As much as I’m not keen on them, Bromeliads are brilliant, as they can rest of them and drink from the middle! All sounds good otherwise! I use all bioactive vivariums also. There’s literally an endless amount of plants you can use so if search what you like and choose and there are so many all of ours have different ones! If you plan on breeding though don’t plant the bottom as will just get dig up! And climbing plants really aren’t any good as they climb on them and ruin them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

As much as I’m not keen on them, Bromeliads are brilliant, as they can rest of them and drink from the middle! All sounds good otherwise! I use all bioactive vivariums also. There’s literally an endless amount of plants you can use so if search what you like and choose and there are so many all of ours have different ones! If you plan on breeding though don’t plant the bottom as will just get dig up! And climbing plants really aren’t any good as they climb on them and ruin them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I am learning quickly there are a lot of choice for plants! Are crested geckos likely to eat (even accidently) any of the plants? I am put off by ones that are potentially toxic if ingested but unsure if that is actually a real concern for cresteds. Noting to stay away from climbers! Cheers

 

There are a couple of question that I have with this set up.

1. Airflow and humidity - Is the airflow going to be little or a lot? Some plants can't survive in stagnate air environments and can die fast, some can. Will the humidity of the tank be constantly high or low? cresties need a humidity spikes at least twice a day. Some plants can't handle high humidity.

2. Proper plant lighting,heat, and watering - Are the plants going to need a heat gradient? Does your crestie need that heat or is it just for the plants? You could end up drying out your plants or your pet if the enclosure is to hot (cresties like it around 70 - 80 degrees Celsius anything above or below that you would need to adjust something).
LED's do not provide little to any heat. Like I said in number 1, cresties need a humidity spike at least 2 times a day keeping them at a medium to high humidity. Depending on where you live depends on your misting and watering routine.

3. Correct substrate - Do you have the right substrate to keep plants living and thriving for some time, with out having to worry about them just dying on you or just not growing at all? Will the right amount of water be held in that substrate, or clump together not allowing the water to pass through to the drainage layer and eventually drowning you plants?

If all else is disregarded. IMPORTANT.

4. Making sure the Vivarium is safe for your animal - The most important thing is the animals health. Please take the necessary step to insure your animal thrives in the vivarium and lives in his own little jungle happy and healthy. No plants from out side or places that use pesticides or herbicide on their plants. You are going to want clean healthy plants from a trusted source. Substrate needs to be fresh and normally used in a enclosure where if your animal was to ingest some of it they can easily pass it with out getting impacted. The well being of the animal comes first.

 

There are a couple of question that I have with this set up.

1. Airflow and humidity - Is the airflow going to be little or a lot? Some plants can't survive in stagnate air environments and can die fast, some can. Will the humidity of the tank be constantly high or low? cresties need a humidity spikes at least twice a day. Some plants can't handle high humidity.

2. Proper plant lighting,heat, and watering - Are the plants going to need a heat gradient? Does your crestie need that heat or is it just for the plants? You could end up drying out your plants or your pet if the enclosure is to hot (cresties like it around 70 - 80 degrees Celsius anything above or below that you would need to adjust something).
LED's do not provide little to any heat. Like I said in number 1, cresties need a humidity spike at least 2 times a day keeping them at a medium to high humidity. Depending on where you live depends on your misting and watering routine.

3. Correct substrate - Do you have the right substrate to keep plants living and thriving for some time, with out having to worry about them just dying on you or just not growing at all? Will the right amount of water be held in that substrate, or clump together not allowing the water to pass through to the drainage layer and eventually drowning you plants?

If all else is disregarded. IMPORTANT.

4. Making sure the Vivarium is safe for your animal - The most important thing is the animals health. Please take the necessary step to insure your animal thrives in the vivarium and lives in his own little jungle happy and healthy. No plants from out side or places that use pesticides or herbicide on their plants. You are going to want clean healthy plants from a trusted source. Substrate needs to be fresh and normally used in a enclosure where if your animal was to ingest some of it they can easily pass it with out getting impacted. The well being of the animal comes first.

Thanks for the questions, I'll answer them in order.



1. I was concerned about air flow as the exo terra doesn't offer cross ventilation. I come from a tarantula background and cross ventilation is king there. Should be fine for the gecko though as the exo terra seems to be standard for housing cresteds. As for humidity I will be misting when humidity reaches 50%, raising it to around 80%. Ambient humidity in the room is around 50% too (old damp house...).



2. The heating element is definitely needed for me as my room is currently 17.5c at 8.30am. Gets much colder during the winter too. I hope to create a heat gradient with a high temp of around 24c and low of 20c. At the moment I am trying to find a good combination of low and high light requiring plants.


3. I am pretty confident that I have all the right ingredients for the substrate but still need to do a bit more research into the right balance. Once I have decided on the plants this will likely give me a bit more of an idea, although I am by no means a gardener. I have been thinking of planting them in pots with different mixes to see what works best before adding them to the enclosure. Makes it much easier than planting them in the enclosure only to take everything out after they all die...


4. This is number one. The animal comes first and I will not be sacrificing any part of its well being for a fancy looking enclosure. I have done a lot of research on the animal and am confident I can provide the care it deserves. Plan on sourcing my plants from a user suggested to me on here (Tarron, bioactiveherps). It's super helpful that they have info on a lot of their plants about light and water requirements. I am using coco fibre which many say is a risk of impaction due to expanding when wet but as this is already a moist environment it should already be expanded and not pose a threat. Saying that, I am planning to feed off the ground just in case.


A lot of my info has come from a youtuber called SerpaDesign who makes crazy bioactive vivariums. I generally stay away from youtubers when it comes to animals as I find them to be misinformed or pretty cringey to watch... Also getting my info from forums like this, reptile websites and then comparing the info as it usually differs wherever you look!





Again, thank you for the questions! Appreciate the checklist as we can often lose sight of the main goal in these sorts of projects. Cheers!

 

It seems that you have everything down that's awesome. Ill be making my new viv for my day gecko today. When it comes to Substrate and plants try looking up the BioDude. He is all about Bio and is the one place I get all of my plants and substrate. Good luck on the Viv :2thumb: