Bioactive Vivarium - Gargoyle Gecko

[Gourami Swami]

Hello MFK,
Wanted to share another hobby of mine, herp/reptile keeping, and building naturalistic enclosures.
This is my newest bioactive enclosure, built for a New Caledonian Rhacodactylus Auriculatus (Gargoyle gecko). The tank is a standard 20long (12x12x30) fitted with the iheartgeckos vertical door kit. The tank was set up and planted about 3 months ago now, and I have seen great growth in all of the plants in that time. I gave them about a month before introducing my gargoyle gecko named "Nino".
Early construction


Finished product






The encolsure is fully drainable, with a hidden siphon tube into the eggcrate/rock false bottom. I use ABG mix substrate which absorbs water well, and I have not needed to drain at all yet.


And here is the resident, "El Nino Rojo" aka Nino. He is a red base/red blotch reticulated morph with good genes, who will hopefully be a breeder for me this year.



Thanks for viewing, let me know if any questions.
-GS

 

[Chief Tom]

Awesome. I so wish I could do something like that but, alas, I have a bearded dragon which limits the humidity I can work with. Maybe in the future. Sigh.

 

[Chief Tom]

Did you put any bugs in the substrate?

 

[Gourami Swami]

Awesome. I so wish I could do something like that but, alas, I have a bearded dragon which limits the humidity I can work with. Maybe in the future. Sigh.

Thanks. I have seen people build naturalistic vivariums for beardeds and leopard geckos with a desert theme. Just need to use different materials and desert plants, but it is do-able!
I do have an insect clean-up crew of both springtails and isopods. The springtails I bought online, the isopods originally came from my garden.

 

[tlindsey]

Hello MFK,
Wanted to share another hobby of mine, herp/reptile keeping, and building naturalistic enclosures.
This is my newest bioactive enclosure, built for a New Caledonian Rhacodactylus Auriculatus (Gargoyle gecko). The tank is a standard 20long (12x12x30) fitted with the iheartgeckos vertical door kit. The tank was set up and planted about 3 months ago now, and I have seen great growth in all of the plants in that time. I gave them about a month before introducing my gargoyle gecko named "Nino".
Early construction
View attachment 1424104

Finished product
View attachment 1424106

View attachment 1424105

View attachment 1424108

The encolsure is fully drainable, with a hidden siphon tube into the eggcrate/rock false bottom. I use ABG mix substrate which absorbs water well, and I have not needed to drain at all yet.
View attachment 1424107

And here is the resident, "El Nino Rojo" aka Nino. He is a red base/red blotch reticulated morph with good genes, who will hopefully be a breeder for me this year.
View attachment 1424111
View attachment 1424112

Thanks for viewing, let me know if any questions.
-GS

That's a awesome setup and that door kit was a excellent idea. That could be a great for Jackson Chameleon.

 

[MatteoTheEnder22]

What an awesome vivarium it looks great!!!!

 

[Gourami Swami]

That's a awesome setup and that door kit was a excellent idea. That could be a great for Jackson Chameleon.

The door kits are awesome, my only gripe about them (and what might make them less-than-ideal for a chameleon) is that the ventilation is not the best. I counter this by having a small fan which blows at the enclosure (and into the vents) for part of the day.

MatteoTheEnder22 Thank you!

 

[deeda]

Beautiful job on the decor, how is Nino enjoying the new digs?

 

[Hendre]

Lovely stuff! I will show this to my brother, he also has big plans in mind for his geckos. Mind sharing some of the plants and so on? I need to start planning for my little crestie, only a few months old so plenty of time

Nino is a stunner by the way!

 

[twentyleagues]

Ahh I love the gargoyle geckos, satanic leaf geckos, and crested I'm sure there are a couple that I missed. That door is sweeeeeet! Do they make them for other size tanks? I was thinking 40b?
Tank looks killer too!