Setting up planted desert vivaria

GekkoGeck0 · 01-10-05, 07:25 PM

I have a 15 gallon terrarium with 1 web-footed gecko. I've been wanting to add some plants to liven it up a bit, give it more of a realistic feel.

Right now, I have one habba hut (the little hollowed out half log hides), his waterbowl, and a small cap full of food for stray crickets. Pretty boring. There is approximated 4-5 inches of playsand as a substrate.

My lighting consists of two of those flourescent tubes that go into standard incandescent sockets... forget what they're called right now. But the lighting is rather intense.

Does anyone have any examples of desert vivaria or suggestions? I'm looking at having some spineless cacti and/or succulents. The plants have to stay rather short (or can be pruned back with no adverse effects) and be able to tolerate temperatures between 25C (75-77F) and 30-35C (86-95F) with 30-40% average humidity (not minding a misting every few days).

The web-footed gecko is rather small, just 10cm from nose to tail, and most likely wouldn't damage somewhat delicate plants, aside from his constant desire to dig. I plan on surrounding any plants with small smooth rocks to stop him from digging the plants up.

Any ideas from anyone or some pictures of some planted desert vivaria would be very appreciated!

tdherper · 01-10-05, 07:26 PM

You can try "desert rose" or the smaller aloe vera plants. I've seen thhese often at HD

GekkoGeck0 · 01-10-05, 08:53 PM

Unfortunately, desert rose appears to grow to 5 feet... that's a little too tall. Aloe has sharp spines along the edge that I wouldn't want my gecko to get caught on, if he decides to climb over the plants. Thanks for the reply, though.

tdherper · 01-10-05, 09:04 PM

I have a desert rose in a multi planter i've had for three years and it's 3 inches high. they grow very slowly. As for the aloe vera, the smaller variety is a dark green with white highlights and the ridges are not sharp at all.....

GekkoGeck0 · 01-10-05, 10:41 PM

Thanks for your suggestions, but I was looking more for information on how to set up and maintain the vivaria.

Desert rose and aloe vera are good suggestions, but I'm not sure I would want to use them, I really enjoy the look of cacti better.

Double J · 01-11-05, 06:28 PM

Bird's nest Sansieveria will work really well... they look greet and stay rather small. They are fairly hearty as well. AS for price, they generally run between 2 and 5 dollars.

GekkoGeck0 · 01-16-05, 04:39 PM

Well, I have most of my plant choices pinned down.

Does anyone have advice on how to set up and maintain desert vivaria? Substrate choices, keeping plants potted (or not), ways to keep the animals from digging them up?

Thanks for everyone's input on the plants.

Kyle Barker · 01-16-05, 06:31 PM

i liek using an all substrate type setup. then jsut palnt the plants right there. you will probably find come egg laying time they will dig into the roots cause its more moist there.

anyway if your lighting is pretty intense try out Lithops sp. they are REALLY cool looking cacti, low to teh ground and spineless. very pretty flowers on most. i got a few extra L. bella seeds if ya like. im jsut not sure how intense those bulbs are...these guys like it in-tense!

GekkoGeck0 · 01-16-05, 07:22 PM

I'm not sure on the lumen output of my lights, but I have two compact flourescent spiral bulbs in there, 15 watts a piece. 3000k. Brand name of Pricemark. I searched around and couldn't find much about the specific lights that I'm using.

Lithops are very strange and intriguing cacti! I'm starting a few other cacti from seed, starting Lithops as well should be no trouble, providing I can figure out how bright my lighting really is. It seems really bright to me.

Would keeping the cacti potted but still buried in the sand keep the gecko from destroying still delicate juvenile cacti? Or just plant them right in the sand and perhaps put some larger rocks around the roots to keep him from getting to them easily? I accept that at one point he might dig up something, but I'd rather avoid it, especially with some of the slower growing cacti.

Kyle Barker · 01-17-05, 12:55 AM

oh kinda doubt those would be intense enough for lithops, but never know.

are you starting your cacti from seed in that cage? then i would use pots on top so they cant get at them. also many cacti prefer to have high humidity in the seedling stage. and if you got another section of house you can get those things growing like MAD with 24/7 lighting and lots of water. read up on CAM plants, interesting stuff. could also look at Gymnocalycium horstii, tehy are pretty neat looking cacti with fairly small roots. they have spines but they sorta follow the skin. or you can cut them off. they got that peyote look, but their roots wouldnt make your life difficult.

putting pots under soil would probably work, rocks too. its all preference really. i prefer plant growing in the cage freely as then they can spread easier. some dont like that though.

also lots of cactus need stronger light to germinate. sure youve read up on that, but somthing to concider if your not getting any sprouts.

GekkoGeck0 · 01-17-05, 01:01 AM

Unfortunately, those lights are the brightest light source I have. I plan to raise the pots off of the sand closer to the lights and slowly lower them as the seedlings mature. It's an experiment, I'm not getting my hopes up that this will be a total success, but either way, it should be a fun and interesting venture. *grins*

Humidity shouldn't be an issue, I've grown seedlings in individual pots with saran wrap held on by rubber bands.

Double J · 01-17-05, 10:33 AM

Here are my lighting recommendations:

Buy a three pack of Halogen puck lights. These usually cost iun the neighborhood of 25 dollars.. and they crank out tons of light and enough heat. Plus, they are only about 20 watts per light.. so a total of 60 watts (you will be best iff using all three). On top of that, I would use an 18 inch fluorescent bulb.... at a color temperature of 6500K...many reptile fluorescent bulbs are at this color temp. The mixture of light from these two sources will give the plants plenty of intensity, as well as put out enough heat for your geckos.

Good luck.

GekkoGeck0 · 01-17-05, 12:00 PM

I wanted to try this with my existing setup. Using halogen puck lights and a flourescent bulb would require me to replace or dispose of my current hood.

The UTH also puts off a lot of heat, anything else that contributes more than a gentle amount of heat would overheat the tank.

VI Reptiles · 01-18-05, 11:28 AM

I wouldnt grow the cactus from a seed. I would go out to a garden center and look around inside and you can find some really cool looking succulents as well as cactus. When you would plant them I would dig a hole in the sand and pour some nice garden soil and plant the cactus. Then cover the the black soil with your sand. What I would have done from the start though would be put 2 inches of potting soil at the bottom of your tank and then put your sand on the top. Then if you want to plant something you can just move the sand off the top of the soil and plant the cactus right in there. It would love it. Lots of nutrients too, to help it grow!

VI Reptiles

GekkoGeck0 · 01-18-05, 01:39 PM

I can't fault your logic, but unfortunately I've already ordered the seeds!

I still plan on going down to a garden centre soon to pick up some stuff, and I'll probably end up bringing home a few nice succulents, if they have them.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I will most likely be keeping them in their pots, due to my gecko's innate nature to dig everywhere.