Lizardy Type Things!

[Miss Wiggle]

Ian's decided he wants his next pet to be some sort of lizard/gecko..... you get the idea.

we're a little short of room though, i think the biggest vivarium we could find room for would be 2 foot long, but we could go 2 foot tall to give extra room although i understand this won't be suitable for everyone.

had a chat to the girl in the reptile section of our lfs the other day and she told us a bit of info, basic care etc.

we've not decided 100% that we want to get one, just finding out a bit.

so has anyone got any suggestions of something that would like this size/shape of tank (and I mean for life, i wouldn't want to get something and keep it all cramped up in too small a space, we may be able to upgrade it one day but no plans so don't count on it!) that's cool and pretty.

also, the bugs you feed them, Ian would want to breed them...... but they really creep me out i dunno how i'd cope having them in the house..... do you get over this and get used to them!?

 

[moray]

I've got crested geckos that are lovely little creatures, they are aboreal so need height more than width but 2 foot by 2 foot would be fine for them, they would need plenty of fake plants amd high humidity, they also need good ventilation, they are a bit expensive but worth every penny, I love mine (Ivor and Idris) they are nocternal so it you want to see them all day they wouldn't suit you. The other good thing is if you don't like bugs in the house then you can buy them a whole crested gecko food which looks after all their needs. They really are gorgeous creatures, hmmmm need more cresties

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ooh they're cute!

we're all set on the humidity (well we know about it anyway! ) we've thought about heat distribution in a tall vivarium and ensuring the decor is laid out so they can use the full height of the tank etc.

not to sure about something mostly nocturnal though. I'd like to be able to see them and play with them a bit.

i've heard you can get pellet type food for most lizard's but that's it's really not that great and it's best to stick to live food and veggies.

we were also thinking, everyone has fake plants in they're viv's...... would it be easy/practical etc etc to grow proper tropical plants in there?

 

[lljdma06]

we were also thinking, everyone has fake plants in they're viv's...... would it be easy/practical etc etc to grow proper tropical plants in there?

If you wanted live plants in your vivarium, I would stick with low-light, high moisture varieties. But, you may also want to take into consideration whether or not the plant may be toxic. There are some that are toxic to larger pets, including cats and dogs. On the flip side, however, I have an outdoor pothos plant that is a constant battle ground for cuban anoles and other Floridian lizards, and pothos is listed as a poisonous plant. I'm not seeing dead lizards littering the ground near it. Pothos is a great, hardy plant that thrives in low-light, high humidity conditions consistant with a vivarium. Ferns and mosses may also do well. What may be fine for anoles, however may not be so great for other lizards, especially if they eat vegetable matter.

llj

 

[Miss Wiggle]

we were also thinking, everyone has fake plants in they're viv's...... would it be easy/practical etc etc to grow proper tropical plants in there?

If you wanted live plants in your vivarium, I would stick with low-light, high moisture varieties. But, you may also want to take into consideration whether or not the plant may be toxic. There are some that are toxic to larger pets, including cats and dogs. On the flip side, however, I have an outdoor pothos plant that is a constant battle ground for cuban anoles and other Floridian lizards, and pothos is listed as a poisonous plant. I'm not seeing dead lizards littering the ground near it. Pothos is a great, hardy plant that thrives in low-light, high humidity conditions consistant with a vivarium. Ferns and mosses may also do well. What may be fine for anoles, however may not be so great for other lizards, especially if they eat vegetable matter.

llj

cool thanks for that llj, i'll look into it some more!

 

[juliehainsworth]

Miss Wiggle, have you thought about having a leopard gecko? They could easily be housed in a 2ft tank/viv, they eat crickets or mealworms but there is a debate which is best. My friend prefers crickets for hers and I must admit when I had him at mine I had no probs touching the crickets but the mealworms I dont think I'd be able to do. They are also probably the easiest gecko/lizard to start with, and pretty easy to handle and care for. I eventually want to have one but it wont be for a few years yet.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Miss Wiggle, have you thought about having a leopard gecko? They could easily be housed in a 2ft tank/viv, they eat crickets or mealworms but there is a debate which is best. My friend prefers crickets for hers and I must admit when I had him at mine I had no probs touching the crickets but the mealworms I dont think I'd be able to do. They are also probably the easiest gecko/lizard to start with, and pretty easy to handle and care for. I eventually want to have one but it wont be for a few years yet.

they look pretty cool!

Ian didn't seem very impressed with the idea of a Gecko though (lord only knows why!) any non-gecko suggestions?

 

[moray]

ooh they're cute!

we're all set on the humidity (well we know about it anyway! ) we've thought about heat distribution in a tall vivarium and ensuring the decor is laid out so they can use the full height of the tank etc.

not to sure about something mostly nocturnal though. I'd like to be able to see them and play with them a bit.

i've heard you can get pellet type food for most lizard's but that's it's really not that great and it's best to stick to live food and veggies.

we were also thinking, everyone has fake plants in they're viv's...... would it be easy/practical etc etc to grow proper tropical plants in there?

fake plants tend to be better with cresties as they are not the cleanest creatures and fake plants are easy to clean. live plants don't do particularly well with them either as they don't need a uv light and you can't put them in direct sunlight so the plants don't do well (the other good thing about cresties is they do well at room temp so heating is not a prob).

You could try anoles, small lizards but you can keep quite a few together. I've seen some lovely tanks with them being kept with tree frogs, interesting little creatures and supposedly good starter lizards.

 

[grahamsokel]

If he doesnt really want geckos as already said a group of anoles could live in a viv that size or depending on how commited he is as they are a much harder species he could go for something like a pair of Carpet Chameleons.They are one of the smaller species and a pair could live in a viv that size no problem.My friend is breeding them and she keeps hers in the Exo Terras and they look great setup

 

[Miss Wiggle]

cool, some good ideas there! i like the idea of a tree frog, they have all sorts of crazy frogs in our lfs in the reptile bit. I want a froggly

 

[Leopard-danio]

Hehe tree frogs are cute

 

[grahamsokel]

i keep my 3 whites in a 3ft viv and its 2 ft High and 18" Deep they can get very noisy during the night and sound like a small dog barking

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i keep my 3 whites in a 3ft viv and its 2 ft High and 18" Deep they can get very noisy during the night and sound like a small dog barking

really ?? maybe not then.... it's gonna be in our bedroom

 

[grahamsokel]

there is 2 downloads on this site that has 2 different calls of the whites mine do quite often make the bottom one but they also do a barking noise.even using the vacume sets them off calling turn your volume up and that will give you an idea of how loud they are

http/www.allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/whites.html

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there is 2 downloads on this site that has 2 different calls of the whites mine do quite often make the bottom one but they also do a barking noise.even using the vacume sets them off calling turn your volume up and that will give you an idea of how loud they are

http/www.allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/whites.html

ha ha no chance then! that would drive me mental