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.

Take Oxygen (O) and Iron (Fe) and You Get?

The answer is rust. And I just noticed I have something of a problem... At first I was pretty ticked with the terrarium for rusting out so much, but it's not technically a defect in the product, per se.

This is the damage. What happened is that one of my Monsoon's suction cups came loose, tilting it's angle way up, but not enough for me to really notice. It was also spraying under the canopy, which is don't move too much as Rocza likes to use its cover as his shelter. Well, I moved it last night, and found this. Not happy. There was still water droplets on it, with rusty water and all. Very unhappy, but mostly at myself.

I read up on this, obviously, found that it's not just me who's had this problem (again, obviously). And although to be fair to Exo-Terra, although their terrariums are listed as tropical, this level of moisture on this particular surface isn't really what one would normally have. This entire paragraph to say "I'm not angry at you, Exo-Terra, just disappointed". I've seen other companies paint their mesh with a sealing coat of paint, so I wonder why Exo-Terra couldn't also do this, even if these pieces are out-sourced.

So some solutions I found range from temporary and simple to complex.
The most basic, which I have begrudgingly done for the time, is to slide a sheet of plastic-wrap between the tank and the lid to create a waterproof barrier. This will also raise the humidity and heat levels, since over half of the relatively open top is now shut off. I'm not disappointed about that though, in fact it's a plus.
The second solution, which I also utilized, was to order a new lid. I ordered through Stacey's rather than to do it independently, since they know the proper channels. I know I probably could have whined to Hagen or Exo-Terra and got a free lid, but I don't really care. This is my bad, I will pay for my own mistakes. I always have. It will take some time, so that's why I also went with the temporary solution.
Solution number three; spray your lid with hydrofuge paint. Simple enough, and I will definitely do that with my new lid, and all subsequent lids from now on.
Now, the fourth solution is kind of cool. I found a thread (where is it now... Oh yes, right here) posted on Reptile Forums UK by KJ Exotics on how to convert the Exo-Terra tops into glass tops with sliding doors. Pretty cool stuff, and easily adapted to my situation. I think once my new lid arrives, I will repair my damaged lid in this way, since I know a bunch of people in the glazing business. Props for working for general contractors!

So for now, it's the El Cheapo method whilst I wait patiently for Emily to get back to me about my lid! Once I get some of the products, I'll be sure to post exactly what I'm using. Which I should probably do sooner than later, as I ahve not updated my list of products in ages...

Side bar here; anyone in the Cornwall region who has questions regarding reptile care, go see Emily. She knows stuff! But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Addopted Leopard Gecko

I got the leopard gecko this afternoon. He's a very charming animal, fairly bulky, with a real mild temper.

I'm writing this now because, quite frankly, I've been busying myself fixing up his vivarium as best I could since I got him home at 4:30. But before launching into my mini-tirade, a picture.

In light of his girth and physical size, I've decided to call him something burlier; Bronka (I kind of fabricated the name, not knowing it was actually a small Polish village).

Bronka's is a long story of moving from place to place, like a drifter. He began as the pet of a college student who, due to housing issues, was no longer able to keep him. Bronka found a new home with an acquaintance of mine, who took him in, loved him, cared for him, but ultimately had to move away to Vancouver and had to leave him in her mother's care. Unfortunately, her mother had other pets to tend as well and thus had to pass Bronka along. This is where I enter the picture.

This guy has a couple scars, too.

Some of his toes no longer have claws. In fact, some tips are simply gone. This, to me, is caused by one of two things (or two of two things), the first on my list being lack of humidity during shedding. The skin doesn't slough off, gets tight, restricts blood flow, and ultimately causes amputation.It really hurts me to think of this happening to a single toe, let alone about four.
And this is something that can easily be overlooked by the uninformed hobbyist. My friend noted that this was a condition Bronka had when she got a hold of him.

The other thing which could have cost Bronka his toes is slightly less likely in my opinion, though I can't really say, having very little contact with meal worms.
I'm told meal worms can and will bite. Now, when I picked up this little guy, I noticed the husk fiber was literally writhing with worms. I also noticed a trio of over-sized crickets bouncing around. I just hope they didn't decide to start feeding on the very creature they themselves were meant to feed.

Speaking of the coco husk, after some research, I found that it's not the best environment for leopards. Too much humidity retention. Too bad though, it looks nice. It's jsut not the right stuff, unfortunately. (Not to mention it BEING ALIVE WITH FREAKING WORMS!!!!! Gah... Terrible night to have stuffed manicotti).

Also, less of an issue, his tailed has previously fallen off. I knew this going in, having talked with the previous owner some time ago before she left for Vancouver. It's no big issue, since leos have regenerative tails, though apparently not toes. Strange.

I made a judgement call not to use some of the gear that Bronka came with.

The Exo-Terra heat rock, though probably one of the better ones, is still too much of a worry to me to have it in the tank anymore. I've read  too many articles and heard too many stories of malfunctions to have peace of mind. So, I'll be picking up an under-mounted tank heater (like the one I have for Rocza, just stronger).
All in all, I ended up keeping the Exo-Terra  Medium Reptile Cave... Um, the food dish which I swapped out for a smaller one of mine and that's about it. The piece of wood that had been used as tank decore was worm-eaten, and looked kind of tall for him to climb up.

Now this is his current habitat:

 

Yeah, pretty sparse. And, with some rather unsettling financial issues I've been having, I wasn't really able to go out today and get anything better.
Here's where it's lucky to have a large basement filled with clutter of years past. I dug deep and pulled out a nice log and large flat rock from my old collard lizard habitat, just what this blah habitat needs.
I am currently soaking them for the second time in vinegar, and am about to rinse and soak for a third time before baking them both off.
As for the paper towel, unattractive though it may be, it's safe, easy to clean and keep moist, and it's readily available.

And now, more pics.

Bronka basking in his red heat lamp.

Going to rest up after a long day.

More pictures to come once I pimp out his hab a bit.

Product Review 1: Monsoon RS 400

The posts got a little delayed due to me not feeling super great for a bit, but here they are! Bright, shiny and smelling like spring.

Also, I received my bag of Repashy today! Hooray!

***

Product Review 1: Monsoon RS 400 by Exo-Terra

As you might guess, this is a product  I've been interested in from the very begining. Not only did the concept of a rainfall system seem way too cool to me, the idea of not having to worry about misting every morning, day and night really appealed to my lazy/forgetful side.

As such, I feel my expectations may have been pretty high from the get go. So, keeping that in mind, I'm pretty happy to say that the RS 400 met almost all my expectations!

Overall Rating: 8/10


Pros:
The pros are pretty much as I though; easy to use, easy to assemble, easy to fill, effective, and so on and so forth. I really feel as though I could leave for a couple days and not have to worry about watering... just feeding. But feeding has nothing to do with this system, so I can't fault it for that.
Aside from what I already expected, I have to say that the nozzles don't stick out quite as much as I was afraid they would. I kind of hid them away in the leaves, which you can see below in the pictures.


Cons:
Though the system is made to take advantage of the Exo-Terra terrarium's cable and tube conduits on the lid, I feel like the two systems weren't designed in tandem, especially with a foam backboard installed. The way I have it installed now, I feel as though there is way too much pressure on the tubing because there just isn't the right amount of room back there. To be fair, that's good in a sense. I don't want Rocza or his food slipping in back of anything. On the down side, should the tight squeeze puncture the tubing, that's a fine jet of water spraying all around my nice shiny electronic toys. I really wish I had a better place to put it... but till then, I'm keeping an eye on it, and I've reshuffled the room a bit to accommodate.
Also in reference to the space issue is the fact that the lid to the terrarium is now twice as hard to put back on, and it was tricky from the start.
Also, yeah, the nozzles aren't super obvious, but they're still very much present. I also find that though they do articulate, it's never quite the way I want them to be. Not a big issue though.


Comments:
Neither pro nor con, I noticed that too much hose means a crappy spray. What I though might have been a clogged nozzle actually turned out to be a lack of pressure due to the small hole and the length of tube. Once I trimmed the punctured part off, it worked just fine. Not bad for second hand, really.
The cycle light is also super bright. My computer has some nice lighting on it and... I mean it's almost on par with this one little light. Nothing a piece of tape or a sock can't fix...

NOTE: I've recently bumped this down to an 8, as from time to time, the nozzles start to spray pretty harshly. So far, I've been able to fix this by jiggling the tubing, but it's still annoying. Also, after reviewing the rest of the cons, it just didn't add up to a 9.


Images:

Left-hand nozzle coming out of the amapallo plant.

Right-hand nozzle coming out of the croton plant

My new canopy section, complete with feeding ledge.

Links:
Monsoon RS 400 Rainfall System - product page

New Product - Monsoon RS 400!

So I picked up that well-priced Monsoon RS 400 I mentioned before. It was more or less half price, since it had been used for about a month on a baby veiled chameleon at Pet Depot.

I checked it out and gave it a run-through before I did any final installation. The motor runs just fine. The only two icks are that one nozzle is slightly plugged with mineral deposits (I think and hope) and that there is a small hole in one piece of the tubing. Nothing major at all. I'm fairly sure I know exactly what went down with the nozzle. See, Pet Depot uses filtered tap water for their animals. Nothing wrong there in my opinion, at least in terms of animal health. There's most likely still mineral deposits after the filtration process, though, and that's what hopefully plugged up the nozzle.

Currently soaking both nozzles in a 50/50 solution of water and vinegar for 24 hours, as per the instructions.

I can already tell it's going to be pretty visible in my enclosure, since it's rather small (the enclosure, that is), but it's hopefully going to be worth it. The misting process is hopefully goign to be more effective at raising humidity than my simple spray bottle. I'm just worried that two nozzles won't be enough. We shall see.

No product review yet, as I've only run it in my bathroom for a couple minutes.

Going to leave this post post with a new pic of Rocza I took after her by-weekly cricket feeding.

Arg! Mould!

Well, I guess my half log isn't treated wood. I checked under it today, before Rocza found his way there, and found quite a few patches of mould. I wish I would have found this sooner. I really want to gut the entire habitat now, but I also don't want to stress out my cresty while he's still getting used to it. I hope it'll be okay for a couple days.

Still though, there goes another 20$. I should have inquired. I did a little research and I think I'm going to get some cork wood to replace it. Cork apparently doesn't moulder.

Environmental Test

I finally put my substrate into the terrarium and I'm very I did. I tried running a humidity and temperature test, to see if I could maintain the right levels. As it turns out, for the moment at least, I can't. My temperature soared into the high 30s (Celsius) and my humidity got blasted down to 20%.

It looks like sitting my lamp on top of my enclosure is just too much heat to keep it humid. With a good morning misting (about 3 and half hours ago) I was able to raise my humidity to about 45% but it has since dropped back to about 20%.

I'm going to have to try to pick up a stand of some sort to keep a bit of distance between the terrarium and the heat source. Maybe stagger it a bit so it's not quite a direct beam of light.

Also, looks like I might need a new hygrometer. I tried moving it to a better location... which was a terrible idea. It left asticky ring of foam and gunk. I'm just happy I was able to wipe off the gunk...

Also, picked up a few more goodies; I got the Half Log Hideout (medium size) by All Living Things and an Exo-Terra Faunarium to keep my cresty in when I clean out his habitat.

That is, assuming I can make the habitat liveable...
Trying to find a couple extra ways of keeping the hygro up.
 

Despite the messed up temperature, I do like the appearance.

One more positive thing; I took a temperature touch-test of the substrate in the hideout and near the water dish. Even with my indelicate touch, I was able to sense a noticeable difference, which is exactly what I wanted.

Prepping my Terrarium (part 3)

Step 3: Lighting, Heating and Humidifying

So now that I have all my branches and bushes exactly how I want them, I'll turn my focus to the mechanic aspects.

It's important to note that I have been keeping my heating and lighting in mind as I place my decorations in order to create the desired hot and cool spots.

Heating:
After doing a bit of research, I find again that there aren't concrete rules for these guys.
Taking into account everything I've read so far, I would have to say that cresties need a day-time temperature of about 80 to 82°F (27 to 28°C) in the hot spots and somewhere in the mid 70s in the cool spots (about 24°C), unless you plan on breeding them. Though the brochure provided by PetSmart indicates a maximum hot-spot temperature of 85°F (30°C), some of my other sources (namely Crested Gecko Canada) state that temperatures above 83°F (28°C) can increase your gecko's stress, and temperatures any higher than 85°F can in fact be fatal. So none of that.

Also, I mentioned that breeding would require different temperatures. Since I don't have immediate plans on breeding, I haven't looked into it with much detail, but again, Crested Gecko Canada has some good knowledge on it.

To help control these varying temperatures, I bought an extra thermometer (product of All Living Things) to go with the thermometer and hygrometer provided in the Exo-Terra starter kit. The first I place up in the basking zone of the terrarium to make sure I never get into those deadly ranges. The second (which I may have botched), I stuck lower to the ground near the cool spot, just to make sure things stay cool but not cold.

To be fair though, this might be overkill, as I have read that cresties can take temperatures in the mid 60s (about 16 to 17°C), but I don't really want to push my luck, as these guys need heat to grow and to help them digest.

Lighting:
In terms of heat lamps, I was advised to get a 60W Neodymium daylight bulb (Sun Glo 60W by Exo-Terra). The literature I found online backs up my choice, indicating that a low wattage heating bulb is all that is necessary. Cresties are nocturnal after all. I have even been told that an infra-red bulb way serve too, as I could leave that on day-round since it sheds no light, but I prefer it this way... so far.

I also run a Repti Glo 5.0 UVB 26W bulb by Exo-Terra in the lamp that was included in the starter kit to provide my cresty with necessary uv levels. This bulb has a high uv output, which may affect my choice of cricket calcium powder in the future (since my current powder is fortified with vitamin D3, a possibly redundant additive in light of... the light).
This bulb would be very necessary if I were running a natural terrarium, however, given that plants require this light to grow as well.

The effect is as follows:

This image shows my terrarium bathed in uv light alone,

















while this image shows both the uv light and the heat lamp in full glow.















Also visible on the second image is the placement of my thermo/hygrometers; at the top and bottom.

Humidity:
Last factor to consider is humitidy. This is a tricky one, since a hot humid environment is a breeding ground for moulds and mildews, some of which can be kind of nasty for both myself and the cresty. This means regular cleaning is essential.

But I digress; humidity! Recommended to be between 50% and 80% by the people at PetSmart, 60% to 80% by Crested Gecko Canada. I'm thinking somewhere in the low 70s is where I'll be. This is so far the only factor I haven't tried to control in my environment since I don't want to add the coconut husk substrate till about a day before I get the gecko to avoid wasting it. Considering that no animal wastes will be contaminating it, however, I'll probably get around to setting it up over the course of next week.

Coconut husk seems like the right choice, since it's gentle on the animal, it holds moisture and has a very pleasing natural look, to boot. Added to this is the Exo-Terra Rainforest Heat Wave I have affixed to the bottom of my terrarium. I've had mine plugged in since I set up and I must say; it's not very hot. Weather or not this is normal, it will in any event help release the moisture in the substrate, giving me my humidity.

To keep the substrate moist, misting is required. Once again, I've found about three different solutions. To average them out, I'm going to mist about once or twice a day, or as required to hit that humidity g-spot.

In terms of misting to provide the cresty with water (rather than a dish, as they lick dew off themselves and their surroundings), I'll probably continue to provide a water source, unless I see that the gecko isn't using it at all.

Also, I plan on treating the water with a cleanser, even though I will be using distilled water. I'm taking no chances of poisoning my gecko with chlorinated water, afterall.