# Sticky  natural habitats.



## trw

hi, ive noticed on the forum that alot of people like to try and make their reptiles vivariums as natural as possible, but not many people actually know what the real natural habitats of their pets are like, so i thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where people could post pics they have taken of reptiles found in the hobby in their natural habitats and photos of the landscape and maybe a description to help people to make their reptiles homes as natural as possible.

ill start of with some tokays in malaysia.

























































there was 5 tokays living in the wall together and this was in an area passed by tourists everyday. there were also tokays living in tree cracks and hiding behind roof trusses.i dont know what type of plant it is growing on the wall, but it was everywhere. there were also lots of ferns and wild ginger plants at the base of the wall. also there was a type of plant called localy "touch me not's" which close there leaves up when they are touched and these plants were like grass there.

i have a few more photos of the area, but they are on my dads computer so i will upload them later.


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## STReptiles

interesting mate hope the thread continues.: victory:


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## Tarn~Totty

What a great idea!!! Saves going through all the habitat bit hoping someone has posted one up.

Im looking for pics of a bearded dragons natural habitat, if anyone has one please add it here!!: victory:


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## corny girl

When i get my Gecko's (early next year hopefully) i would like to give them a natural enviroment (desert type as per wild). If anyone can post up either Corn snake or Royal python natural enviroments i would like to try to make their viv's as natural looking as possible too :2thumb:. Great thread, looking forward to seeing pics of natural enviroments.


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## swede.speed

Tarn~Totty said:


> What a great idea!!! Saves going through all the habitat bit hoping someone has posted one up.
> 
> Im looking for pics of a bearded dragons natural habitat, if anyone has one please add it here!!: victory:


 
"Your Bearded Dragon, Its Habitat and Water" by Rick Catt - Hades Dragons UK : victory:


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## HadesDragons

Nice idea for a thread!

This is a post I put up a while back with some photos of desert regions, along with the types of things we were seeing (or not seeing!)

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizards/138320-ideas-desert-vivariums.html


Generally, in the areas which were flat, open sand/dust, you wouldn't find anything living there. In the rockier areas you'd find a lot more - in this area in particular we found a couple of shed snake skins, several hatched gecko eggs, two different types of adult gecko (web footed and another, darker, larger one) and a few agamas. Interestingly the ground in this photo (where the snake skins, eggs, agamas and a couple of geckos were found) was so hard and compacted that we had to use a pickaxe to break it - a spade just wouldn't go through, and there was very little loose sandy material. We did also find both species of gecko on softer, dustier ground (1-2" dust layer over a hard base), but there were still abundant trees, bushes and rocks for shelter (you can see it in the background, flanking a dry riverbed). The agamas were almost exclusively confined to rocky areas with hard ground.



















In general, it seemed that once we got out into sandier desert with fewer rocks, there was very little sign of reptile life (and insects were far fewer), at least on the surface. Out in the dunes we found nothing, suggesting that - in this area at least - the reptiles (and their food) tend to stick to rocky, hard-ground areas and avoid the softer areas of deep sand...


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## Pendragon

HadesDragons said:


> Nice idea for a thread!
> 
> This is a post I put up a while back with some photos of desert regions, along with the types of things we were seeing (or not seeing!)
> 
> http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizards/138320-ideas-desert-vivariums.html
> 
> 
> Generally, in the areas which were flat, open sand/dust, you wouldn't find anything living there. In the rockier areas you'd find a lot more - in this area in particular we found a couple of shed snake skins, several hatched gecko eggs, two different types of adult gecko (web footed and another, darker, larger one) and a few agamas. Interestingly the ground in this photo (where the snake skins, eggs, agamas and a couple of geckos were found) was so hard and compacted that we had to use a pickaxe to break it - a spade just wouldn't go through, and there was very little loose sandy material. We did also find both species of gecko on softer, dustier ground (1-2" dust layer over a hard base), but there were still abundant trees, bushes and rocks for shelter (you can see it in the background, flanking a dry riverbed). The agamas were almost exclusively confined to rocky areas with hard ground.
> 
> image
> 
> image
> 
> In general, it seemed that once we got out into sandier desert with fewer rocks, there was very little sign of reptile life (and insects were far fewer), at least on the surface. Out in the dunes we found nothing, suggesting that - in this area at least - the reptiles (and their food) tend to stick to rocky, hard-ground areas and avoid the softer areas of deep sand...


Hey Andy,

Did you ever recreate the cracked river bed?

I used a clay soil to line the bottom of my hognose viv, I let it dry out befor I added more with the grass, it cracked nicely : victory:










Jay


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## Pinwallace

Interesting thread!
Here's a few photos of a Boomslang ( _Dispholidus typus_ ) I saw in South Africa.
The snake was found at my parents house on the edge of the Magaliesberg nature reserve. The wall in the background is the outside wall of their kitchen.


















Heres their house









The surounding area is classed as moist savanna and is heaven for birds and arboreal reptiles. Various fruit trees grow in the area like wild figs, jacket plum and amarulas. Also different species of acacia (like the one the snake was in), rhus and iron wood trees. The avarage annual rainfall is 700mm and the avarage max. temp. is 26 C in summer.


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## alan1

excellent pics and info mate !!!

*runs off to build a complete rainforest*


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## corny girl

alan1 said:


> excellent pics and info mate !!!
> 
> *runs off to build a complete rainforest*



You'll need a bigger shed :lol2::lol2::lol2:.


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## Morgan Freeman

Dart Frog, specifically _P Terribilis._


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## LlamaLlama

this is an ace thread, hope it does v v v well p.s. i find tht although exo-terra stuff is expensive it all lokks great n intergetes perfecctly


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## kingball

i think natural is better but thats just me


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## love_reptiles

An absolutely EXCELLENT idea for a thread! I've been looking for something like this.

I have a friend in Australia and he's caught a few bearded dragons so I will ask him to get pics of where he finds them. 

I sincerely hope this thread doesn't get clogged with useless chatter like just about everything else, we really need something like this, and so do our animals.


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## ephiedoodle

love_reptiles said:


> An absolutely EXCELLENT idea for a thread! I've been looking for something like this.
> I have a friend in Australia and he's caught a few bearded dragons so I will ask him to get pics of where he finds them.


looking forward to that.


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## Tehanu

Brown basilisks, _Basiliscus basiliscus_ in Tayrona NP, Northern Colombia;

They inhabited this area just above sea level...




































But also this kind of habitat at around 200ft above sea level...


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## Tehanu

Yellow Striped Dartfrogs, _Dendrobates truncatus_ in Tayrona NP;


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## Tehanu

Colombian Boa, _Boa constrictor imperator_ in Tayrona NP;


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## Tehanu

Fishing spiders and Theraphosids were in abundance in these habitats;

Rocky stream



























Dry river bed


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## Tehanu

Cane Toads, _Bufo marinus_ in Tayrona NP;


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## Tehanu

Colombian black and white tegu, _Tupinambis teguixin_ on Isla San Andres, Caribbean.


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## Tehanu

Brown anoles, _Anolis sp._ on Isla San Andres;


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## Keir64

Wow, this is an excellent idea for a thread! I wish i had pics =(


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## 6032wayne

Anyone got any pics of a Royal's natural habitat? I want to design our Monty a new viv but am struggling for information!


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## frogs_an_lizards_an_Ad

awesome pics must of been an amazing time =]


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## sambridge15

these are from amalfi there were a number of bright green gecko speicies at these ruins (day geckos?)


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## sambridge15

any 1 got any of new caledonian rainforest wondering what crested geckos and other rhacs natural habitats are see if my builds even close


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## dionator

i cant get a picture of a royal pythons natural habitat  can anyone help please


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## cbarnes1987

how about for a corn snake a viv styled like an olde worlde yank barn floor, corn and hay as substrate a fake background with a bale of hay... a pitch fork or a milk urn??? thats pretty natural. maybe an old boot as a hide :lol2:


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## Matt Harris

dionator said:


> i cant get a picture of a royal pythons natural habitat  can anyone help please


 I've got loads but sorry I can't find time to scan them in and post them. I'll try and get round to it.


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## Raych

This seems like a really awesome thread. I'm busy researching into Leopard Gecko's natural habitats. Here's what I've found:
A link with useless photo's but really good description: Native Habitat of the Leopard Gecko & Setting up a Natural Enclosure

And then of course photos (not my own):








Information from link:
Leopard Geckos are native to warm, rocky deserts like in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. However if you like to reproduce these environments in your enclosure you will need to have a lot of rocks and plants. Try to create a small cavern, because Leopard Geckos are nocturnal and they live a major part of their life underground.

When setting up your enclose for your Leopard Gecko you need to keep in mind that more then 60% of your enclosure needs to consist out of plants and pieces of wood. Try to minimize the use of sand to avoid sand ingestion. Create a balance between rock, wood, plants and sand and you will be on the right way to create your own natural habitat.

Link: Leopard Geckos Information


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## Pendragon

It's amazing just how hard it is to get good pictures of a Leo's natural habitat, most of the good pics on here come from peoples holiday snaps, so I suppose the deserts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran aren't peoples first (or last) choice of holiday destinations.

:lol2:

Does anyone know any service men/women coming back from Afghanistan with some good pics?

Jay


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## SleepyD

jabba1967 said:


> It's amazing just how hard it is to get good pictures of a Leo's natural habitat, most of the good pics on here come from peoples holiday snaps, so I suppose the deserts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran aren't peoples first (or last) choice of holiday destinations.
> 
> :lol2:
> 
> Does anyone know any service men/women coming back from Afghanistan with some good pics?
> 
> Jay


I posted a load of such pics up a while back... will have a dig round and see if I can find them


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## Raych

YaY thank you. :flrt:


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## SleepyD

okay here's a selection of pics found regarding the foothills of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran where leos are documented as being found ........ ground in general is hardpacked with a thin layer/scattering of dusty soil etc, plenty of rocks/stones as well os small shrubs, dry grasses 












































HadesDragons also did a very good thread regarding 'deserts' here -> http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizards/138320-ideas-desert-vivariums.html


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## Pendragon

Good pics,

Just how I imagined it would look like : victory:

Cheers Sleepy

Jay


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## SleepyD

jabba1967 said:


> Good pics,
> 
> Just how I imagined it would look like : victory:
> 
> Cheers Sleepy


no problem Jay ~ now you can see why I get such a t*t on when people insist on using inches deep sand as 'desert' for leos :lol2:


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## KaneDragon

Saedcantas thats some amazing pics you got there, must of been a blast of a time!


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## KaneDragon

Found a few pics of some rainforests in china where chinese water dragons would live.


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## Pendragon

KaneDragon said:


> Found a few pics of some rainforests in china where chinese water dragons would live.
> 
> image
> 
> image
> 
> image


Nice pics,

We did indeed have "a blast" : victory:

Jay


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## Pinwallace

I got back from SA a few days ago and I was lucky enough to spot a Green water snake ( _Philothamnus hoplogaster )_ in the Mountain Sanctuary Park. ( Magaliesberg )




















Heres a few habitat pics.



















The OH having a dip.


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## emasmad

a great thread with some wkd pictures gives people alot of idea's


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## Pinwallace

Heres a few Southern Rock Agama (_Agama atra atra) also from the Magaliesberg._


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## Requiem

These pictures are wonderful, great thread :no1:

Silly question, but when making these natural habitats, how do you go about cleaning them? ie. for the rocky deserts where it is mostly hard surfaces with a little sand, would you fully remove all loose substrate and rocks, clean the rocks individually and put them back with a little fresh loose substrate? Same question for the rainforest types with lots of plants - if you use fake plants, do you remove them all to wash them? :blush:


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## Pendragon

My personal opinion is that you can worry too much about hygene, in desert setups the poo drys quickly, pick it up, job done. For tropical just wipe off any poo from leaves, if it's bio active, then springtails and woodlice take care of most waste.

Jay


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## trw

does anyone have any information about vivarium lighting? things such as how much uv output the sun puts out in certain areas at midday, mornings, evenings etc, and if there is any uv radiation left after sundown, what sort of lighting is best to reconstruct this in captivity. im soon gonna start making my leo a more natural habitat. got aloe vera and spider plants, gona get the uv starter when i go into work next weekend, ill get the uv tubes next time i go to the rep shop, im thinkng of going for the 5% for my leo?, any other recommended lighting?


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## KaneDragon

trw said:


> does anyone have any information about vivarium lighting? things such as how much uv output the sun puts out in certain areas at midday, mornings, evenings etc, and if there is any uv radiation left after sundown, what sort of lighting is best to reconstruct this in captivity. im soon gonna start making my leo a more natural habitat. got aloe vera and spider plants, gona get the uv starter when i go into work next weekend, ill get the uv tubes next time i go to the rep shop, im thinkng of going for the 5% for my leo?, any other recommended lighting?


Hi there mate, As leopard geckos dont require UVB rays as there nocturnal i would suggest maybe just a 2%.

These emit more light then the 5% and 10% and also will still keep the plants alive.


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## trw

KaneDragon said:


> Hi there mate, As leopard geckos dont require UVB rays as there nocturnal i would suggest maybe just a 2%.
> 
> These emit more light then the 5% and 10% and also will still keep the plants alive.


in the end ive decided to go for the 10%. although leopard geckos dont need uv light to survive, there havent been any in depth studies at least that i can find saying it is not beneficial. even the 10% wont give any amount of uv close to the sort that they would recieve in the mornings and evenings at the distances i will be having it at.

take a look at this sit : UV Lighting for Reptiles: How much UVB do reptiles need? 
its the most helpful one ive found reguarding lighting for captive reptiles. at the bottom of the page is a small bit on leopard geckos in particular


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## Ultraviolet

Tirupur. in Timali Nadu, India.

The lizard lives in this tree outside a friends office. He's over there working at the moment and sends me loads of pics. Will ask for some rep pics :2thumb:


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## Pendragon

trw said:


> in the end ive decided to go for the 10%. although leopard geckos dont need uv light to survive, there havent been any in depth studies at least that i can find saying it is not beneficial. even the 10% wont give any amount of uv close to the sort that they would recieve in the mornings and evenings at the distances i will be having it at.
> 
> take a look at this sit : UV Lighting for Reptiles: How much UVB do reptiles need?
> its the most helpful one ive found reguarding lighting for captive reptiles. at the bottom of the page is a small bit on leopard geckos in particular


Nice one, put a 2% in as well : victory:

Jay


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## trw

im so exited. just seen my thread has been made a sticky. cheers mr/ mrs mod who did this


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## cbarnes1987

woop woop... thread stickied! :no1:


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## Death by Diamonds

would be great if anyone had any natural habitats for crested gecko's lol?


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## darwin2

anything for a yemen cham anyone? google is pants lol


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## KaneDragon

darwin2 said:


> anything for a yemen cham anyone? google is pants lol


They come from "Yemen" in United Arab emirates. 

Try googling that?


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## pirez

KaneDragon said:


> They come from "Yemen" in United Arab emirates.
> 
> Try googling that?


 LOL
They come from Yemen, its a country.


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## TheMetaphysicalNinja

pire said:


> LOL
> They come from Yemen, its a country.


That's exactly what was said...


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## pirez

TheMetaphysicalNinja said:


> That's exactly what was said...


What?
He said "yemen" in the united arab emirates, which is a different country altogether!

Forget it, obviously not very quick on the up-take are we???


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## Morgan Freeman

Haha!


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## Pendragon

KaneDragon said:


> They come from "Yemen" in United Arab emirates.
> 
> Try googling that?





TheMetaphysicalNinja said:


> That's exactly what was said...


:lol2:

That's what this thread needs, some comedy :2thumb:

Jay


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## trw

Pendragon said:


> :lol2:
> 
> That's what this thread needs, some comedy :2thumb:
> 
> Jay


not wrong there. as well as being a helpful resource, it would be good to have some friendly banter so long as it doenst get the thread locked as always happens in the snake section.


also, can anybody identify a new something in the first photos i posted. in the bottom 2 pics of the first post there would appear to be another something hiding in the crack and you can see its tail poking out at the bottom. i never saw this while there and have only just spotted it now. my thoughts are palm gecko? the photo was taken in langkawi in malasia


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## darwin2

KaneDragon said:


> They come from "Yemen" in United Arab emirates.
> 
> Try googling that?





pire said:


> LOL
> They come from Yemen, its a country.





TheMetaphysicalNinja said:


> That's exactly what was said...





pire said:


> What?
> He said "yemen" in the united arab emirates, which is a different country altogether!
> 
> Forget it, obviously not very quick on the up-take are we???





Pendragon said:


> :lol2:
> 
> That's what this thread needs, some comedy :2thumb:
> 
> Jay



guys i'm fully aware of where they come from, the name is a kinda give away :lol2:

i googled yemen and it gave me city shots so not really helpful unless i make a shack for him! Jay has helped me lots with the viv tho so cheers dude


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## J-Williams

Hiya Guys, I struggle to find Corn Snake Habitats so if anyone could get some pictures of there natural habitat, or even there habitat within rural/human area's!

Please help!


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## fionayee

trw said:


> hi, ive noticed on the forum that alot of people like to try and make their reptiles vivariums as natural as possible, but not many people actually know what the real natural habitats of their pets are like, so i thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where people could post pics they have taken of reptiles found in the hobby in their natural habitats and photos of the landscape and maybe a description to help people to make their reptiles homes as natural as possible.
> 
> ill start of with some tokays in malaysia.
> image
> image
> image
> image
> image
> image
> image
> 
> there was 5 tokays living in the wall together and this was in an area passed by tourists everyday. there were also tokays living in tree cracks and hiding behind roof trusses.i dont know what type of plant it is growing on the wall, but it was everywhere. there were also lots of ferns and wild ginger plants at the base of the wall. also there was a type of plant called localy "touch me not's" which close there leaves up when they are touched and these plants were like grass there.
> 
> i have a few more photos of the area, but they are on my dads computer so i will upload them later.


Wow...I never knew there were wild tokays here and those touch me not's are fun to play with


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## trw

fionayee said:


> Wow...I never knew there were wild tokays here and those touch me not's are fun to play with


your so lucky to live there. im going to borneo in 5 weeks for a month, and hope to get loads of pics. the tokays were really common on langkawi, and we heard them and saw them pretty much every night. we always saw the same number in the same hiding places every night.

do you think you would be able to get some pics of some of the habitats and animals over there for us to see on this side of the pond


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## pirez

trw said:


> your so lucky to live there. *im going to borneo in 5 weeks for a month:mf_dribble:*, and hope to get loads of pics. the tokays were really common on langkawi, and we heard them and saw them pretty much every night. we always saw the same number in the same hiding places every night.
> 
> do you think you would be able to get some pics of some of the habitats and animals over there for us to see on this side of the pond


 I am soooo jealous!!!!!!


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## trw

pire said:


> I am soooo jealous!!!!!!


should be the trip of a lifetime. i want to get a cheap camera for it though as we are going to be living and sleeping in the forest for 3 weeks and may have to do river crossings, so dont want to bring my slr in case it get broken.


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## [email protected]

just looked and cant find any crestie pics. anyone been to new caledonia????  would be great to see!!!


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## MissCat

I'm having issues finding natural habitats for the crested gecko too, however, a little research so far has come up with the following:
Rhacodactylus ciliatus - Crested Gecko on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The above link says that cresties are native to the southern provinces of New Caledonia.
The following link has a few pictures and a small amount of info on plants in these areas:
Tropical Dry Forests of the Pacific - New Caledonia
I'll update as/when/if I find more information.

This site has some good pictures and info on the area- BUT I still don't know EXACTLY which part of the area you would find cresties. 
http://www.croixdusud.info/eng/landscape/landsc_acc_eng.php


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## [email protected]

MissCat said:


> I'm having issues finding natural habitats for the crested gecko too, however, a little research so far has come up with the following:
> Rhacodactylus ciliatus - Crested Gecko on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
> The above link says that cresties are native to the southern provinces of New Caledonia.
> The following link has a few pictures and a small amount of info on plants in these areas:
> Tropical Dry Forests of the Pacific - New Caledonia
> I'll update as/when/if I find more information.
> 
> This site has some good pictures and info on the area- BUT I still don't know EXACTLY which part of the area you would find cresties.
> landscapes[/QUOTE
> thanks  yes i have had exactly the same problem. i can find out the parts of new caledonia but not specific parts!!! grr :devil:


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## trw

im off to borneo for a month tomorrow. will make sure to get loads of pics of the rainforest and any reps or things of interest i see.


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## ollie1

Cool. Even though im a desert kind of guy...


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## trw

currently sitting in a youth hostel in Miri. have just got back from 2 and a half weeks in the rainforest and small villages. i will upload pictures when i get home to london, but it has so far been amazing and i have hundreds of photos to chose from to upload.


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## ollie1

cool!:no1:


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## KaneDragon

trw said:


> currently sitting in a youth hostel in Miri. have just got back from 2 and a half weeks in the rainforest and small villages. i will upload pictures when i get home to london, but it has so far been amazing and i have hundreds of photos to chose from to upload.


Dont choose, upload them all!!


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## trw

KaneDragon said:


> Dont choose, upload them all!!


i have over 500 photos. it would litterally take me for ever tyo do them all. maybe i could upload 15 a day.


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## aaron1989

*royal pyhtons natural habitat*

hy mate can you add some pics of a royal pythons natural habitat ?? 
cheers mate:2thumb:


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## trw

aaron1989 said:


> hy mate can you add some pics of a royal pythons natural habitat ??
> cheers mate:2thumb:


i dont have any photos of a royals habitat. the thread was made for people to add any pics or info that they have about particular habitats, and if your lucky there might be pics of a habitat you want to recreate, and otherwise just enjoy the pics. if you find any pics or info then add it to the thread though and others will appreciate it im sure.


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## KaneDragon

I believe it would look somthing like this.


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## trw

got back from borneo on friday. finally managed to get a good night sleep so no longer tired and so will get some pics up today.


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## trw

there were 3 in this area. you can see 2 in this photo but theer was a little 4 footer around the beach


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## trw




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## trw

this is the block of flats my dad was born in and lived for 5 years.


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## trw

i will post the rest of the pics later this week


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## KaneDragon

You are one lucky man, they pictures look amazing!

Did you go on a holiday there and then just do a tour or did you book up for a tour before you went?

Also who is the kid in the first few pics?


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## pirez

Cool pics, good trip then I take it?


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## trw

KaneDragon said:


> You are one lucky man, they pictures look amazing!
> 
> Did you go on a holiday there and then just do a tour or did you book up for a tour before you went?
> 
> Also who is the kid in the first few pics?


the kid is me. i look very young, but im nearly 18. the trip was with an organisation called world challenge.



pire said:


> Cool pics, good trip then I take it?


trip was amazing. best month of my life and saw loads of wild life


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## ollie1

What a stunning place!! I love how remote it is:flrt::notworthy:


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## HadesDragons

Some cracking photos there - looks like you saw a nice mix of the area!

Is that saltwater that the monitors are swimming in in the first set of shots?


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## trw

HadesDragons said:


> Some cracking photos there - looks like you saw a nice mix of the area!
> 
> Is that saltwater that the monitors are swimming in in the first set of shots?


yeh. we were camping on a small island, and in the evening 3 5 foot and up water monitors came strolling across the beach and 2 of them went swimming off into the sea. one stayed close to the island and didnt go into deep water, but the other one went swimming off quite a distance until i took my eye off it and when i looked back it was gone.


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## HadesDragons

Some more photos that I don't think I've put on before. You'll have to excuse the lack of herps in most of them - we found a few (and quite a few hatched droppings/eggs/shed snake skins as evidence that they were living there out of sight), but were there for other reasons. They should give an idea as to the type of terrain, colours etc. 

It's hard to convey the sense of scale in a lot of these photos, as well as the dramatic temperature changes in the desert regions (not the Central American ones!) We were travelling fast and light in the desert so didn't have tents or any "luxuries" like that - in the evening we'd literally be huddled around a fire in fleeces, then by mid-morning the sun would be up and we'd just be in shorts. Most inhabitants of these types of area are a lot hardier and more cold-tolerant than people give them credit for.



First the ones where you don't tend to find permanent life - generally open, barren sandy areas, miles from the nearest water source. No food + no water + no shelter = no surface-level inhabitants...














































The cave above made a pretty good camp for a night for us, but nothing else was there. Although it looks promising, it was deserted - no shed skins, droppings etc. It's just too remote and far from anywhere habitable (we're talking around a day's walk from the nearest "occasional" water source...) This was the view from our "cave camp" the next morning. Not a bad sight to wake up to:












Try to ignore the elephant and look what it's stood on - that's fine-grade loose gravel. Despite being in the middle of the desert, there's not much sand there...












Typical "African Plains" type scene - note the tall, pale grasses that dominate here. There's a lot of food and shelter around, so you find lots of life, especially around the bases of the trees/shrubs and around rock piles:










Out there, this is the equivalent of an A road and is about as good as things get...










In the evening - we let the herd pass, set up camp, then crossed the mountains the following day.










A very hard gravel floor, with dense grass growing through:










Again, that's gravel, not sand - aside from a few dunes, the only real areas of sand were in dry river beds:












Rocky areas - as long as they weren't too remote, these tended to support a lot of life. There's plenty of cover, generally quite a bit of food, and insects have a habit of congregating around them. The best areas for finding life were - as always - around the bases of trees/shrubs and around larger rocks:



















A cave inhabited by Hyrax:



















Lots of life on this hillside, as well as in the grass surrounding it:












Typical terrain once you're above (but only just!) the river beds and plains. There's a surprising amount lives here - baboons, lizards, snakes, hyrax etc. I guess it's because there's a lot of shelter and food, and they're not too far from water...


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## HadesDragons

A dassie rat hideaway - the white stuff is their excrement. They literally hang over the edge of their cave and let loose...












A bit of a thicket near a river bed - spot the elephant 












A steep valley above some wetland. Life here is closely tied to water availability - as soon as you get up from the valley floor there's not a great deal to see as most plants aren't able to grow. There's a real contrast between the dense vegetation of the valley floor, and the bare, rocky sides. The only thing of interest that we found was this baboon (centre of the photo) - I guess he'd climbed up for the view like we did.










Something that looks like it belongs in Lord of the Rings - unfortunately unless you can see it first hand it's impossible to appreciate the scale of it all...





















As you get lower down and nearer the water table, you actually find green things :gasp:





















Where the terrain really drops you'll get a sudden "oasis" effect and even surface water - you can really see the contrast between the strip of "oasis" and the surrounding desert. The vegetation literally just stops - it goes from undergrowth so dense it's pretty much impassable, to open desert. As always, where there's cover, food and water there's a lot of life:







































The river does periodically flood the central channel - off to the sides which are seldom flooded you can see really dense vegetation which had a lot living in them.



















Our "path" at one point - reminds me of an old Vietnam war film. You have to remember that this was literally a couple of hundred yards from open desert as well, as you can see in the "zoomed out" photos just before.












A "proper" oasis in the middle of the desert:




















Central American mangrove - this type of thing could also look good in a freshwater setup (imagine it for water dragons...) if you modified the types of plants accordingly...



















And a bit further out of the mangrove channels, nearer to the open water:


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## trw

excellent pictures. thanks for posting them. i may take inspiration from some of the desert pictures when i finally get round to building my leos new habitat


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## Sarah93

That trip looks amazing! I'm hoping to go on a similar one but for ten weeks to Madagascar but probably not for like four years till after uni, but those pictures make me want to go even more now, i know borneo isn't Madagascar lol but just seeing people's own experiences really brings it to life


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## pirez

Great photos mate!


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## xander1796

i'm trying to use some pics i have from afghanistan and iraq to get my uromastyx's tank look good, problem is it's 10x3x3 and i cant get the consistency of the mix right for the cracked clay/sand ground any ideas? i don't want to mess it up on this scale and yours looks amazing :notworthy:


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## trw

xander1796 said:


> i'm trying to use some pics i have from afghanistan and iraq to get my uromastyx's tank look good, problem is it's 10x3x3 and i cant get the consistency of the mix right for the cracked clay/sand ground any ideas? i don't want to mess it up on this scale and yours looks amazing :notworthy:


you gotta get these pics up. ive been wanting some pics from that sort of area to see leo habitats. hades dragon did a uro viv build thread. you could get some substrate ideas from there. he made a cracked dry riverbed


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## xander1796

thanks trw i'll get them on asapjust need to edit a few for on here, nobody wants to see me in them lol :gasp:


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## LemmyElvis

Just a suggestion, I don't know the actual UV levels that high Pressure Sodium lights emit but they are good for growing plants so maybe would work well for a naturalistic viv. Artificial sunlight to grow plants, heat the enviroment and emit UV maybe...
Mike


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## chuckie127

see i am a big fan of natural habitats and prefer them to simple ones..


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## [email protected]

have been trying to get a picture of a crested gecko's habitat on the web for ages!!! then i remembered i heared that one of the places they have been spotted was in the forest on the isle of pines. i know that they are not great but its better than nothing  ...
















i hope this helps a little


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## Love Pets

Awsome,I love this thread.
Do you guys have any pics of mourning geckos habitat???
I will put some pics of habitats from Romania of commonly kept herps.
*Fire salamander*_(salamandra salamandra)_ habitat








*European green toad*_(bufo viridis) _and *yellow-bellied toad*_(bombina variegata) _habitat
















*Alpine newt*_(ichtyosaura alpestris) _and *yellow-bellied toad *habitat








*Dice snake*_(natrix tessellata) _habitat


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## Xerse

Pendragon said:


> It's amazing just how hard it is to get good pictures of a Leo's natural habitat, most of the good pics on here come from peoples holiday snaps, so I suppose the deserts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran aren't peoples first (or last) choice of holiday destinations.
> 
> :lol2:
> 
> Does anyone know any service men/women coming back from Afghanistan with some good pics?
> 
> Jay


My brother might be going back to Afghan in february, i'll ask him to try get some snaps if he can, obviously after all of the :war: :lol2:

He was in qatar a couple years ago, (island off afghan i think) and with him being a sniper, when he does what he needs to do, he gets free time, him and his friends all went to the sand dunes and decided to get naked and roll down them, much to my brothers dismay, he was bitten by a wolf spider. :rotfl:


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## Pendragon

Xerse said:


> My brother might be going back to Afghan in february, i'll ask him to try get some snaps if he can, obviously after all of the :war: :lol2:
> 
> He was in qatar a couple years ago, (island off afghan i think) and with him being a sniper, when he does what he needs to do, he gets free time, him and his friends all went to the sand dunes and decided to get naked and roll down them, much to my brothers dismay, he was bitten by a wolf spider. :rotfl:


:lol2: I think there is a lesson to be learnt here

Jay


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## NickBenger

cbarnes1987 said:


> how about for a corn snake a viv styled like an olde worlde yank barn floor, corn and hay as substrate a fake background with a bale of hay... a pitch fork or a milk urn??? thats pretty natural. maybe an old boot as a hide :lol2:


They have something similar at London Zoo for one of the american snake species.


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## Trissai

this thread is awesome


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## [email protected]

TheDogMan said:


> They have something similar at London Zoo for one of the american snake species.


that is my favorite display at the reptile house. I think its for the Puff Adders


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## NickBenger

[email protected] said:


> that is my favorite display at the reptile house. I think its for the Puff Adders


haha yeah wish I took pictures now, but was too busy flirting with the girls :lol2:


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## gecko lady

great thread! does anybody happen to have any pics from desserts in mexico?


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## deanoce

No but you could google "churro" and you might get some results.


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## gecko lady

Thanks for that... Not as though I've already done that, just wanted sone pics of close up habitats there


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## hawktrainer

i am a big fan of natural habitats and prefer them but no mater haw much i try get my boas as natural as possible it never seems to quit work out


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## Scales123

does anyone have pictures of what an African House snake habitat would look like, 
Cheers, 
Alex
great thread btw!


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## scott stewart

Loving this thread  
Anybody have any info on Burmese pythons , royal pythons and im gonna throw a swerve ball at you all - corn island boa's


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## mdc10

brilliant thread does anybody have pictures of their own vivs or somebody elses that have been well decorated im wanting some ideas for my boa viv?


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## Smysha

I love all the pictures guys!

I've seen a LOT of leopard geckos in the wild. Twenty at a time up on a wall of some building in the evening in busy, busy Lahore, Pakistan. Or on the pavements or on some rubble. They are EVERYWHERE in the night.


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## NickBenger

Smysha said:


> I love all the pictures guys!
> 
> I've seen a LOT of *leopard geckos *in the wild. Twenty at a time *up on a wall *of some building in the evening in busy, busy Lahore, Pakistan. Or on the pavements or on some rubble. They are EVERYWHERE in the night.


Really?...:lol2:


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## Smysha

NickBenger said:


> Really?...:lol2:


It can give you a shock because you just don't expect to see them. It's dark and the streets aren't exactly well lit with lamps. You've just left a restaurant and you've gotten into your car. You start it up, turn on the headlamps and BHAM! The light shines on tonnes of them on the low brick wall which you parked behind. It's not shocking for people who live there but I get surprised by them. You don't notice them at all unless you actively look for them or if a light shines on them. 

Gave me that creepy crawly feeling.


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## NickBenger

Smysha said:


> It can give you a shock because you just don't expect to see them. It's dark and the streets aren't exactly well lit with lamps. You've just left a restaurant and you've gotten into your car. You start it up, turn on the headlamps and BHAM! The light shines on tonnes of them on the low brick wall which you parked behind. It's not shocking for people who live there but I get surprised by them. You don't notice them at all unless you actively look for them or if a light shines on them.
> 
> Gave me that creepy crawly feeling.


I guess you mean that they climb onto a small wall not up it like a Tokay would, that's how I imagined it from your intitial comment :lol2:


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## colesy4

This is a great thread, really interesting. particularly like the tokay natural habitat.


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## darragh 3.0

best thread so far love it


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## Totallytortoise

YEAH!
*runs off into garden with cress seeds* 
IN YOUR FACE TREES!


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## jarry

wow amazing and interesting...its true that no human can create such an amazing natural environment for animals..


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## paul3col

Pinwallace said:


> Interesting thread!
> Here's a few photos of a Boomslang ( _Dispholidus typus_ ) I saw in South Africa.
> The snake was found at my parents house on the edge of the Magaliesberg nature reserve. The wall in the background is the outside wall of their kitchen.
> image
> 
> image
> 
> Heres their house
> image
> 
> The surounding area is classed as moist savanna and is heaven for birds and arboreal reptiles. Various fruit trees grow in the area like wild figs, jacket plum and amarulas. Also different species of acacia (like the one the snake was in), rhus and iron wood trees. The avarage annual rainfall is 700mm and the avarage max. temp. is 26 C in summer.
> 
> image
> 
> image
> 
> image


What an amazing place to live.


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## monstervivs

*Beardie 6x2x2 for education department in a zoo*


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## Ron Magpie

monstervivs said:


> image


Stunning- what's living in there?


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## plasma234

> *Beardie *6x2x2 for education department in a zoo


 :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Phototw4t

If anyone has any pictures of panther chameleons in the wild and their surroundings, that would be fantastic!

I've tried to find some pictures but all I can manage to find are close ups of just the cham :/

I'm just trying to gather ideas for a new, bigger viv for when my cham grows old enough to get put into his final home so I want to go all out with it and make it as natural as possible!


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## Lori

When I went to australia, last month, there's were plenty of skinks, spiders and we seen a couple of brown snakes, around these areas... The pictures were all taken in queensland in the same area, the first few pictures walking through the foresty area was really dry, rocky, with gravelly dirt, the last few pictures was kind of in the middle of the foresty area, was a waterfall, where the skinks were also found, it was still dry, but not gravelly, just pure rocks. I only had my phone on me at the time, I do have a couple of pictures of the skinks, but they're terrible, i wasn't great at identifying them, if anyone has any idea by looking at the terrible pictures, I'd love to know!! Also seen quite a few geckos during my stay in oz, but they were always just in the house, so unless you want to turn your viv into a house, I'll leave those pictures out! 






























































this is about as close as we could get to the skinks as they were so skittish

And a zoomed in picture( that's worse than the first one)


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## rexob

brilliant :2thumb:


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## saisaac

jarry said:


> wow amazing and interesting...its true that no human can create such an amazing natural environment for animals..


 
But we will keep trying!


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## Viqer Fell

Some very amazing photographs


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## dinosaur lou

trw said:


> hi, ive noticed on the forum that alot of people like to try and make their reptiles vivariums as natural as possible, but not many people actually know what the real natural habitats of their pets are like, so i thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where people could post pics they have taken of reptiles found in the hobby in their natural habitats and photos of the landscape and maybe a description to help people to make their reptiles homes as natural as possible.
> 
> ill start of with some tokays in malaysia.
> image
> image
> image
> image
> image
> image
> image
> 
> there was 5 tokays living in the wall together and this was in an area passed by tourists everyday. there were also tokays living in tree cracks and hiding behind roof trusses.i dont know what type of plant it is growing on the wall, but it was everywhere. there were also lots of ferns and wild ginger plants at the base of the wall. also there was a type of plant called localy "touch me not's" which close there leaves up when they are touched and these plants were like grass there.
> 
> i have a few more photos of the area, but they are on my dads computer so i will upload them later.


There amazing creatures great thread thanks a lot !


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## LassoftheLakes

*Malagasy Snakes: Hognoses, Boas and Leaf-Nosed*

Hi there, great thread!

I worked in North Western Madagascar (Matsedroy, Mariarano, Mahajanga and Nosy Be) with Black/Giant Hognoses, Blonde Hognoses+ Ground and Tree Boas. I unfortunately never saw leaf-nosed snakes however my colleagues found them in the same areas.

I've posted some photos below to show you where I came across them. The ground was incredibly dry, orange clay so not what is advised for vivaria of what I've seen. It was a humid and hot temperature (~30 degrees Celsius at lunchtime in their winter by the equator). 

The pictures are not great however I hope they help/are interesting :2thumb:

I've also included the link to my blog where you canf ind all of my photos from my trip to madagascar with a range of landscapes, herps (crocodiles, chameleons, lizards, geckos), insects and birds:https://lassofthelakes.wordpress.com/madagascar-photos/


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## dps51

some nice natural habitats 
but don't show a lot what is living there 
snakes lizards frogs spiders so where are they 
they all can not be hiding 
I don't think I can get a elephant living in my living room


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## Neur94

Really useful to see habitat photos when trying to create naturalistic set-ups, so I thought I'd try to resurrect this and share a few I've taken of some of the more commonly kept species over the years...

Hermann's tortoise shots from Spain (Menorca):

https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/members/neur94-albums-field-herping-picture245735-testudo-hermanni-habitat.jpg
https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/members/neur94-albums-field-herping-picture245743-testudo-hermanni-spain.jpg
https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/members/neur94-albums-field-herping-picture245741-testudo-hermanni-habitat-spain.jpg
https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/members/neur94-albums-field-herping-picture245745-testudo-hermanni-spain.jpg

Eastern collared lizard habitat in northern Arizona:

https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/for...icture245683-crotaphytus-collaris-arizona.jpg
https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/for...5747-crotaphytus-collaris-habitat-arizona.jpg

And a couple of desert iguana shots from California:

https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/for...37-diposaurus-dorsalis-habitat-california.jpg
https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/for...ure245739-dipsosaurus-dorsalis-california.jpg

Cheers,

George


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## Zincubus

I’m experimenting with branches and moss currently... going really well .











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## richardhind

Zincubus said:


> I’m experimenting with branches and moss currently... going really well .
> 
> image
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


Looks awsome 

Sent from my ELS-NX9 using Tapatalk


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## Zincubus

This is a funny one ...

I have some older Royals on vivs that have two identical hides in each .. then I know they’re choosing the heat range and not just going for the hide they feel safest in .


Now oddly enough , I chose a completely different strategy for my four ‘baby’ Albino Royals ... all in wooden vivs like the others BUT they have a load of slightly curved, bark pieces all laid haphazardly over the floor of their vivs . The bark pieces simply create loads of safe , hiding places .

The pieces get moved around and relocated when I clean the vivs out .


Interestingly all four are absolute brilliant feeders and will strike feed just about anywhere in their vivs - even if they’re hanging from branches .


The older ones will ONLY strike feed from within the security of their hide entrances.



















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