Crested Gecko Terrarium

[OliveHaze]

Has anyone set up a live terrarium for their geckos?
I'd love to put mine in a terrarium with some bird's nest ferns and other plants native to the crested geckos' original habitat. I would like to house 3 geckos.

How large does the terrarium need to be to sustain healthy plant and gecko life?
Do you have experience with certain plants, substrates or non-living decorations?
Has anyone used the miniature waterfalls in a gecko terrarium? What was your experience with it?

Also any stories/advice/tips for raising pet crested geckos is welcome

Thanks all, Olive

 

[stolenheron]

I can speak for plant care within a live terrarium setup, but not specifically for cresties.

you need to balance soil depth, the substrate itself, the types of plants, their needs, proper spacing between plants, etc.

I have made dozens of live plant setups in my cages over the years, nothing extravagant, but still beautiful and simple (all cages were 55gallons or smaller).

The soil I am currently running in my bearded cham terrarium is peat moss, vermiculite, and some cocofiber. The peat moss is perfect for humidity, the cocofiber helps give the soil some more substance/filler of a different kind and the vermiculite is great for the bottom layer to allow the roots to easily suck up water once the roots are set in and growing. just go dig a hole in your yard and look how the soil is stratified, you'll see their are different layers of different types of dirt, just try and mimic that

I have used ferns, hibiscus, ficus, mini palms, orchids, bromeliads, etc etc if its tropical. i've used aloe and non-spiny desert plants for dry setups (tarantulas, etc).

Just make sure to keep the soil wet, but not too wet. You don't want fungus or molds to grow. Also clean up ANY and ALL fallen dead leaves, that can also gunk things up. Adding some earthworms can help the soil stay clean.

this may be of no help to you, but it might. I figured I'd try.

 

[OliveHaze]

What kind of earthworms?
I've tried to keep different times of worms alive to feed my toads, but they seem to die in any temps 70 and up. Have you had success with keeping the worms alive? If so, how did you do it?

I read today that the birds nest ferns prefer less room for their roots because they grow in trees, but they need more moisture than typical plants. I'm thinking of keeping it in a small pot. Do you keep your plants in pots or plant them straight into the substrate? If you have used pots are there certain types that work better than others?

Thanks

 

[stolenheron]

I plant mine straight into the substrate if they are a terrestrial plant species.

if I'm using airplants I'm generally gonna wedge them into a knot or split into driftwood so that may work for the bird nest ferns.

well I am from florida and go to school in Alabama so I generally just go outside and dig them up or when there is a heavy rain I will just go scoop them up off of sidewalks. even though they can tolerate higher temps, they generally still die after a while in the soil. I just add more every few weeks, they serve their purpose for a little while and then that's that. sowbugs, earwigs, and a few other bug species also help with cleaning, hwoever I dont know if any of them are dangerous for cresties. I know my chams didnt eat them so I didnt have an issue.

 

[OliveHaze]

I don't know about the bug thing. I wouldnt risk letting him eat some wild insect.

 

[AJaxx91]

As far as the Waterfall goes, it looks great, sounds great, but can be alittle of an annoyance to maintain it... I have one in one of my cages, it really makes the cage what it is.