Reptile & Amphibian Forums

post pictures of your leopard gecko setups, im trying to set up a decent size tank that can house 5-8 adult leopards and i need ideas, so post your pictures of your leo setups if you can. i would really like to see them.

thanks

Well, I wasn't planning on posting pictures until it is done. I am making a desert-style background for it to make it a bit more snazzy. I may not get around to that for a while so I guess I'll put up a few pics now.

Kumquat and Tamale live in a 20 gallon tank. I based my tank on an idea that Geckohappy gave me (go here to see a REALLY awesome tank: http://www.repticzone.com/forums/Geckos-Leopard/messages/882379.html). I used plaster of paris to make the "sand" and the "rock" hides (I basically paper mached some newspaper onto some tin cake pans). I then painted the plaster, sealed it, etc. My hides are very light-weight - which I love. Of course I have a dish of water, calcium and a humid hide.

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-Kristin

0.1.2 Leopard Geckos
(Monet, Kumquat, and Tamale)

lefty82, I'm so jealous, that looks really cool, could you tell me where you got those items, especially the piece that has a medium and cool hide spot.

The water dish I got at my local petstore. All the hides are homemade.

The humid hide isn't too special, just an old margarine tub that I modpodged with some brown scraps of linen.

The other caves were a bit more difficult, but I think anybody can do it. I bought a set of disposable baking tins (the kind sized for banana bread), plaster of paris, acrylic paint, clear acrylic sealer, and newspaper. I cut out doors in the tins and cut some of them to be shorter. For the one with the warm and cool part, I just taped a shortened tin on top of a full-sized one. Then I covered the insides and outsides with strips of newspaper soaked in plaster of paris. I tried to keep things rough so it would look more like a rock. Once that was all dry, I painted them with a few coats of brown and tan paint, then I sealed it with the clear nontoxic sealer. It was kind of shiny, so I sprayed it with a matte finish and let it sit outside for a few hours to get rid of any fumes. I like the cave on the far left the best - I made it last and I got it to look more natural. The nice thing is that I can move them around whenever I want, so I can redo the double-cave if I feel like it. Not for a while though - I'm too busy!

It's fun to see them climbing around on top of the "rocks."

Well kudos to you, it looks great!

Haven't got a picture handy, but will offer my current set up:

After losing our first leo to parasites we are very concerned about sanitation. We line our entire 20 gallon long with unprinted food grade paper towels. We initially had natural hides (like wood), but our current gecko loves to splash in the water bowl and we had a mold problem pretty quick. Now she has a two door plastic container covered in towels next to the water bowl and a cardboard hide on the hot end. We have a shallow water bowl, climbing rock, two terrarium plants (which she loves to arrange to her liking), and a fake cactus skeleton to crawl through. 2/3 of her glass walls are covered in construction paper to make her feel more safe. Hot end is a UTH and a visible/UVB light on a timer. Our main concern is her happiness and the ability to dunk everything in bleach solution or throw it away every 6 months, paper towels are removed every week in the "bathroom" and once a month everywhere else. Both of our leos have rejected the idea of a humid hide, which is one thing that is good to at least try that we don't currently have in there. Hope this helps.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Those hides are awesome! I want to learn to paper mache.

Kelly
1.1.6 Leopard Geckos
1.2.1 Hedgehogs
1.0.0 Mediterranean Gecko
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
tcsleopards1.blogspot.com
tcshedgehogs.blogspot.com

Here's my basic set up. The only thing that has changed is I now have upside down plant pot bases as my two dry hides, and deli cups inside pvc endcaps for water bowls. But this old set up was just as good. In a way these old hides were better, they are a recycled paper product and only cost 10 cents a piece, so they were disposible. So I may go back to them.

I am thinking of making a naturalistic vivarium for an adult male that I have. If I do I will post pics on the forum, but I'm not sure yet.

Here are all of my leo set-ups. They are pretty simple right now, but we are working on a new unit with vivs for all the geckos, our 2 beardies, and the trantula. I've made most of the new backgrounds and hides from styrofoam,the great stuff,and/or plaster. I will post pics of the new homemade stuff once everything is done, but for now here's where everyone lives.

here are the rest

Hey guys and gals. Here are pics of one of my leo enclosures.

And a couple more...

currently my brother and I are setting up a 4 for long by 2 feet deep by 2 feet tall cage for 5-10 adult leopard geckos. We are molding hides and decoration out of foam and then putting plaster of it to harden it. Ill post pics when its finished, along with a step by step tutorial, but does anyone know what spray paint we could use that would be safe for the geckos? (after all the fumes were gone of course and it sbeen dry for at least a week if not more)

I'm not sure about spray paint - I would see if anything says "non toxic." Other than that, you may want to consider hand painting the hides with acrylics - that is probably the safest route. Definitely post some pictures when you're done - I'm very interested to see how it turns out.
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-Kristin

0.2.2 Leopard Geckos
(Kumquat, Tamale, Jujube, and Nougat)

>>I'm not sure about spray paint - I would see if anything says "non toxic." Other than that, you may want to consider hand painting the hides with acrylics - that is probably the safest route. Definitely post some pictures when you're done - I'm very interested to see how it turns out.
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>>-Kristin
>>
>>0.2.2 Leopard Geckos
>>(Kumquat, Tamale, Jujube, and Nougat)
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Don't know how my post got lost, but what I wanted to note that products labeled "non toxic" mean that the levels of toxic chemicals contained in the product show little or no long term health damage to a 6 foot tall average build male human. That means the product CAN contain toxins and poisons, only the concentrations have to be low. Now a human baby would be a lot more at risk than an adult male human, and in turn a gecko would be a lot more at risk. In short, non toxic doesn't mean safe and one should be really careful using any kind of paint in a setup because the leo will lick and could flake off just about anything. I'm not saying anything bad will happen, just sharing information.

-Sorry, I was a product design engineer for a while, sometimes it comes out.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Oh, I completely agree about the toxicity thing. Just because it is labeled non-toxic that doesn't mean it is necessarily safe for a gecko, but it is probably better and less fume-y than a spray paint that isn't labeled like that.

Personally I avoid using spray paint because I get better results with plain old craft-store acrylic paints. They basically dry on like a coat of plastic, and you avoid dealing with those noxious fumes that spray paints give off. But if spray paint is needed, a low odor one, or non-toxic (if it even exists) one would be ideal followed by a looooooooong airing out time.
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-Kristin

0.2.2 Leopard Geckos
(Kumquat, Tamale, Jujube, and Nougat)

yeah ive heard the acrylic is good, but im trying to paint a cage thats 4 feet by 2x2' and i think it may cost too much for acrylic.. any idea like how big a container of paint you can get? for some reason i have this image of those little paint canisters hah, i you could post a pic or a link thatd be great. I will post pics of this whole thing when im done, it should be awesome, its just that the damn plaster of paris is a pain in the ass to work with ugg.

You can get really cheap acrylic paints at wal mart (in the craft section), but the higher quality brands such as Grumbacher would cost more. I only use that brand for fine art because of the high pigment concentration...
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-Kristin

0.2.2 Leopard Geckos
(Kumquat, Tamale, Jujube, and Nougat)