False bottom setup for Crested Gecko?
- Thread starter Brendan
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It could work really well. Even better, if you have plenty of stuff above the ground, you could use a water basin for a bottom provided the gecko has a way to get out if it falls in. Of course regardless of what you do, you will want to be spraying to ensure it can drink water droplets.
Cheers,
Dave
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I think he's saying that the reason that method is used is to ensure humidity while burrowing. Try looking at the other herp forums they have a similar technique but without all the unnecessary substrate. I just forgot how it's made
-Eddy
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It doesn't have anything to do with burrowing, but the fact that either flooding the substrate or using a false bottom (which is basically flooding a layer of gravel substrate) will retain moisture and thus humidity MUCH longer than misting, which will last for seconds at best.
Tarantula keepers flood substrate all the time to keep the enclosure humid for species that need it. The reason some people use a layer of gravel for things like emperor scorpions (which need tremendously high humidity) is because gravel isn't going to mold like some soils will if kept damp 24/7.
You could probably just skip the gravel with crested geckos and just put in a hefty layer of chemical-free peat moss. As I understand it, they aren't so insanely fragile that they'll keel over and die if you let the peat dry out once or twice a week (provided you keep misting them for drinking water), so you don't really need to bother with anything more complex than that.
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Actually, the layer just above the gravel tends to stay soggy all the time anyhow, so there goes that theory. The reason I have used such systems is that I am lazy and I want to be able to keep more water down there than you would with dirt. I actually use old containers with holes punched in them for the middle of the bottom layer and then just put gravel around for looks.
Cheers,
Dave
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True, but there's not gonna be any food bits or poop down there to serve as a mold magnet, so it wouldn't be AS bad.
Exactly.
I have no clue what those other people are talking about with the "burrowing" part.
my bad, thought you were talking about a different type of setup.
good luck
No problem. If you don't mind, what type of setup did you think I was talking about? I'm pretty sure what I said was very straight forward
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There are other ways to make a false-bottom set up but the set-up we scorp keepers typically use is (simply) gravel, 7 inches of dirt, water-feed tube. That makes for a really heavy set-up thats not bad at all for emps that need high humidity and burrow them selves because spraying alone doesn't get the the bottom layer of peat. Heres a link I got from Josh R http://www.dendroboard.com/parts-construction/topic19118.html?sid=74cb900e72308898e0edffda632e6009. I cant see the pics here at work but the way he describes it is a lighter, better version of it the false bottom set up we use. Thats all I was recomending.
-Eddy
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Water Ag and/or False Bottoms work EXCELLENT for Crested Geckos! I've kept all of mine this way... geckos are happy, as well as, the many live plants. Good luck with your set up!