Beginning leo addiction with limited space!

[sushikam]

I was just looking back at some posts from last year (searching for something specific, but got distracted ) and noticed a post from november "new leo owners....BEWARE". For those who don't remember it or never saw it, it was just saying how one leo leads you to more leos and then breeding, then new camera, then more more more !

Well I found this to be true! I got my first leo back in August and thought it would be my only one. Well a month later I got my second. Now that I got them settled in their tanks, I want another! (The fiancee is saying that I can't, but he can't stop me :main_evilgrin: ). Anyway, I have a point here. I live in an apartment as I am in college right now. It is only about 1000 sq. ft., two bedrooms. Well as of right now I have the leos in the bedroom, on the dresser. If I get another, I won't have anywhere to put her!! Do any of you guys live in an apartment and have a leo addiction?? What do you do about space for the leos? Any ideas you could give me on making more space for the tanks, maybe a rack like thing that I could maybe build for cheap to hold their tanks? As of now I'm sticking to the fancy tanks, though I'm sure in a few years I'll be building my own rack with many leos in it :main_yes: !

 

[mmsi1002]

I'm glad you saw my "beware" post. All i can say about lots of leos in limited space is..............welcome o the world of rack systems!!!!!

 

[yellermelon]

You said your sticking with the fancy tanks. Well they sell the shoe boxes (for racks) that are clear..see through. Not the milkey white. That way you can still see the geckos. I suggest you get some melimine and some heat tape...and some shoe boxes. Rack systems are really the only good way I know to keep multiple geckos in a small area.

 

[Ccrashca069]

I went to WalMart or was it Target and bought a metal rack. Its a 5 tier adjustable shelves but you can only fit 4 20L tanks with a dome light. Its like 32 inches long and about 72 inches Heigh. It cost about $55.00

 

[sushikam]

You said your sticking with the fancy tanks. Well they sell the shoe boxes (for racks) that are clear..see through. Not the milkey white. That way you can still see the geckos. I suggest you get some melimine and some heat tape...and some shoe boxes. Rack systems are really the only good way I know to keep multiple geckos in a small area.

Where can you get those shoe boxes? I may not do a rack system like this just yet, but it would be good for future reference for when I do get more than say 4 geckos. And what is melimine? I've never heard of it.

 

[sushikam]

I went to WalMart or was it Target and bought a metal rack. Its a 5 tier adjustable shelves but you can only fit 4 20L tanks with a dome light. Its like 32 inches long and about 72 inches Heigh. It cost about $55.00

I like the idea of this for now, since I only have two geckos right now, and am going to try not to get more than about 4 until after college, and the CPA exam....why did I choose this profession ??

 

[malt_geckos]

Matt and I are moving into an apartment or smaller condo next fall or maybe the spring of '09. We have a homemade rack system and we are thinking about getting a vision system that holds 72 hatchlings. It can be done in an apartment, the racks are the way to go. But if you can keep it down to 4 geckos (good luck ) then the tanks should be just fine.

 

[yellermelon]

Ive seen the clear tubs at Big Lots (I dont think they always have them) Staples..I also liked Marcia's I forgot the brand she has though.
Melemine is a type of wood with a plastic coating on it. Most cabnets, and "furniture" from say wal mart are melimine. You can get it at home depot.

 

[Ccrashca069]

Target, Walmart, Big Lots always have those 16 quart containers from $2-8. My wire shelf works pretty good for me. With my income tax return, I found a nice rack system I am buying for like $250.

 

[sushikam]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I will do some more researching to see what I should do that would work best for my lack of space.

I have another question though, unrelated to rack systems and whatnot. What kind of scale do you guys use to weigh your geckos? Where did you get it and how much did you get it for? I currenlty don't have a scale, have thought of buying one, but all the ones I can find are too expensive for me right now or they are just too small. Thanks again!

 

[Ccrashca069]

I just bought a digital scale. It weighs grams and pounds with a 5 lb limit. I got it at Stapples for $36.99 or something like that.

 

[gothra]

I live in an apartment that is 1100 sq.ft. with my husband, and I have leo addiction too! I currently have 9 leos and they each have their own glass tank. Space is very limited, so I sacrificed our living space, knocked down 1 room plus a bathroom (and set back my bedroom's wall...) and voila: I have managed to squeeze out a long and narrow space to put my leo tanks!

My gecko room :main_thumbsup: :

The other side of the room:

I keep the girls seperate, so they share the study with me:

Good news is, after I moved the girls to the study, I now have 3 spaces left for more future addition!! Yeah!!

 

[Baysidegeckos]

I have a 1 bedroom/ 1 bath and its 700 sq. ft. and i have about 34 breeding leos and have enough room for all their babies, here is my setup!
O yea and a minnie fridge to keep the mealworms stored in! LOL

But my breeding amout of 34 will double by the end of this year to probably 60 leos, and will probably have to move soon just bc of the space i need for my leos!

 

[sushikam]

Wow Bonnie and Bret!

Bonnie, you definitely have a cool gecko room! I'm so jealous!! I would never be able to afford to do that, much less do it period because i am renting, but that is an amazing setup you have there for all your geckos.

And Bret! That's a lot of geckos in such a small space, wow!! I'll take one to give you some more room . No really, I will, haha. But I really like that rack system, it is very nice looking!!

 

[acpart]

two approaches: if you don't want to go with a rack system, you can get relatively inexpensive front opening cages (www.glasscages.com) which are half the height of a regular cage. Then you can either stack them or put them in a much smaller shelf unit (there's a picture here: http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=727&page=2&highlight=upstairs, post #54, the last picture). You can fit quite a lot if you have enough wall space. It seems to be most economical in terms of space to put cages on shelves against the wall rather than on table type surfaces.

Another, complementary approach: try to strike a balance between desire for geckos and available living space. We all joke about addictions and someone in another thread made a very good point about how that can be unhealthy for us and our geckos (I don't mean at all to imply that you are addicted or unhealthy about this in any way). I feel that sometimes having huge numbers of geckos can dilute our relationship with each one and make us overworked and tired to the point where we can't enjoy our hobby. I am limited to what I can fit in the living room (and a bit of the dining room) so I have to think carefully each time I purchase or hold back a gecko. That said, I've been able to make room for 12 adult leos, 5 geckos of other species and a bearded dragon as well as cage space for about 25 hatchlings when they come. Before I purchase a gecko (I've bought 4 in the past two years and held back 4) I figure out where it's going to go and how it will fit into my breeding program. It's hard to resist sometimes, but I try to get the same enjoyment from talking about reptiles, dreaming about future hatchlings and scouring ebay for cheap and interesting supplies.
I hope this ramble was somewhat helpful.

Aliza

 

[sushikam]

I understand what you mean about not getting too many geckos to the point where you don't have enough time to devote to each one. I agree with that point and that's why I realized I can't have many more than 4 while in college because of stress at school and then trying to work at the same time. I am at the moment able to easily devote time to my two that I have and think that a third right now wouldn't be so difficult to handle, but I am going to give myself more time before purchasing another because I want to make sure I have a place to put his/her tank and make sure I can get all the supplies at a decent price. I have become an eBay fanatic now for gecko supplies, sometimes it is so much cheaper that way. And my big thing that I have to look and research for is of course the gecko itself. I am going to try and find the one I am looking for, but at a decent price. So if anyone has a mack snow, or snow of some sort (sorry, I'm not so good with morphs), or a bold stripe at a decent price, or even one that can only be a pet...I'm looking :main_yes: !

But anyway, thank you for your help!

 

[GeckoConnection]

tubs

Where can you get those shoe boxes? I may not do a rack system like this just yet, but it would be good for future reference for when I do get more than say 4 geckos. And what is melimine? I've never heard of it.

I bought my clear tubs at Wal-Mart. The shoe box size are 99 cents each. Melamine I got from Home Depot for I think $27 a sheet. One sheet makes a 4' high x 2' wide x 18" deep rack which holds 18 tubs. Melamine is basically wood with a white (or sometimes black) plastic coating on it.

 

[rubym]

Our bedroom has pretty much been taken over by the lizards!!! We turned our book case into a tank stand. It holds 4 10 gal tanks and 2- 20 gal longs. My husband also made a vivarium type cage out of an old chest of drawers and on top of that we have a 29 gal.He also cut a hole in our walk -in-closet wall and put a 55 gal there. He framed it out so it looks like a big picture from our bedroom. He is now working on my rack system for my hatchlings. We took some unused shelves out of our master bathroom and the hatchling rack is going to go in there. My son is moving out in May to go to college and then he will more then likely get married to his fiance so I get to turn his bedroom into a reptile room!!!!! My husband is quite good at coming up with ways to make space for our babies.
As for scale. I bought a digital scale at Wal-mart. It was 26.99 and it weighs in grams and pounds up to 5 pounds.

 

[sushikam]

Our bedroom has pretty much been taken over by the lizards!!! We turned our book case into a tank stand. It holds 4 10 gal tanks and 2- 20 gal longs. My husband also made a vivarium type cage out of an old chest of drawers and on top of that we have a 29 gal.He also cut a hole in our walk -in-closet wall and put a 55 gal there. He framed it out so it looks like a big picture from our bedroom. He is now working on my rack system for my hatchlings. We took some unused shelves out of our master bathroom and the hatchling rack is going to go in there. My son is moving out in May to go to college and then he will more then likely get married to his fiance so I get to turn his bedroom into a reptile room!!!!! My husband is quite good at coming up with ways to make space for our babies.

Wow! I would love to see pics of your room...it sounds awesome! My fiancee would never allow such a thing, haha...but when we buy a house we are going to have to just go ahead and make sure it has an extra bedroom so I can make it into my leo room!! I bet you can't wait for your son to move out ! Does he know what you are planning for his room?? haha...