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.

Leopard Gecko Build (part 1)

Well, as I now have a part-time job at my old place of work (though somehow I managed to clock 39 hours last week...) and with the release of Diablo 3, I've been too busy to post. But no more! Well, as in, taking time today.

Right, so things I've been up to:
-Browsing hardware stores for tank decor material
-Searching for tropical plants
-Bargain hunting for new pet gear

I'll start with the pet gear. Just a side note really. I managed to score the Exo-Terra terrarium I've been wanting for cheap on a clearance sale at PetSmart. Down side is, I didn't pay for it as it is a Christmas present... But hey, progress.
I also snatched up some Zoo Med Eco Carpet in the tan colour for Bronka's hab. It's better than paper towel, I hope.

Now, for some tropical plant news. After much searching, I have to come to an obvious conclusion; I need to listen to people more. I've been looking through every garden center I can get to with little to no luck. Home Depot has some interesting, colourful plants, but not really the ones I want. people keep telling me to check the florist shop downtown, but I kept shrugging it off. I've been in there before, but never noticed anything very tropical. Long story short, they have some. They're getting some bromeliades in this week actually. I might just look into it. Though I'll probably just grow them in one of my empty tanks till I get my new one up and running so I can grow out any excess of fertilizers they may have.

Now, for the bigger news. I've found some decent products for building some rocky outcropping for Bronka at my local Home Depot. It's all fairly cheap too. So far.
Quick shopping list:
-Six-pack of rigid board insulation: 10.00$
-"No More Nails" adhesive: 8.00$
-Silicone Aquarium Sealant: 13.00$

I probably don't even need the silicone for this particular project, though I will need a water-resistant sealant to go over the grouting, though making  a water dish might be fun.

Now, some pictures!

Behold the colour-appropriate Eco Carpet by Zoo Me, as it is being explored for the first time by a curious Bronka.

"Dafugg is dis? Dafugg is dat? Dafugg are you?"

And finally, construction of the desert rock formation after day one.

 I'm building it in two general pieces to facilitate getting it in the tank, since it's the full length.

 It's admittedly wider than I had originally wanted but I fell it'll work out in the end.

I plan on squeezing my brown rock in front of this on a bed of sand to add stability and block out the access of crickets.

 I have a nice little hide carved out right over the under-mounted tank heater. This is obviously going to be Bronka's warm hide. I plan on either using his current hide as the moist hide on the opposite side of the tank.

It's not glued yet because I want to have a better idea of the final product before I start shooting glue everywhere.

And lastly, simple tools for a simple job: adhesive, sealant, metal straight edge, steak knife, and of course a Sharpie.











More pics to come as I progress.

Today's work was definitely a good learning experience. I learned that this is an uber messy project, as one can clearly see. I learned that doing this without a shirt on is a bad idea, unless you want to look like a polar bear afterwards. I learned plans are useless, but planning is essential.

I wonder what I'll learn next session.

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.