Leopard Gecko Build (part 4)

After reviewing my third post on the leo build, I realize I never got around to talking tech about the methods and materials used for the foam rock cave.

Therefore, as promised, methods and material review for my rock cave!

Materials
My best advice here is to keep searching until you have exactly what you want.  I spent weeks trying to find Modge-Podge, finally settling for Liquitex, a similar product.  Ironically, I later found Modge-Podge at Wall-mart for half the price.  Now, I have to say, however, that the Liquitex seems to have worked really well.  It was the least toxic substance I could find, it was the right finish, and it is resistant to moisture.

For the paint, all I did was dig through some old (really old) arts and crafts boxes in the basement and found a decent pallet of naturalistic rock colours.  I based my pallet choice on some of the rocks I've collected to use in future tanks; rocks found along the shoreline, in fields, etc.  Rocks are one of the few things I prefer to find outside than actually buy. They aren't porous (obviously) so they're easy to disinfect and use.  Sorry, side-bar.  This is one of the parts of the build that might require a bit of an artistic background.  I've been taught colour selection and identification since I was young, so it's all fairly second nature to me.  Luckily for everyone, the rules of art are somewhat flexible.  And by that, of course, I mean it's all up to you.  It all comes down to what you're able to achieve.  Choose colours that reflect the type of habitat you want to create for your animals.  For this build, as I recall, I used the following colours; a creamy white, a deep blue, a dark grey, a mocha brown, and bit of black.

Lastly, the right tools for the right job.  I'm lucky enough to have a plethora of brushes both new and old kicking around.  I used just one brush for the majority of the painting, one sponge brush for the sealant, and one fine brush for the cave painting details.  I originally wanted to use a spray-bottle  to apply the sealant, but Liquitex specifies not to mix with water, which would have been necessary to reduce its consistency.  The sponge brush work fairly well, leaving a nice pitted texture, which I found worked better than the unnatural strokes of a course brush.

Methodes
The best way I can describe how to get a natural rocky look is to just dump on the paint.  Don't mix it on the pallet, mix on the canvas (the rock).  This makes for a blotchy, heterogenous mix of colours which looks much more natural than straight lines of different, solid colours.  Another tip is just that, the tip.  Use the tip of the brush and... just... tap it on.  Hard to explain.  Let the bristles give the rock that "sprayed on" look like that of centuries of mud and weather working on the stone.  Once you've got a nice mix of colours, don't over work it!  This will blend the colours and ruin that natural texture you've jsut spent fifteen minutes getting!
Also, don't feel rushed, but if you can establish a base over the entire build while the initial coat is still wet, you'll have a much easier time mixing the colours up just the way you want them.  If, by chance, you want a dusty look, try a little dry brush action, which I won't get into detail here.  I'll leave that up to the much artsier people of the internet.

You want to see the third phase of the leo tank?  Yeah you do.

For anyone who's followed the progression of my leo tank, much change can be observed.  Chief among them, the substrate.  Although the use of sand makes me leery, this is not your run of the mill sand.  It's Zoo-Med's Excavator Clay Burrowing Substrate.  Before I launch into it, I have to mention the following:

This is a clay-based substrate; there IS a risk of impaction.

Having said that, here's why I still chose to use it.
First of all, the clay is a great base to hold all the driftwood and stones in place, and it makes for great hills and depressions.  It also holds heat far better than the Eco-Carpet.  It's also more natural and visually appealing, though by no means should you compromise functionality for looks.  This clay sand compacts nicely and forms a fairly solid base.  It's much harder to accidentally ingest this than regular sand.  Also, in my case, the crickets usually make for the dark "safety" of the cave.  As such, the cave still makes use of the Eco-Carpet, for exactly that reason.  It becomes the feeding ground for crickets.  Another designated feeding area is the large flat stone I sunk into the clay sand just outside of the cave.  So far, it's been great.

The clay is made of sculpt burrows and tunnels, but I've heard tales of the tunnels collapsing, most likely due to poor construction.  I didn't even try this, for exactly that reason; I didn't want to risk having a tunnel collapse on my leo. 

The overall result has so far been pretty good.  The cave, thanks to the new Heat Wave Desert under-mounted tank by Exo-Terra, I'm holding a pretty cozy temperature inside the cave.  I haven't yet been able to buy the thermometer I've been eying to get an exact reading, but it's certainly around 30 °C.  Bronka spends most of his time basking half inside the cave, half outside, sleeping right under the heat lamp.  I put not a small amount of thought into the layout of this setup; the cave is both the first and second floor of a three-storey "bungalow", the third being the old piece of driftwood I've been using since I first got him.  This layout effectively creates a sort of Rete's stack, despite the fact that it's far warmer at the bottom.  The new piece, clearly visible on the right, was a great find! It's hollow, making for a very cozy natural hide out of the direct light.  I will be placing moist moss in it soon enough, finally providing the two natural hides he should have; cool and warm, dry and moist.  I've seen him out exploring much more since he's moved in.  I truly thinks he enjoys it!  The front door access has made picking him out ofthe tank much easier, allowing me to handle him much more than before!

Although I could fit a couple extra furnishings, I think I'll limit myself another rock or two, just to minimize the overall amount of open sand, effectively reducing risk of ingestion.  He has a lot to climb on as it is, and I think he appreciates the wide open spaces he now has as well.

***

Coming up in the next post, I'll talk about the creature I'm really working on acquiring, and possibly revisit some of my previous product reviews.

The Great Escape! and Other News

Well, lesson learned, and to cut off any undue concern, I'm not talking about my geckos.

As it turns out, the Kricket Keeper I use has a slight weakness when it comes to small sized crickets.
If you leave an egg carton leading up to the air vents, they can squeeze out. I only learned this after loosing about five...

I'm not even sure of that number, but I've confirmed three kills, missed two (which I may have got later) and just assume there's one decent creeper who stayed out of sight. I bought "a dozen" but there's no point counting. The fine ladies at Stacey's are generous with the crickets. Good thing I have a cat.

Also, apparently being down in the dumps about money and all warrants one an early Christmas present? Yeah, I feel kind of foolish saying it, but that's what happened. I got my tank upgrade for Rocza. Now I'm trying to make a deal on some black foam, trying to find some more mopani, along with a canning pot since I almost ruined the good one trying to boil my new piece of wood, and also trying to find some good plants.

It will take some doing, but I think my research has served me well. I have a general idea of what I want to do. Still, it will take time and money, only one of which is at my disposal. I think in the days to come, I will start posting my research, both for my desert rock formation and for my tropical arboreal terrarium. I've found some really good ideas, or rather ideas that look really good. This could all blow up in my face, I guess.

Still, I think this will be a good learning experience!

Second Feeding

First of two posts today, I think. I'm feeling like another product search is in order. But first, a bit of a status update.

I went over to Pet Depot today and spoke for a while with Emily. It's so very useful having someone who personally cares for the same animal as you do; great source of knowledge (and, in my case, reassurance).

Things I learned:
First off, it takes a couple weeks for a cresty (probably any new pet) to acclimatize themselves to their new habitat, which is fine.

Cresties are pretty darn nocturnal. Me thinks PetSmart's pamphlet may be giving false aspirations to the contrary in order to convince people they will see their gecko without a little coaxing. This might change though, who knows. No judgment here.
They're also pretty shy, and even Emily's gecko stays tucked away during the daylight hours.

Weening them off crickets can be a challenge, especially if it's all they've known. But since Rocza doesn't really seem interested in his(her?) food pellets' lack of movement, crickets have so far been the only thing I can confirm her eating. Hopefully not once the Repashy arrives, fingers crossed, some time this week. In the meanwhile, she suggested moistening them to help bring out the aroma.

The issue I was having with his skin seemingly lacking in luster might indeed have just been the UV light washing out the colours. It does that with other stuff, anyway, why not Rocza. He seems to change colours when he walks from heat lamp to UV lamp...
Still, looking into a humidifier upgrade.

***

Now, onto the business at hand; the second feeding.


I think it went really well. After trying to tweeze in the crickets last time, I invested (*sigh* more money...) into a pair of feeding tongs (more specifically, these!). These tongs are now on my essentials list. I was able to insert the cricket right into Rocza's hanging plant to entice him out without disturbing him.

I also learned that Rocza has mad hunting skills. The second he saw that cricket it was over. What's better, I let the next cricket make it's way up to him, and he took it handily. Although I must pause here and make a note that these crickets always move right up to where he's hiding... Anyway, I actually lost the third cricket in the enclosure behind the Boston fern, but Rocza found it before I could. I would have loved to have seen it unfold, but all I saw was Rocza spitting out a mouth of substrate while holding the cricket in his mouth (talented!). I just release the final cricket into the enclosure and let him wander around till Rocza nailed it.

Tried fooling around with his pellet food by sticking some to the tongs and moving it in front of his face, but he was either full or just not interested in it.

Prepping the Diet

Since all I need to do to finalize my terrarium is add the substrate and get a hide-away, and since I thought I'd actually have my gecko by now, I got my cricket keeper and feed a couple days back.

The tank is the small Kricket Keeper by Lee's Aquarium and Pet Supplies. I've seen other brands that come with small built-in (I think) food and water dishes, of which the Kricket Keeper had none. The Exo-Terra brand name equivalent is an example of the latter. After having done some price checks, the difference amounts to a couple dollars, so I guess it's justifiable. Besides, I didn't feel like ordering one online. I'm sure this product will work just fine (despite the Mortal Kombat style changing of "cricket" to "kricket")

For food and water, I went with Fluker's Orange Cube and  Cricket Quencher. I've read good things about the Orange Cube, but I have come across some accounts that state that the calcium enhanced Cricket Quencher may actually do the crickets too much good; I've read that the extra calcium goes straight to the cricket's exoskeleton, making them harder to digest. Since the Orange Cube contains a certain amount of moisture, I might hold off on the the Quencher till my gecko is a little older and more likely able to digest these things. I may not. I mean, I keep hearing different answers from every source, so I may just have to go with my gut. Gut-loaded crickets. Haha.

I still plan on dusting them with calcium powder before hand, but to avoid hypercalcemia, I'll probably only dust a couple crickets a week. In terms of cricket feeding frequencies, again, I find myself facing down a multitude of opinions. The young lad at PetSmart indicates I should feed crickets daily and as many as the gecko can eat withing five minutes. The literature I obtained from PetSmart says crickets 2 to 3 times a week. I'm more inclined to go with the second amount, as it matches the recommended amount listed on Pangea, yet another very helpful source of information I came across while doing my research.

I also intend to provide Fluker's Crested Gecko dietary food more or less as recommended, depending on how much my gecko will consume.

All this just makes me wonder if geckos share traits with their crocodillian and testudine (turtle) cousins, in that they continue to grow giving sufficient food and living space, like the case of Gustave. I'd love to be able to raise a monster-sized gecko!

Picture of my feeding and cleaning products

First Post Warrants Introductions!

I've decided to catalog my experience in herpetoculture as a hobby, though I do aspire to one day breed reptiles and amphibians for commercial distribution. As a fall-back option, as it were.

So, I should start by mentioning my past experience with herps; it all started when I was a fetus... or not. Probably not.

I've been head-over-heels for animals since as far back as I can remember. My bedtime stories were jsut as much experts from children's encyclopedia of nature as much as fairy tales and such. My first animals were the family dog (rest her bones), and some fish. I soon progressed to guinea pigs and hamsters, but it was always the lizards and snakes that held my attention. Not sure if all boys are just drawn to reptiles or if maybe it was just in my jeans to be fascinated by them. Either way, I was about six when I got my first.

Painted turtle:
AS far as I can remember, I got my painted turtle in Montreal whilst out shopping with my aunt and grandmother. I'm not sure what possessed them to buy me one, but I got one, and that's about all I had; no decent tank, no lamps, no plants. I couldn't throw it in the fish tank; she had no place to sit. So I threw together a small fish bowl and some rocks. I got myself some dried shrimp and was content for a time. Not a long time, obviously. I feel pretty bad now for having kept it in such a silly set-up. I can only hope that she will forgive my childish ignorance in the after-life. Her name was Val, so named for my grade-school crush.

Fire-belly Newt:
I think I was twelve by the time I tried my hand at herps again. By this time, my first cat was dominating the pet landscape, with the cursory living room aquarium, obviously. I was a little more prepared for the newt. My setup was a an old tank, probably somewhere in the twenty to twenty-five gallon range, built up with pebbles, some fake plants... and this big fake log which I later came to hate with a passion. I know with the newt, I did SOMETHING right, since I had him for several months. I would take him out of the tank (of which I was allowed only because the things are so torpid and unlikely to bolt) and hold the little thing in my hands from time to time. It was really the only time I ever saw the little munchkin; he spent every waking (and sleeping) moment holed up ina crook of that damned plastic log! He went missing by then and to this day, I still don't really know what happened. We've moved out of that apartment since then but never found a body. Kind of creepy really.

Collard Lizard:
I was about sixteen when I finally convinced my parents I was ready for something with some oumph, something that didn't just eat freeze-dried bits of... still not sure what that newt ate. I had fun building up the desert terrarium. I had always wanted to buy a heat rock and a basking light. The collard lizard was great; it really initiated me into the true meat of herpetoculture. Sadly, there's only so much a kid can do when face with digestive parasites in a tiny little creature. I certainly didn't have the money to afford vet bills on a lizard. And to be honest, I never really thought there was much wrong with him. He ate plenty, basked regularly, he even seemed lively. I never really noticed how no matter how many feedings he had, he never bulked up. Sadly, he didn't last quite as long as the newt, though I'm pretty sure he lasted longer than turtle. *sigh*

****

All was not for naught, though. From each experience, I took valuable lessons:

Never buy a pet on a whim.
Make sure you have the right equipment for the right pet.
Exotic pets tend to have delicate constitutions and can be affected by the slightest things.
Crickets are bitches to catch if your cat happens to knock over their enclosure. Also, crickets will eat each other. Oh, and crickets can hide very easily and chirp late into the night.

I just remembered how much sick pleasure I took from watching that collard lizard destroy those infernal things.

All that brings me to this past weekend. I could have spent it with my friend in Barry, relaxing, getting away from the unemployment grind. Instead, I plucked up the courage and demanded that right to ask my father to let me buy myself a lizard once again! No twenty-four year old truley wants to admit that last bit, but things have been strange for me. A topsy-turvey ride of colleges, jobs, careers and changes there-of.
Lucky for me, I have cool parents who know that, like the sea, I can wear them down. I mean, my grand mast-plan is to have my own herp breeding center, but my own appartment might be a more realistic and desired dream for now. That, and a new rep. Something new, something I've wanted since I saw them crawling up the sheer glass walls of their tank all those years back; it's time I brought all my experience to bear, muscled in and tried my hand at geckos. Tropical geckos.

Crested Gecko
Time to rock.