve this!) and live planted. It measures at approx 5ft tall and 1.5ft across with the actually unit for the enclosure being a converted display cabinet from Ikea! The girls setup mainly consists of cork bark tubes, Soil/bark/leaf litter mix sub and 7 species of live plants at the moment |
Common names:
In addition to this and because of the Live plants i have also added a 13w Acadia Jungle Dawn LED bulb alongside the usually UV tube and reflector.
By no means a must but for those working with bigger heights i would say its needed to provide a good photo gradient for the plants to thrive.
The plants themselves came from a right mish mash of stores! Dedicated reptile & phib friendly plant shops are in the Links section though you can buy from any store as long as you remember to wash the plants and repot the roots so all traces of previous chemicals have gone :)
I fully recommend giving live ago! There are some amazing bio-active setups about to envy and try to replicate! For a Safe plant list please see Links.
- Devils Ivy
- Asparagus Fern
- Bromelaids
- Peace Lily
- Spanish Moss
- Birds nest Fern
- Cork screw Rush
In addition to this and because of the Live plants i have also added a 13w Acadia Jungle Dawn LED bulb alongside the usually UV tube and reflector.
By no means a must but for those working with bigger heights i would say its needed to provide a good photo gradient for the plants to thrive.
The plants themselves came from a right mish mash of stores! Dedicated reptile & phib friendly plant shops are in the Links section though you can buy from any store as long as you remember to wash the plants and repot the roots so all traces of previous chemicals have gone :)
I fully recommend giving live ago! There are some amazing bio-active setups about to envy and try to replicate! For a Safe plant list please see Links.
You do not however need to use live plants, Plastic/Fake can also be used and i have multiple setups using these.
You also do not need to fork out for reptile branded fake plants either...this can be a really expensive way to decorate your enclosure and can also limit on what you use. For cheaper: shop around alittle (eBay, Amazon, Dunelm Mill, Hobby shops and discount stores), they won't come with suckers but these are easily obtained and cheaply bought online...i get suckers that have hooks already to hang plants. When buying Cork, try and buy from a local shop (reptile or aquatics) as it can work out cheaper buying by weight (per Kg) then buying individual pieces with a brand attached. I scrub ALL decor bought from a pet shop that has reptiles in stock...If your going to get mites, then these are the places your at an increased chance of picking them up. All my enclosures has access to 6 - 10% UV via a Arcadia D3 Reptile lamp (Full spectrum on a T8 system) and with my room ambient always on the warm side for the UK (23-24c day time, never below 18c night during the winter months) i have found using a mat on a stat has worked just to give a warm patch (your heating choice will vary with many options, see caresheet 101 for an outline of common methods). |
Water bowls are humble glass tea light holders (a whooping 50p each), food is either in plastic milk lids or yazoo milkshake lids and a very small amount of calcium is in a milk lid, available at all times in the enclosures :)These enclosures get misted Twice a day....at lights on (7.30am) and lights off (normally between 6-7pm but in the summer they are turned off earlier to help keep temps down). I spray till everything is dripping and the soil looks dark/damp.
Hatching & Temp Enclosures
My tub's are not too different from how i keep my adults! As you can see...still got hard wood sticks, Cork bark and plenty of hiding! These however have kitchen roll as a substrate (great for babies and quarantine, some use it with adults as preference too) for ease of spot cleaning poop. These Tub's include: Large kritter keepers (good alternative is a 9L or 9XL RUB **Really useful Box**), and measure only slightly smaller than a 30x30x45 Exo Terra...just a fraction of the price! And tubs that have been modified to add pvc mesh for ventilation. By Playing with sizes and going bigger (84ltr plus) there is no reason why these wouldn't make good temporary Quarantine enclosures or for use in emergencies such as separation. Of course, they have a down side....they are limited in terms of lighting and heating. UV can be used with these if you cut a top section and fixed a PVC insect mesh with aquarium silicon (or hot glue gun depending on the size of the job) in its place (remember...UV can not travel through glass etc, mesh filter a percentage but not all.), but these would not be suitable for a ceramic setup. I am using LED stripe lighting (i will be supplementing Cal and D3 for these) and again mats on stat's for heating.
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And there you have it!
Here's a few more pictures for you to look at of past and present setups and projects, both live and fake, who knows....might give you a few ideas to incorporate yourself :) Just click on the image you wish too see, there is no limit at what you could achieve regardless of the material used for the "Box" :P
Here's a few more pictures for you to look at of past and present setups and projects, both live and fake, who knows....might give you a few ideas to incorporate yourself :) Just click on the image you wish too see, there is no limit at what you could achieve regardless of the material used for the "Box" :P