Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All Gotta a question.........How many layers of papertowels do you put above the under tank heater? All of the newbies are on tile but i've run into a problem.

The tiles don't lay flush with the side glass of the tank, theres a space. Most of the guys have been fine eating mealworms from a dish, however, Bronx, the male blizzard hasn't eaten much at all. I bought some crickets for Zeek, my crested and decided to try them with Bronx. He was like lightening going after them, even caught a few and after coming back into the room about 30min later, i can't find any there. So i threw in a few crickets into each of the tanks and WOW!!!!!!!! All of the guys went nuts. BUT still the crickets were a challenge to get due to getting in the space between the tile and glass.

I like the tiles and i have my UTH's temp set up perfectly so i'm not sure what to do (set on LOW using a Rheostat the temp is 88 degrees). Paper towels would be the safest thing to use as an alternative. I could pull off the hind legs of the crickets and put them in the bowls but they are very very shallow and i'm worried they could still get out. Using a taller bowl isn't possible right now cause these geckos are still really small.

I've got two 10 gallon tanks still not in use so i'm going to experiment with stuff to see if i can find a solution but any suggestions would be great

Thanks
Red
P.S. SIDE NOTE.........Not even BOO would touch the silkworms!!!!! He licked them then went to his bowl of mealworms. LOL
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas

you could try putting calci-sand to fill the cracks and not worry about the geckos eating it and the crickets hiding in them

Hi, thats a good suggestion, i did think of that, but i'm not comfortable putting anything in their tanks that could pose a health risk. Maybe in Boo's tank, cause he's HUGE hehehe, but all of the others are tiny (i really need to get comparison pics of them all!!!!!!!).

My first gecko, Leo, was on calcium sand and he ended up dying (after alot of vet visits, meds etc). And the way these babies go crazy leaping at the crickets i'm just scared they will eat some sand.

Thankyou very much for your post

Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas

I STILL can't get over what a cute name Boo is!
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chickabowwow

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Mommy of 6 Leopards
Milo(my male) Mongo, Raptor,and Spaz
My babies Popeye and Boo(named after Monster's Inc. Character)
2 Dogs
Baby a Peekapoo and Meshu a terrier mix
And a Cat named Mr. Kitty

np
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chickabowwow

It suits him so well He still plays Peek-A-Boo with me. He'll hide his head behind the plants in his tank, then pop it out and look at me, then hide it again. Its as though he thinks i can't see him when he hides just his head (the rest of him sticks out) hehehehehe.

Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas

One thing i have done is take Sphagnum moss and get it wet and pack it nice and tight between the cracks. After a day or so it should be dry and nice and hard. Also i would think Sphagnum moss would be more digestable then caci-sand. It should hurt them to be in there when its wet too, nice it wont be for long. Just a thought i had

Ryan
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Thats a great idea I was thinking last night that i could use some clay/modeling material, thats non toxic around the edges but i want to be able to remove the tiles so i thought maybe i could roll out a sheet of it, place it in the tank then squish the tiles in to make an impression. Remove the tiles, let the clay (whatever) dry and be able to take the tiles in and out when needed. This way i could also use one of their bowls to indent an area so the bowl sits down in the clay so the top of it is at ground level with the geckos. Using the ash trays i have that are pretty deep for these guys would be possible then and the mealworms couldn't get out, nor could crickets

Anyone know what type of modeling material is best? I'm going to post in the cage/habitat forum too, see if they have any ideas I've got tons of modeling clay here (used to sculpt)

Anyways thanks for the idea. The moss would be much less difficult to use thats for sure
Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas