Here’s a Lygodactylus terrarium I have set up recently.
It involves:
One exo-terra …iummmm 2607 30x30x45 ~$60
One enclosed exo-terra waterfall PT2905 ~$30
One Repti Glo compact uvb bulb PT2188 ~$12
One light fixture ~$15
At Lowe’s I purchased
One hanging pot of Pilea glauca ~$11
One Hedera helix ~$3
One bag of Sphagnum moss ~$5
One bag of Sheet moss ~$5
I collected the bark and the sticks in the wild. I try to find branches
with plenty of lichen, don’t water it directly or the bark will rot more quickly.
Setting up the terrarium
I placed the waterfall in the corner. With an exoterra waterfall and terrarium
you wanto do this first because you have to move the background out in order to loop the cord of the waterfall so one does
not see it. Once you have the cord in back of the background, which is not all
that much fun I must admit, then you can fill the waterfall basin up. Make sure the pump in the waterfall has it’s suction cups grasping the bottom firmly.
Next I placed Sphagnum moss around the waterfall, with more in the back, so the ground cover slop upwards. Next I cut the Pilea glauca in half. It’s a beautiful
little plant with very small leaves. I cut it in half since the whole plant would
have taken up most of the terrarium. I also placed strands of the ivy, Henera
helix, with a bit of soil, in the corners and some strands in the back near the waterfall.
I then covered the ivy with a bit of soil and the Pilea as well. Next
I covered wherever I felt with more Sphagnum moss, sloping again upwwards towards
the back. Last, as far as the ground cover, I placed sheet moss, which gives
off a brilliant green, to cover up any soil or sphagnum moss showing.
Next I placed branches where appropriate. With one I drill in a few holes
and hung it from suction cups on the two sides. It’s important that the
geckos I am putting inside, Lygodactylus williamsi, can thermoregulate themselves, so I wanted a branch that allowed them
to get extremely close to the top in the center.
Lastly
I cut a piece of aluminium tinfoil so that it would cover the domed light fixture I planned on placing on top. This is not as easy as it sounds and it may take a while. You
put your exo-terra uvb bulb in the light fixture and then place it on top of the tank.
I bought an extra heavy duty light fixture, since I know that for the extra $7 bucks they will last a lot longer. With light fixtures, it’s always better to spend a bit more on the ones that
can take the heat. The cheaper ones will eventually burn out from the heat. In any event, I then placed the piece of tinfoil around the domed light and bent it
into shape where I could, and then taped it where I had to. The idea was to more
or less completely seal the top, since I had no idea how hot the exo-terra light would be.
I wanted to use it as a source of heat as well as uvb light.
A
s it turns out, I didn’t need to seal it completely. Moving the thermometer around I found that the hottest spot in the terrrarium is well
over 100F/38C. That’s way too hot for Lygodactylus. The bottom of the terrarium is ~70F/21C in the morning when I turn on the light, and ~71.5F/22C when the
terrarium heats up. The way I look at it,
they should know what temperature they want to be and the 100F zone is no problem.
One last thing I would like is a piece of bamboo. Bamboo grows wild in
Virginia
Beach and you can always find people throwing it out because it grows so thick in some backyards. Unfortunately, when I moved here to Illinois
[Thanksgiving, 2009] I could only take what
I could fit into my car. Therefore I had to leave all my fish, turtles,
frogs, chameleons and more than one bonsai with a friend. Wish I had brought
some of the bamboo I had cut to fit cages since Lygodactylus love to hide inside of the hollow interiors. I know Phelsumala like to lay their eggs inside of them as well.
Have yet to breed Lygodactylus yet, but hopefull will have some hatchlings by the end of 2010.
Hope you find as much delight with your terrariums as I do mine.
