I seem to have solved my mite problem and am pondering the layout of a new enclosure for my gator Katrina (I found her the day the hurricane blew my home town away so I thought it was fitting 
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At the moment, she is in a small 6 gallon terrarium and I have some wooden branches in there. When I put crickets in they sometimes climb up the branches. Katrina will come out and look up at them ponderously but will not climb up to get them. In fact I've never seen her climb at all.
I'm looking at various enclosures and had been thinking about getting a tall one so I could build a few levels so ensure she gets exercise and has some variety but I'm concerned about wasting money on that if she is not inclined to climb around. So I'm now thinking about getting a short cage with lots of area instead but was wondering if anyone has a hunch as to whether she might get into climbing if the terrains was varied enough as in having hiding places on different levels that she might like, or if she just doesnt find the petstore branches worth dealing with. Perhaps they prefer thin vine like stuff to climb on? In any case I want to build her a place with variety and room ... any thoughts?
I'm also considering building a living vivarium and would like to know if that present serious problems from a cleaning and pest control perspective. Obviously with real dirt and plants in there it would be more prone to bacterial growth but if I use african violet soil (sterile) and dont import any wild plants but grow from seeds might it work out?
Robert
). So, I just keep my als on repti-bark and use inanimate objects to decorate their tank. Most plants you buy would work fine, just rinse off the leaves first in case they have pesticide residue on them. You'd also want to look for info on formulating appropriate vivarium soils as regular potting mixes don't work well and info on designing a good drainage system.