Large leopard gecko terrarium

[LNK89]

Hello all,

I have 2 female leopard geckos in a 20 gallon long tank. For the past 2 months or so they havent really been eating. They just seem to always want out of the tank, so I'm thinking of getting them a new one.

I found a big 120 gallon tank(48"L 24"W 24"H) for really cheap at my local fish store, so I want to make that into a huge terrarium for them. I want to try and do a naturalistic tank for them. I have been researching their natural habitat and found: They live in rocky areas, with hard compacted dirt/sand/clay substrate, its very hot and dry, there are small patches of plants/grass, and they burrow. Now my question is how to I mimic that?

What I have thought of so far is making a fake rock background/sides they can climb on with hides through out. Maybe make it out of styrofoam or great stuff.
For the substrate im not really sure what to do. I would like to add a few desert plants if thats possible. I read that doing a mix of sand and soil would be good for them, maybe with tile on top ? I also had the idea to make the bottom out of great stuff or styrofoam or something like that and make burrows out of PVC pipe for them, but im not sure if that would work well with UTH.

Well thats all I have so far. Any ideas comments ?

 

[thegeckoguy23]

ummmm i would give them a smaller terrarium because they might feel scared and how are they gonna find the food and they do live in the desert but they fins a place with a ton of racks and hide under them all day and come out ontop of the rocks and hunt during the night so you can use paper towel witch i highly recommend tile witch is very good stuff like that just remember no loose substrates i hope this helps

 

[MichaelJ]

Two leos in a 20-gallon should be enough room. However, if you want to provide them with a bigger space, I would go for it.

Things to consider:
Substrate should be tile, paper, or repti-carpet. Sand is not recommended.
They may not be eating in recent months because of the colder weather.

Provide mealworms in a dish, consistently located in the enclosure so they can find it easily.

Natural-style habitat sounds great - just be sure you provide at least two warm hides and two moist hides, two water dishes, and two feeder dishes.

Be sure the UTH is large enough to accommodate the larger tank. (Or use multiple UTH side-by-side for the same effect).

Hope that helps!

 

[roger]

If the enclosure is too big that will stress them out.They need to have some "walls" surrounding them.If the enclosure is too big they will never find their food.

 

[David Evans Reptiles]

I am going to go with Michael on this, they will be able to find there food providing you offer it in two places and never move the dish location. As long as the heat and hides are good I think your geckos will be happy and stress free. Wild geckos find there food just fine and I think your geckos will do the same. Good luck and post some pictures once you have completed.

 

[roger]

I am going to go with Michael on this, they will be able to find there food providing you offer it in two places and never move the dish location. As long as the heat and hides are good I think your geckos will be happy and stress free. Wild geckos find there food just fine and I think your geckos will do the same. Good luck and post some pictures once you have completed.

Sorry didnt read that u were using a mealworm dish .Yeah i agree They should be fine.i thought u were feeding crickets.