Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi! I got 3 satanics a few weeks ago and they're great! However, the tank gets saturated and I have to take out everything and squeeze out the dirt etc. I was using a fogger and this time I didn't put it back in because it gets a lot of water on the ground, via fog, and the gecko's are up on the plants and twigs anyways. I just wondered if there was a better way to do this so it drained better? Last week I put a layer of rocks under the substrait for drainage but it still only took a week of two before I had to overhaul the tank again. Thanks for any advice!

Hey, I had this exact problem in the testing of my phantasticus tank before I got them. It was constantly getting over saturated because of a waterfall and I kept trying to fix it. Everyone now and then I could place the corkbark that the water was flowing down in such a way that it wouldn't saturate the substrate but it was difficult. I completely took it out because phants are tricky enough, nevermind 3 phants and a tricky waterfall that makes everything soggy. I had mold grow and what not so I just ditched it. How important is the fogger for you and are u positive that is from the fogger? What is your setup like? Screen top? etc. What background humidity do you have in your house?

Mike

I live in Eugene Oregon so it's not super dry here. The 3 gecko's are in a glass 10 gallon tank with a screene top, I usually put a small towel over part of the top to keep the moisture in. I took the fogger out cus I realised that I wasn't using it that much anyway. So when you took your water fall out did that just fix it? I don't see how spraying 3 times a day could fill up a tank in a week, but we'll see. thanks

the substrate is ground up coconut husk roughly 1 and 1/3 in thick with 1 and 1/3 in layer of fish aquarium pebbles under that. Is there a way that I could manage the tank so it didn't need to be manually drained by me? If not, what's the normal frequency of draining that I should shoot for. I could get a new tank if I had to, but I'd rather not.

Hey, yea the problem I had was fixed after I took out the waterfall. I'm in Calgary Alberta Canada and it is very dry here but I have a humidifier going in my room constantly and it gets up to about 65. I keep all my Uroplatus on cocoa fibre/peat moss mixes or just straight cocofibre and they don't get soggy. I find that I actually have to water it down some every 3 weeks or so to help with humidity. Misting in no way should get the soil soggy. If it is then I question how much your misting, how often are you misting and what not. I would assume it's the fogger giving you troubles but until you experiment without it we wont know for sure. Good luck, keep me posted.

Mike

It is true, misting and humidity control go hand and hand. That is to say you should mist just enough to sustain a high humdidty level, w/o drenching your substrate. As for me, I love natural vivaria. I have a great success with my uroplatus. You can see pics on my site, I will have more up later. The best thing to do is lay some aquarium gravel down, cover with a layer of non-corrosive screen, cover with an 3-5 inch layer of all purpose soil, then plant your aquarium plants. On top of this layer cover a 1-3 inch layer of co-co bedding. It looks really well, drain really well, and is completely safe for your uros. I have been doing this set-up for the last 5 years, with no trouble.
Luke
Critter Clues'
www.critterclues.com