What do you think guys?

[reflex21089]

Marcia...what type of substrate are you using it looks great!

 

[ragnew]

HOLY COW!

Dang Marcia, those tanks are GREAT! You have yourself a very, very impressive Leopard Gecko housing unit indeed!

Now that's the stuff I'm looking to do with my own, thanks for sharing that there picture...

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Uh Oh....

Marcia...what type of substrate are you using it looks great!

I am reluctant to answer this question because I do NOT want this thread to turn into a substrate war! Please??? My vivariums are set up with about a 2" layer of large, acrylic coated aquarium rocks (not pea gravel) covered with large grade orchid bark.... all of which are a size that cannot be easily ingested. The upside of using this substrate is that the rocks at the bottom of the tank provide excellent thermal-conductivity and drainage, and I have few shed problems because the bark tends to keep things a little less dry. The downside is that crickets can hide in it easily, and it needs to be completely changed out every 3 months to prevent bacteria build up. Only my full-grown, adult breeders are kept in these tanks... all babies and juveniles are housed in Animal Plastics racks.

 

[reflex21089]

reguardless it looks very nice, and if it works for you then why not use it? very beautiful vivariums

 

[ragnew]

I agree with that statement completely... For the first nine years of keeping my Leopard Geckos, the only substrate I ever used was sand, a mixture of Calci-Sand and Reptisand, and never had an ill-effect...

If I still had the room, my animals would probably be on sand to this day (EXCEPT for my babies and juvs).

 

[Gregg M]

I say you cant go wrong with a good, well built rack system..... I say glass aquariums are Not good for anything but fish...... But that is just my opinion......

Now for my thoughts on sand....... LOL..... I personaly would not want to take the chance...... It is true that some people use it without any problems but it is also just as true that people have lost leos due to sand impaction..... I know all of the theories that if they are properly suplimented with calcium they will not resort to eating substrate but leos also like to "taste" their surrounding often...... A few lickes on the ground may not cause a problem but those licks add up especialy if the leo is not passing it all...... It is just not worth the risk to me....... Plus all the harmful nasties that find their way deep into the sand is enough to keep me from ever using it as a ground cover....... When it comes to my reptiles I choose good health over a "cool" looking cage any day.....

 

[LadyGecko]

I thought that I had already replied to this post but I see that I somehow managed to miss doing so-LOL!!
Marcia- I just LOVE that unit -I have had my eyes open for a large deep bookshelf or entertainment center that i could do a similar thing with.
I have never worked with the heat tape/dimers etc. Are they hard to put together so that they operate safely?
Greg-just out of curiosity- just what is it that you do not like about glass aquariums?
My main complaint is the weight of them but aside from that and since I can usually pick them up used at a next to nothing cost and since I had alot of them from my mega-fish keeping days I find that they work quite well for all of my reptiles except for the Iguana-who long ago outgrew his 60 gal. tank-LIL
Sandy
My Baby Spike