Naturalistic Leo Enclosures

[Olimpia]

I just redocated my crestie enclosure and it looks beautiful, if I do say so myself. I went all out - moss, branches, all real plants, and river rocks. So now I've been looking for inspiration to redo my leos' enclosures and I'm having a hard time finding very many naturalistic enclosure photos.

So, if anyone wants to help (and show off their own tank) you're welcome to post a photo on here. Or link me to a site where you might have seen a good looking enclosure. Or simply posting some ideas, that would also be great. I would really appreaciate it

 

[Olimpia]

Well, I ended up just going out to see what I could find as far as interesting reptile decor and fish caves and just see how I could put it together. I am looking to add some finishing touches (a plant or two, or something else to climb on) but over all I am very pleased with how they two tanks and coming along. They're a far cry from the 10 gallon tanks they were in with only their cave and a water bowl.

I know my geckos are really loving the change, since they haven't stopped exploring and climbing. And I know someone is going to point out that it looks too humid in there but it's really fine - the ecoearth comes out a little humid from the container I have it in, but within an hour or two the humidity in the tanks hovers around 50-60%, and that's fine. Plus, I have one gecko that just doesn't shed well in lower humidity and needs it to be a little higher than normal to shed his fingers properly.

 

[Kay26]

those tanks look really good, the geckos seem happy. Good job, it makes me want to change my tanks.

 

[Olimpia]

Thank you! I think an environment change is good for them, it probably keeps life interesting for them

 

[Olimpia]

I added a few more things to the tanks, like a silk plant to hide the electric thermometer cable running up the wall of the tank and a cute background. I love it, personally, and I think my geckos are pretty happy with it too. I personally love the tropics (the fact I live in Florida might give that away ^^) so I'm much happier looking at enclosures that have that "green" feel to it. In contrast to my roommate's bearded dragon set-up that's all dry and stone-colored, I prefer mine lol.

Tank #2 -

Tank#1 -

 

[Wind Dancer]

where'd you get the rock hide in the last picture? i love it!
i'm trying to figure out a more natural looking alternative for larger geckos at the moment too, i posted on geckos unlimited if you're interested

 

[Olimpia]

Everything there I basically got it at Pets Mart, either in the reptile section or in the fish one. The rock cave is from the reptile side I think it comes in that grayish color and in a sandy color, but I could be wrong.

Wow, I saw the photo that guy posted - it's amazing! Puts my tanks to shame! I really wish I could do something like that for my leos, because I have something similar to that for my cresties, but for several reasons I had to limit how "immobile" the set-up was. Because that kind of vivarium is hard to clean, and you're not going to pull it apart to clean. And because my geckos breed, I had to leave space to put an ugly lay box when my females get close to laying eggs.

Succulents are fine, as far as I've seen. There are a lot (like the one I have in the right corner of the second picture) that are cheap ($2-3.99 at HomeDepot) and harmless. And they usually look better than the fake ones. Although Pier 1 has a set of 3 fake succulents that I think look great for being fake. They're $8 and you can just break off the little pot and stick them anywhere. And from everything I've read, ecoearth is the best substrate you can use. Babies can eat it without problem, so it doesn't matter how old your leos are to use it.

 

[Krow]

Wow, nice tank!!:main_thumbsup: I would hire you to do my tank, its not that great, but ok...I guess. Heres some pics of my tank, our pet stores around here arent that wonderful, I only wish I had a set up like yours.

 

[Olimpia]

Thank you! ^^ If your pet stores aren't that well stocked you could always look online at the online pets mart and pet co, I'm sure you could find most of what you see in my tanks. Yours isn't ugly by any means but if you wanted to make it a little more "organic" you could just get some ecoearth (you can get packs of 3 bricks for $11 I think at pet co, and that will last you forever), some pebbles, moss (they sell bags of it at Home depot for a few bucks), and some thicker branches from outside - and for very little money you could play around with those materials and see what you get ^^ You really can't go wrong, it's just up to your preferences as far as how easilly you want to be able to clean everything, or whatever you like visually.


edit - Oh! and the background lol You can get one for a couple dollars and they really do a lot to finish off the tank. Personally I think it makes it look more "full" without actually spending all the money and using up space to fill it with stuff.

 

[Chibii]

Looks good you designed your thank very well.

 

[Olimpia]

Thanks!