Need help setting up housing...

[thecast]

Hello. I am new to the forum and i joined mostly for help and information. This is my first time owning a leopard gecko and i honestly dont know much about them...

My leo, Zena, is 4 years old and i am reallying "watching" her for a friend. My best friend is in college and his mother is selling their house so he asked me to watch her a few months ago since he knows i am an animal lover and will take good care of her until he has the time for her again. He comes over to bring her crickets and helps with whatever she needs so basically she is still his gecko, but just living in my bedroom, lolz.

Well the more i look at her tank the more i want to make a better set up for her. I dant have a lot of money. I basically work to support my animal-family (1 dog, 6 cats, 37 rats, 7 mice, 1 hampster, 1 rabbit, 2 snakes, 1 fish and the leopard gecko) I know, a lot! lolz.

Anyway... right now she is in a 20g long tank. He uses the reptile aspen bedding. She has a humidity box, undertank heating pad, heating light and uvb bulb. The only hidey spot is the humidity house...

Can anyone help me with ideas of how to set up a nice home for her?
I was looking at pics and i think i want to change to carpet or tile... what are the pros and cons of both? I am also interested in maybe making or getting sore sort of rock wall or something for the back and/or sides of her tank...

I would really like guidence if anyone is willing to help!

 

[snakegirl]

i would really change out the Aspen, since no one using this due to its small little bits of bark and leopard gecko lick around there cage, and the last thing you need is a gecko swallowing wood chips so get the Aspen out of there ASAP, replace it with Paper towel,tile,carpet, anything but Sand..you want something 100% solid, not little single bits of something as a bedding. paper towel,tile,carpet are all great just matters what you wanna look at and spend, you could even make a background there fun to do or buy one, paper background are cheapest you can even get them at a petshop near the fish tanks, or a 3D background there a bit spendie, but there are many to pick from like bark,foam caves,a jungle theme, you can go on online reptile supplies sites to look at them

 

[thecast]

i would really change out the Aspen, since no one using this due to its small little bits of bark and leopard gecko lick around there cage, and the last thing you need is a gecko swallowing wood chips so get the Aspen out of there ASAP, replace it with Paper towel,tile,carpet, anything but Sand..you want something 100% solid, not little single bits of something as a bedding. paper towel,tile,carpet are all great just matters what you wanna look at and spend, you could even make a background there fun to do or buy one, paper background are cheapest you can even get them at a petshop near the fish tanks, or a 3D background there a bit spendie, but there are many to pick from like bark,foam caves,a jungle theme, you can go on online reptile supplies sites to look at them

Is it better to use tile or carpeting?? does the tile stay warm? is carpeting easy to clean? How often would you need new carpeting??

First and formost i want to acomidate the gecko so she will be healty and happy, and secondly i want a really cool looking tank i can be proud of.

 

[snakegirl]

title is good, but i dont use it due to its a pain in the butt to take out,pick up,wash out,dry off,put back...... I use reptile carpet for my bearded dragon and have about 4 of them. so whenever it gets too dirty i just toss it in to the washer and dryer and put it back, for my leopard geckos i use paper towel.

 

[thecast]

where can i find the carpeting? Do they have it at places like ********?

 

[Shera]

where can i find the carpeting? Do they have it at places like ********?

Yup, pet smart carries it. I use paper towel and love it. Definitely get a hide for the warm and for the cool side.

 

[thecast]

I'll start using the pape towels today but I think I'd like to get some of the carpet in the future. I'd really like to have a visually appealing cage.