New styro set up for 10 gallon tank...

[SW Dave]

Hello all... I'm new to the forums... Had my geckos for about 2-3 months now and enjoying the hell out of them!!!

After researching for a few weeks I decided I wanted a little more lifelike setup for my little buddies....

So first here's the old setup :main_thumbsdown:

 

[SW Dave]

And I just started about an hour ago on this bad boy :main_thumbsup:

A little walkway with steps...

Back wall...

 

[SW Dave]

New hide...

And I've placed a removable hide on the water bowl for a humid hide almost... I don't really keep that much water in there normally...

 

[SW Dave]

I plan on swapping out the black sand to a more natural looking sand and possibly throwing in a few plants also...

I'll keep snapping pics until it's done... I'm hoping to put on the first layer of grout before a softball game tonight!

 

[MiamiLeos]

Cool plan! I love the Gary (I'm a huge SB fan lol) but toss the sand man, switch to repticarpet or tile or just paper towel. Your custom plan looks pretty awesome but coming from someone who has taken the custom route before, I have a few pointers... Make the big hide removeable, otherwise, how will you clean in there or get the gecko out if he's in there? Also, the walk way is a little high and narrow, he could easily fall and injure himself, try to put some little pieces on the edge that can look like rocks but act like a railing, it doesnt have to be a solid wall, but i wouldnt leave more than an inch of space between rocks. Lastly, I feel the water bowl hide could be a bit dangerous. There is always a chance the leo would not find t way out and eventually drown. Theres also a chance he wont be able to reach the water. Just a few things I'd do if it were mine but its up to you. Overall nice work! Cute leo too

 

[SW Dave]

Thanks for the advice on the walkway I'll look into it... It's only about 4" high and it will be even less once the sand is in... I'm def sticking with sand because I hate the look of the carpet. I've researched the crap out of both and sand is what I'm going with...

And with regards to the water/humid hide I don't keep enough water in the bowl ever for them to drown... It's barely enough for a cricket to drown in But I will prob widen the entrance to make it easier for them to get in and out...

As far as the big hide being removable I might look into that but my idea is to make the whole thing come out in once piece easily and I've measured and fit it several times...

 

[NinjaDuo]

Why exactly are you using sand? Honestly paper towels or tile is sooooooo much easier to use. And if you're going for more of a natural look they make really awesome tiles with varying textures and color. Its extremely cheap, and a lot better for the geck. I don't mean to rant, just stating my opinion strictly from experience.

 

[MiamiLeos]

Okies, well have fun getting that out with a bunch of sand on top of it

 

[BrilliantEraser]

As far as the big hide being removable I might look into that but my idea is to make the whole thing come out in once piece easily

Yes, yes all good. But the thing is, it would be a LOT easier to make the hide removable if you need to access your gecko. You know, instead of having to remove the *entire* Styrofoam set-up every time you need to take out your gecko.

 

[SW Dave]

The bottom piece of styro isn't going to be there... I didn't mention that; it's just there to keep things level... So the sand will be on the bottom of the glass...

 

[Tony C]

Let's keep the sand debate in the appropriate threads and not clutter up this build log.

 

[MiamiLeos]

The bottom piece of styro isn't going to be there... I didn't mention that; it's just there to keep things level... So the sand will be on the bottom of the glass...

Oh that makes SO much more sense now lolol

 

[NinjaDuo]

Let's keep the sand debate in the appropriate threads and not clutter up this build log.

Im not trying to debate. Just offering advice on how to make the "build" easier and easy on the eyes is all. Sorry :/

 

[91eflx]

just curious but how many geckos do you have in that 10 gallon tank?

 

[Alex G]

Woah!!! That's REALLY cool looking! Custom-built enclosures are always so much cooler-looking than store-bought. One time I saw an enclosure on craigslist that combined something like four tanks into a huge Repti-partment Also even if sand is a debatable choice of substrate among leo keepers, I think the black sand would LOOK really neat, from a purely aesthetic point of view! What color are you going to paint the styrofoam (if at all)?

 

[MiamiLeos]

just curious but how many geckos do you have in that 10 gallon tank?

I believe there are two

 

[prettyinpink]

Good luck I'll be checking for the finished product

 

[SW Dave]

Oh that makes SO much more sense now lolol

I figured lol... I didn't even think to say that it wasn't going to be attached to the bottom styro :main_rolleyes:

just curious but how many geckos do you have in that 10 gallon tank?

Right now I have four 3-4 month old geckos in there right now... Within 2 weeks 2 of them are going to my wife's 20 gallon tank in her classroom... I do have a 30 gallon tank as a spare that eventually when they get bigger I'll put the two that will be left in the 10 gallon in there.

Woah!!! That's REALLY cool looking! Custom-built enclosures are always so much cooler-looking than store-bought. One time I saw an enclosure on craigslist that combined something like four tanks into a huge Repti-partment Also even if sand is a debatable choice of substrate among leo keepers, I think the black sand would LOOK really neat, from a purely aesthetic point of view! What color are you going to paint the styrofoam (if at all)?

Thanks I'm super excited about it being done... I did piss off the wife a little bit... My $10 promise turned into $40 But I have enough to do her tank now

As for the grout I purchased a light gray colored non-sanded grout that has a really nice color to it. I also purchased some acrylic paint to vary up the color. I have a few shades of gray, some whites and black. I'll prob pick up some browns as well and experiment with the color on some extra styro... I might keep the black sand depending on how it looks with the final product but it needs to be replaced in about a month prob so that's whay I was thinking about the color change...

Good luck I'll be checking for the finished product

Thanks... I put the first coat on very watery and did a second coat before bed a little thicker... I'm going to try to put another 1-2 coats on it tonight after work if I'm still upright... I'll at least try to snap some pics for everybody...