Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if a self sustaining cage was even possable. If it is than what would i have to do to make one?

thanks for any information

do you mean like auto mister/cleaner?

if so, i would ask the people at the dart frog forum as they make a lot of vivs and keep them alive and thriving.
-----
0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 tiger crested gecko (peachs)
0.1 Red blood python (Rhianon)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

My image Gallery

My brother has a self sustaining cage for one of his snakes. He has some sort of bugs or something that eat any of the waste created by the snake. i was wondering if i could do the same thing to my crested gecko's cage. i don't know what i would need though.

The kind of ''bug'' your speaking of is red worms .

The worms eat the waste and convert it to fertilizer for the plants. In theory you could do this for your cresteds in a naturilistic set-up. In fact I have been working on exactly that just for the decor.

If your breeding your cresteds the natural floor will be a problem for finding eggs. Also adult cresteds and rough on thier favorite plants.

However its a really neat looking setup for the juvies and fun to watch.

Do you recamend having a self sustaining cage?

Where can i buy these red worms?

Red worms can be purchased from reptilefood.com http://www.reptilefood.com/reptilefood/affil_select.asp?affilkey=WNYHS

As for recommending it..that is really something for you as a owner to decide.A naturalistic enviorment certainly is more attractive to look at.Its also more expensive to create . It requires not only care of your animal but care of the plants you choose IE light,water and the fact your cresties will be tromping all over them. What ever savings of time from cleaning will be used careing for the set-up.Theres no free ride. In my case I made one just for the hobby aspect and knowledge.

Most of my cage set ups are a compromise ,I like lightweight screen cages with , papertowel substrates and lots of climbing sticks with artificial plants .I remove the cresties ,take out the papertowel and blast the cage with the hose ,takes a few minutes at most.They arent as pretty as the above, nor as easy to care for as a rubbermaid tub.But I can enjoy them climbing around ,chasing prey and still not dedicate my entire life to cleaning cages. Hope this helps , Pat

i went to reptilefood.com and it seems to me that red worms are a feeder insect. they didn't mention anything to do with recicling waste.

You didnt ask to read about what they do, you asked where can you buy them. Below is one of about 100 links I found by typing '' red worm recycling'' in my browser .Its a very cool trick you should try it sometime....
Pat

http://www.wormman.com/redworms.htm

Red worms do amazing things for our planet. They are God's living compost machines. They devour our garbage and turn it into thick, dark, nutrient rich compost that will cause yields in gardens to increase and indoor plants to thrive. The best part is that you don't have to spend all that money and have all the negative effects of store bought fertilizers. This is why we compost with red worms and believe every home should. Our mission is to create a viable worm industry, so that there is an alternative to the landfills of today. Compost your garbage and save the world. Not to mention you will get millions of free worms to sell, fish with or to give to others.

Nutritional Analysis of Red Worms

Moisture- 84.8%

Fat- 2.0%

Ash-0.7%

protein- 10.5%

If you are looking for an inexpensive worm for composting and for vermiculture this red worm is it! Easy to raise and breed. This worm also has a huge demand! If you are also looking for a great fishing worm to compost with click here.

The cage that my brother keeps one of his snakes in has what he calls little silver bugs that he assumes eats the waste. He isn't quite shure what exactly they are, but im posative they are not red worms.

Do you know what they might be?