# My desert themed viv (with full details)



## revol (Mar 1, 2014)

Hello all,

Just wanted to post a few pictures of my vivarium which I've put together for my 6-month old leopard gecko Hetty. I'm quite pleased with the stage it's at currently, and would welcome any comments/feedback. I'm a new reptile owner, so am completely welcome any concerns etc. I'm here to learn.

I've included some detail on equipment/decoration used at the bottom for completeness.

*Full shots:*




















*Close ups:*






































*Evening (6pm-8pm, then total darkness):*




















I'm going to try and cover everything involved below, and link where possible. It's more to document what I've done for my own sanity(!)

*Equipment:*

The vivarium is a 36x15x15 black wooden vivarium bought from Warrington Pets and Exotics. This is where I got Hetty and my livefood, it really is a great place. 

A Microclimate B2 pulse stat (mounted outside the viv on the back) controls a ProRep 11x11inch heatmat sat directly under the substrate on the right hand side. This maintains a constant 90-92f floor temperature measured using a Komodo Digital thermometer.

A Microclimate B1ME dimmer stat is mounted top right inside the vivarium, controlling a 50w ceramic heat bulb in an Arcadia ceramic holder. The stat is mounted inside because my room is dark and the light sensor to switch to a night drop is controlled by the viv lighting instead of daylight. The room the viv in is cold, and the ambient air at the hot end needed a boost to 78f in the day (measured 6inch above the substrate with another thermometer), with the light switching off turning the stat to night mode which is set 10f lower. 

MY CONCERN: The bulb is unguarded, but away from anything she could climb on to get near to it, and it's only ever mildly warm. I know this is a potential danger without a guard, and am looking into some kind of cage to fit over, or cutting a large circle in the top of the viv and mounting the bulb in a dome.

The vivarium is lit from 6am-6pm with LED strip lighting from IKEA. It casts a slightly 'yellow' light as opposed to brilliant white.

From 5.30pm-8.30pm the blue moonlight shines from the Arcadia Vivarium Moonlight LED system to simulate dusk. At 8.30pm it's off and complete darkness until the morning.

Both lights are controlled using a simple timer plugs from B&Q.


*Decoration/hides/substrate/bowls:*

I wanted to go for a rocky desert terrain, something I've seen done so well in other viv's when browsing on here.

Background: Picture backdrop mounted using double sided sticky tape.


Substrate: Lino from a carpet shop (something like this). It's easy to clean, no risk to the gecko, and is cheap. This sits on top of 25mm thick polystyrene board covering the base of the viv (from Wickes), with the heatmat sitting between the polystrene and the lino. This protects the wood from the heatmat, and is a good insulator.


Hides:

- Exo Terra Gecko Cave (Medium) for the moist hide, sat half on/half off the heatmat with Sphagnum moss inside. 

- Log hide on the hot side (I remember what I ordered was huge, so sawed and chopped it right down!)

- Rock-type hide on the cold side (bought from Warrington Pets & Exotics, can't find a link).


Rocks/wood:

- Piece of mopani wood positioned at the back resting on the large corner slates.

- (Desert bush bleached x3). I stuck the three together to form a bigger piece using a glue gun, then drilled a hole in a rock and pushed the bush into the hole in the rock for stability in the vivarium.

- The rocks were all bought from a garden centre, comprising 3 pieces of slate-type rock stacked at the far left corner, and several sizes/types of small rocks and pebbles used elsewhere.


Plants:

- Rose of Jericho at the front left. This is an amazing plant, often called a Resurrection Plant, and appears dead. However, a soak in shallow water and in an hour or two it opens out and is lush and green. After a few days to dry, it curls up and goes back to a brown ball. I rinsed this first to remove excess dirt.

- Various grass bunches - I bought some ornamental grass, Carex, from a garden centre, and trimmed and bunched at the bottom with masking tape and poked them behind rocks. I also picked up some grasses from B&Q and dried out and bunched some of these.


Bowls:

I use a Pets at Home small water dish at the back centre with fresh water. At the front (probably slightly out of sight behind the front lip of the vivarium), I have a small calcium dish, and a mealworm dish (which she never eats from but gives me peace of mind that there's food there in case).


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## wezza309 (Jun 21, 2012)

looks good
like the rose of jericho : victory:
you can get an angled guard just ask at the shop next time your in


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## Ste123 (Apr 30, 2011)

looks awful and probably is spoiling your house. I am happy to take it off you and send you a replacement flatpack viv so you can try again now.....

looks amazing well done :no1:


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## bigd_1 (May 31, 2011)

is up there with the best setups i seen of leos :no1:


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## dragora (May 12, 2008)

looks great i find desert set ups the hardest to make look good.


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## revol (Mar 1, 2014)

Thank you for the kind comments, it's been a bit of a labour of love and really appreciate the feedback. I've really enjoyed putting it together, it's such a different a new experience doing something like this. 

Thanks for the note about angled bulb guards wezza309, I'll definitely be investing in that. It's probably my biggest 'ugh' of the vivarium having that bulb unguarded. 

Now, I just wish she'd actually leave her hot end a bit more and go rock climbing, but I guess she prefers lazing in the warmth to adventuring!


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

looks great!

just watch your hands and arms on that ceramic when you carry out viv maintenance. You may want to invest in a cage for it.

They get massively hot!

LED looks super cool

John


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## marty5588 (Jun 6, 2013)

Great looking set up!!! 10 out of 10:notworthy:


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## JayR (Jul 11, 2011)

very smart setup: victory:


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## Paul112 (Apr 6, 2007)

Looks excellent! It's nice to see a good example of a naturalistic leopard gecko habitat. Given the choice, I think I would still use a mix of sand/soil to allow for burrowing, but I can understand the lino idea for health and hygeine.

Keep up the good work!

Best,
Paul


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## Reptasia (Mar 19, 2013)

*Awesome Set Up.*

This is a brilliant set up which allows leo's to express natural behaviour.

If the LED white python?? I use the blue Whitepython with all reptiles that have white in their marking as it makes it glow!!!


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## *Blackadder* (Jul 16, 2011)

Very nice :no1: The more yellow led light.Gives it a bright sun desert kinda look  rather then a white light.that lighting adds to the overall look.


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## tdachel (Jul 15, 2010)

Ok, Let see here...
There should be plenty of room - You've got that
A couple of nice, snug hides - You've got that
A heat gradient - you've got that
Do you see a pattern here?
Easy to keep clean - you've got that
Plenty of room to grow into - looks like you've got that too.
Initially, I didn't like the heat map, but it sounds like you've taken every precaution to make it safe...
I like sand for burrowing, but your design still works very nicely
I love the carex and other plants.
It sounds like you like the design and that counts for a lot too. 
Nice work.


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## Fi godwin ni eto (Mar 12, 2014)

Love it


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## revol (Mar 1, 2014)

Thank you again for the nice comments, really loved setting it up and looking forward to tweaking it further! Still need to do something with the right hand side, maybe some more grasses just to make it look more natural. 

She has now decided that the Rose of Jericho corner is her preferred poop spot, unfortunately the poor plant got a full dose of that and needed a good rinse! 

@Reptasia - the light isn't a white python, it's a Ikea LED strip for the daylight (linked in the top post) and the arcadia moonlight strip for dusk. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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