Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my Ball for 7 years and have been pretty basic with his enclosure (newspaper substrate, large dog bowl for water and shoebox for hidebox, a couple sticks for climbing...which he does little of).
I just recently "refurbished" my Giant Day Gecko's 20 gallon rainforest enclosure and 3 leopard geckos 10 gallon desert(I'm actually keeping one seperate as it was hogging all the food) and they've turned out beautifully, and very visually appealing. I've been toying with the idea of making a more natural vivarium for my Ball but I'm not sure what would be the best to use, etc. I read that Ball's would typically be kept in a more "desert" oriented tank but I would think they'd do fine (and look better) in a rainforest vivarium. Just wondering if anyone had any tips, ideas as far as substrates, plants, etc. It will be in a 30 gallon (long) tank.

Thanks!

I have one large show tank that I have rock wall on the back, reptibark thick log many hides fake plants vines and a resin rock like waterdish. It's fairly natural looking and it's in our living room so we like to keep it nice but there are a lot of drawbacks to this set up. The general maintenance on the tank is much more than on a simple set up, the daily maintenance is much more than you'd think. The water dish needs to be taken out and scrubed every day and the plants and vines need to be rearranged/hung every day. Even the thermostat has to be rehung every morning. Fluffy (the current inhabitant) is only 1000 grams and flattens/knocks over everything in her path - I'd hate to see what she would do at a 3000 grams with "live" more expensive set up. Personally I wouldn't go all out with a larger animal - the vivarium set ups are great for frogs and small lizards but the less graceful creatures will make it a maintenance nightmare.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

I agree with Tosha. I too keep a display tank in my living room and I had to move away from the live plants and the idea that it is going to be "piture perfect". You might want to go with Reptibark and large logs or hallow bark, but I would stay away from the more delicate decorations.

Alan

I understand what you mean, but on the other hand, I have used rocks alot in my other setups, mainly medium sized colorado river rocks (black in the rainforest setup and red in the desert one). I'd been thinking about using mostly rocks and logs with the rocks being larger, sturdier ones than what I've previously used. Probably dirt flooring with moss and rocks and arranging logs accordingly, possibly sturdier plants (those with trunks/bark, that could double for shedding purposes). Just kinda going for something with more visual flair than newspaper and shoeboxes, and not "tacky".

I would get the dirt and trees and stuff from a greenhouse. I had a frog tank that I was "All Natural" and you don't know what your introducing from the outdoors..either to your pet or your home when you bring dirt and bark and things from outside.

Alan

Yeah, I already have two other vivariums. I'm pretty accomplished with the natural vivaria, although I have brought two sticks from outside into my current python enclosure, I made sure to santize them as best as I could before introducing them into the tank. It's worked out well.

I have bought all my plants and other terrarium decorations at local nurseries with the exception of a cork bark log in my Day Gecko tank I bought from a large local pet shop.

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I may work on it as soon as I can, I'll try to post pictures if I can get our digital camera working.