Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, so three posts in one day is a lot, but I've had a lot on my mind. I was thinking of creating a more natural tank setup for my leo. And from what i've found doing some research, their natural habitat is rocky, not sandy. So here's my idea:

1 - Small to medium smooth stones on the bottom. As well as a few pieces of slate to make flat spots. I'd use a UTH and lamp like i do now to heat.

2 - Build hides out of the slate, glueing them together obviously =)

3 - Build a humid hide out of slate as well, looks better then tuperware. Trick being, i'll have to line the inside with silcon or a plastic of sorts to help it stay humid. I'd keep moss in the bottom of it, and now here's the simple but cool part. I'd run a small hose (hide it in a vine or something) from below the moss to outside the tank. This way i can poor water down the hose to remoisten the moss, without haveing to disturb my Jak, who loves his humid hide.

4 - make a water dish and calcium/mealies dish in the rock some how.

Basically my goal is to use as few premade store bought things as possible. However, I was wondering if anyone had tried anything like this, and if so, how well did the glass bottom hold up with all that weight? Secondly, I don't plan on doing this until after I graduate in May, so will this new setup be too drastic for Jak, or will he adjust farely quickly? Will his feet be too used to papertowel to be put on rocks? Just curious as to what you guys have for input. Thanks

Sounds like something I might want to do someday too. As a display tank though, not as a breeding tank of course.
-----

www.mplionhearts.com

I keep a pair that i breed in a similar tank but the humids are tupperwares so i can get the eggs when the female lays
-----
soad rocks

For substrate i took sterilized play sand and rinsed it in boiling water to help it be sterile then i put the moist sand in the tank and prssed it down and compacted it.....let it dry and its now hard and has some loose sand on the top but very little..its much like their natural habitat and it looks great. I kept my leo out of the tank for a few days and kept him in my rack then once everything was set put him back in. he is over 6" so its safe for him to be on the sand you may want to wait with your little guy
ill get a pic once i find my camera
-----
-Bryan

but one thing I noticed, you said he's over 6 inches so its safe, I think it should read safer

sounds like you have one of the non-suicidal-sand-licking-psycho leos
congrats!

Except for the scattered loose sand on top, I imagine your substrate is similar to concrete? maybe not quite so hard. I use concrete in my bigger tanks (wood/glass) Mind you they're heavy, but I like the fact that they can't ingest any of it
-----

4.5 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Marbled Gecko
1.1 Red Eared Sliders
0.2 Siamese Mice

i do a lot of posts in a day too always asking about feeding...lol - just like u, i want the best for my leo and i want his habitat to look more natural than having tupperware.

i think he'll adjust to the set-up..give him a couple days to get used to the environment.

also, they sell rock-like hides in the petstore if you wanna check those out. my tank set up is...

1) brown paper towel so it looks like dirt
2) humid hide is the wooden hides from the pet store (upside down U)
3) food dish next to the humid hide - looks like a small wooden trunk (mealies stay in) and there's a handle that looks like a branch (melvin LOVES to lie down on that N spy on the mealies before he eats them)
4) water dish in cool side - looks like a rock
5) rock hide - looks like a mini-cave
6) calcium dish is just a cap from my gatorade drink - i can't find anything small enough 2 look like a rock

will you have a background picture on ur tank?
-----
1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)

It all depends on the type of tank you have. Aquariums for fish are designed to hold the weight of both water and gravel. Most of the tanks i have are *terrariums* not made to hold water at all, and apparently not alot of weight either. I did pretty much what your describing.........i filled the tank with large gravel alternating with ceramic tiles. It looked great. However not long after putting it in i heard a *cracking* sound. I thought for sure the bottom was cracked and going to fall out. Luckily it didn't and the tank is Ok (just the seal was broken) but i learned a very good lesson. Now i use one layer of ceramic tile and decorate with differnt stones, logs etc. I don't think any of my tanks look that bad at all. Most of the humid hides (which are sour cream or similar containers) are hidden quite well with all the other decorations. I have a few pics i'll have to scan. Once i do i'll post them

Red
-----
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

really? wow i never knew that! thanks for the info...
i'm not sure if i have a glass terrarium or an aquarium because the guy that gave me his leo handed everything over but didn't tell me where he got it~

[aimee]
-----
1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)

Oh man........i replied to you only to lose my connection as i hit *post message*.

Here it goes again.......lol.

This is ONLY my observation, it in no way means it applies to every tank. All of my fish tanks have thicker glass and more silicone than the terrariums i have.

I don't know if that will help you or not. You can try to set up your tank the way you described, just set it up where it is to be all the time then decorate it. Lifting any tank when full no matter whats in it isn't recommended

Red
-----
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