Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys were new to the whole gecko thing so we wanted to post a pic and see what you guys think of the habitat. Its only a ten gallon right now but we will probablly upgrade to a 15 or 20 gallon here soon! Anywho throw us some feed back, it would be much appreciated!! Thanks all!

P.S. Please dont comment on the thermo reading!! lol Took the pic after we set up everything and my temps hadnt time to get back up!!

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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Lepard Gecko
0.0.4 Beta's
3.1.0 Warm blooded life sucking spawns.

Lose the sand ASAP! Geckos can eat the sand and get impacted, and die!!! Use papper towells instead. If you want something prettyer that is safe, get slate, or ceramic from lowes or home depot. DO NOT use any loose substrate! Sand, mulch, ect.

Oh ya, is that a humid hide under that rock? Can't tell. If it's not and you dont have one, you need one. Just cut a hole in an old butter dish thing and put damp papper towells in the bottom. then put it over the UTH (Under Tank Heater.)

I think it looks great. Your leo will probably love it! It looks simple and easy to clean and yet offers what the kind of habitats that they prefer in the wild. But I see one problem with it: it might be difficult to feed it because the crickets can run amock and hide in nukes and cranies. Maybe I suggest you clip the crickets' back legs and put them in a shallow dish, where they can't get out, for you leo. This way you know exactly how much your animals are eating, so you'd know whether they are eating enough and getting enough nutrients. Problem solved!

lol... fun while clipping the back legs of crickets!! My next book title!
Yeah in the middle just on the edge of the UTH is a breeder box, wet box whatever you want to call it. Also we have a red infrared light to keep the other side of the tank at the right temps during the day. We live in colorado and the cool side kept dipping in the mid to low 70's so we use the lamp during the day.
As far as the sand: the sand in the tank is realy realy fine sand and i was hoping that we wouldnt have any problems with it. However I have been thinking about the rock's. My only concern is that my UTH will not be able to heat them up enough on the hot side??
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Lepard Gecko
0.0.4 Beta's
3.1.0 Warm blooded life sucking spawns.

Hold on. Think about it. When you get sand wet, what happens? It clumps up, right? It's going to do the same thing in your geckos stomach. If your dead set on sand post a thread about it. Someone was talking about this dissolveing sand a while ago. I really think haveing normal or calci-sand is a bad idea.

honestly i think it looks great BUT, it is true that sand is very bad. i wouldnt want to risk all the hard work it looks like you put in to it. i wold loose the sand. you probably wont find one person who recomends it in this forum. sand actually isnt its natural habitat, it is hard and compact. if you get rid of all that sand your heat pad will probably work better to and you will get the temps u desire.

THanks all. Not sure if i have said this in a post yet or not but after all the talk and listening to you all and reading even MORE i think im going to try the slate tile approach. I think that would be a closer thing to its natural habitat and seeings how I only have one the cost wont be to much to do and maintain or else i probablly would use paper towels but i just want it to look nice and be a lil closer to its natural surroundings!!
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Lepard Gecko
0.0.4 Beta's
3.1.0 Warm blooded life sucking spawns.

Good chioce. lol Forgot to say how nice it looks. Your gecko should love it with the slate!

sand is a great transmitter of heat. it works great except for the impaction stuff. imho i have used sand for many reptiles over the years with no problems. i decided to switch over to shredded paper do to the fact that we have a lot of it. it has been a couple of months since i quit using it, so today i was soaking my sand boa to help his shed and he defecated in the water and guess what i seen................................................................................................................... sand in the water calci sand to be exact some that was from at least a year ago when i was using a different color. so can you use it with no ill effects yes for a while until it builds up and starts causing pain and death. so i dont recommend it
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