[minorhero]

And now again for something different!

At times I feel like I am trying to corner every aspect of keeping animals and plants inside a glass box ;P Well here is a new method. Reptiles!

Or reptile I suppose. As in singular. Specifically the Gargoyle Gecko. Why a Gargoyle Gecko? Well I've wanted a reptile for a while. I have held off because I frankly didn't have any place I could possibly put one. This leads us to last summer when I did what many parents do on beach vacation and impulse purchased hermit crabs for my kids. When I got home I read about what they needed to really thrive and was quite surprised by the VAST amount of resources these guys were going to require. Well I rolled up my sleeves and set to it. I took a 40 Breeder and a 36x18x24" Exo-Terra and put them together. This creates a 110 gallon vivarium. I filled up the bottom with 10+ inches of sand and planted the tank with red mangroves in the water 'bowls' and bromeliads on the cork wall background.

An ideal place for hermit crabs to live. And they did great it in it. Only.... I never saw them again...

Worst pets ever. They are active only at night. And not even early night. They wouldn't crawl out of their hidey holes until around midnight. They would roam around for a few hours, then crawl back in well before sun up. This persisted for 8 months (including the 2 or 3 months they molted and didn't even crawl out for night time roaming). Anyway bottom line is they weren't a great pet for me and my family who like to actually see our pets now and then. So I found a nice home with people that both knew how to take care of them and wanted to keep them and gave them away.

That leads us to now. I have a giant vivarium with no plants in it (I forgot to mention, but the darn hermit crabs eat EVERYTHING that grows. I had a snake plant in there and they ate that FIRST! I mean... who eats a snake plant?).

Thus I have a place for a reptile. I originally was considering a crested gecko but did not like that once they lose their tail it never grows back. And that lead me to the gargoyle gecko. They both come from the same island off the coast of Australia and have near identical care requirements, but they get slightly larger and can regrow their tail if it ever falls off.

The first step was getting rid of the 10+ inches of sand in the vivarium (this took about ten 5 gallon bucket trips). Then I refilled it with some lava rock in the back to build up a gradient and then a mix of safe-t-sorb and aquasoil. This is a combination I have successfully used in my dart frog grow out tank. A lot of people use ABG mix with a false bottom, but I have found the false bottom to be unnecessary so long as the only input source for water into the tank is from misting, AND you have enough plants to use the water you are adding via misting. In both my regular ABG dart frog tank, and my safe-t-sorb grow out tank, I have had zero water draining into my overflow bin since they were setup, and both have been running for about 2 years now. Soooo no drainage layer for me.

I also added in some driftwood (some wild, some purchased) and played around with it till I got a scape I liked. Here is how it looked:

All the black plastic support pieces make it hard to photograph. I'll try and get better pictures as time goes on.

Anyway, now it was time to consider plants. I went online and purchased a bunch from Frogdaddy.net, which is a store I was familiar with from the dart frog community. Due to the weather I am unsure if they are actually going to ship to me anytime soon, so I might need to readjust my order. In the meantime I also went to my local Lowes to pick up some of the more basic types of plants.

I purchased a couple of bromeliads, two rabbits foot ferns, a Dark Mystery Pilea, and what I think is Alocasia Black Velvet.

I split up the Pilea into different segments (hardware stores are incredibly generous with the size of their plants compared to specialty greenhouses). And tada, planted.. at least so far.

BUT I had a problem.

Hermit crabs are pretty low maintenance critters. They don't need or want much ventilation. Many keepers literally block up any and all vents in their tank to maintain consistent high humidity. So this tank had almost no ventilation in it. The only vents were the ones in the exo terra above the door (used to be below the door when the exo-terra was right side up).

This simply won't do. I need to mist the tank at least once or twice a day and I need humidity to be in the 60-80% for the gecko to be happy. With no ventilation the tank fogs up and humidity would stay at 100% all the time.

This means I need to drill what is now the top (used to be the bottom of the exo-terra).

And boy did I drill the heck out of it. Before this the biggest hole I had drilled in glass was 3 inches for a 2" bulkhead.

For this tank I drilled two 4" holes and two 6" holes.

Putting a 6" diamond hole saw on my little cordless 12v drill was pretty wild ;P

One of the 4" holes will be used for a uvb bulb. The rest are there for ventilation.

Finding things that would fit these holes and still allow ventilation/light was not super easy. I ended up with louvered pvc vents for the 6" holes, and for the 4" I tried to buy some screens designed to work with reptile cages, but what came in the mail was such incredibly low quality I will need to replace it right away.

The first hole I drilled I just did my normal setup for (taped the underside, made a dam of plumbers putty to hold in water for cooling the bit. And went at it).

It made a GIANT mess. I am used to doing this outside with a completely empty tank, not inside with a tank already planted.

For future holes, I used a disposable flower pot (like the kind you get when you buy a plant at a nursery) I cut out to allow room for the drill to be positioned. I also taped a piece of Tupperware under the hole to catch water that falls through. Here are some pictures of my hole drilling extravaganza.

This last picture is one of the 3 holes I needed to have drilled so I could add all the misting nozzles this tank requires. Yes, I will be using an automated mister. Specifically a Mistking which is frankly the only automated mister anyone should ever bother with in my opinion.

Here are what the big holes looked like once I drilled them:

And with the vents installed for the 6" holes:

After all that was done I added some leaf litter (collected from a nearby forest) and called it a day.

Next up I'll hopefully have the other plants and the rest of the vents installed.

 

[vraev]

Looks awesome. Great creativity and ingenuity... I have never seen an upside down exoterra taped to something else before.

 

[minorhero]

Looks awesome. Great creativity and ingenuity... I have never seen an upside down exoterra taped to something else before.

Thank you!

I wish I could say I invented this, but it definitely did not come from me. It's actually pretty common in the hermit crab keeping world to use an exo-terra as a topper to a regular aquarium. The picture mutes the sense of scale but the combined height of this tank is 3 feet tall with that topper, which is good for arboreal critters.

The exo-terra is attached with heavy duty velcro. This makes it sturdy enough that you can't casually push it over, but if something terrible happened and I needed to take it apart, I can still do it.

 

[minorhero]

Update!

I finished up the ventilation for the tank adding new 4" screens/pvc parts for the remaining two holes.

I was not at all happy with the color I was getting from my light (a Beamswork DA Fspec) so I added a super cheap 4000k led shoplight. Now its looking pretty good!

I also walked around my yard and collected a bunch of moss for the background. Its literally freezing out so I'm not too worried about bugs hatching out of the moss. And if they do, the gecko will be able to eat them, so there is that.

AND

My plant order came in from FrogDaddy. I have never ordered from them before but I've seen other other people posting the contents of their boxes when they get them. So I knew they packed well and were generous. My box was no exception. Most plants I ordered cuttings and received generally more then I expected to. Overall the plants were in very good condition considering they just spent 2 days in a box during the middle of winter.

The plant list now includes:

Philodendron verrucosum
Rhaphidophora cryptantha
Epipremnum amplissimum
Begonia sp. “Maldonado"
Two Bromeliads (Neoregelia "Guacamole" and Neoregelia "Brasil 696")
Nautilocalyx sp. (Episcia hibrida Taisha)
Saxifraga stolonifera (Strawberry Begonia)

And I am almost done with plants. I am debating some more air plants (non bromeliads), and I think I want a birds nest fern and/or a Tassel Fern (Huperzia spp). The reason for the former is that I'd like a big plant I could sit on one of the larger wood pieces that the gecko could use as a hide. The reason for the latter is that its likely a species that exists on New Caledonia (where Gargoyle Geckos are native). It's surprising hard to find plants for sale that I can confirm live on New Caledonia, so I have resorted to selecting plants I know live in New Zealand which is nearby.

Without further ado, here are a bunch of pictures of the tank as it is now (and shortly after misting).

There is a reptile show in Havre De Grace, Maryland this weekend and as of now the plan is to attend. Hopefully I find my gecko there, but if not I have several strong possibilities that I've seen online. Soooo, next update might be with a gecko

 

[minorhero]

Update!

Things have happened!

For one thing, more plants!

Kangaroo Fern (split into multiple locations)
Maiden Hair Fern
Button Fern (unidentified, probably lemon)
And something that looked like moss but probably wasn't (bought at lowes, who knows??)

I also made a hood for the tank. The goal was to hide some equipment and block light glare, BUT, The Wife required it had to be the same height or shorter then the banister behind the tank.

It needed the cutouts and both sides because the lights stick out ever so slightly beyond the rim of the tank. I still need to paint it white to match the minimal stand this tank has. It suceeds in blocking glare from the front, but fails in the back due to some house geometry issues. Sooooo I need a new shop light ;P The one on there was so darn cheap it didn't have any reflectors and that is creating a lot of glare. Temporarily blocked with paper, I will be replacing it this week with a shoplight ordered from amazon.

AND

I added the gecko!

Please welcome Bruno, the gargoyle gecko.

Scale is impossible to see in these pictures, so I will say Bruno is a baby. He (suspected but we won't know for a few months that he is actually a boy) was born on December 30th 2021. So he is 6 weeks old currently. He is probably about 4 inches from tip to tip. He will grow to be around 9 or 10 inches long in the next couple of years. We purchased him at a local reptile show this weekend. He is already eating and was active last night moving around the tank which is a good sign for these guys. As I write this Bruno is sleeping in the upside down position seen in the pictures. ;P The name was decided on after consulting my young kids. My (not quite) 5 year old daughter is already a cunning negotiator. She pushed hard for Elsa, but then backed off with the suggestion of Bruno, which was seized upon as a welcome alternative.

Full tank shot and random new cat doing new cat things picture:

It's only been a day but considering what's needed to keep these geckos alive I'm prepared to make the following pronouncement. From most work/maintenance to least, here is my experience with keeping plants and/or animals alive.

1) Freshwater Planted Aquariums
2) Dart Frogs
3) Outdoor Patio Ponds
4) Gargoyle Geckos
5) Bog Gardens

I mean, Gargoyle Geckos as babies will eat every day. Older then a year you feed every other day. BUT you could leave food in their tank for up to 6 days without issue according to package directions. The food they eat is powder that you reconstitute with some water. And they need to be misted a couple of times a day which can easily be accomplished with an automatic mister. Oh and their food doesn't small bad when you make it either. I mean, it doesn't get much easier then that.

On the plant side of things, I'm seeing some new growth from some plants, some of my cuttings on the other hand have already started to wilt/die off. Soooo we shall see what makes it. Next update will likely just be a status update of plant growth etc, since I'm not planning to do much to the tank at this point but watch it develop.

 

[EmotionalFescue]

This is way cool!

 

[minorhero]

This is way cool!

Thank you! It's a lot of fun finding out about a new animal and getting a big space to plant terrestrial plants. There are so many terrestrial plants that require high humidity to grow properly and really thrive in a vivarium (if they establish themselves... looking at you vining begonia).

 

[minorhero]

Update!

It's been a couple of months and there has been some progress with plants. For one thing, I added more of them ;P

I added some more moss to the wood in the vivarium and I also added begonia maculata, Peperomia prostrata, some unidentified bromelaid that came as a tissue culture from petco, and another tiny plant that wasn't labeled but sold for 'fairy gardens' at a local nursery. Here are some recent plant pictures:

And of course the obligatory full tank shot with bonus crocodile newt tank right next-door.

The plants are generally doing pretty well with a few exceptions. I find myself struggling with most of the rabbits foot fern which I really did not anticipate. And while two of the bigger clumps of kangaroo fern are doing great, two of the smaller ones have been struggling. I believe this is everything to do with placement.

On the fauna side of the equation, I have a bit of a problem. I have not seen my gecko in several weeks..........

I know he is still alive because the food keeps getting eaten. But that is as far as it goes. I have absolutely no idea where he is. Its to the point now where I bought a wyze indoor security camera I plan to setup and record over night. The idea being that it will spot motion and record a snippet every time it sees Bruno move. Hopefully I will be able to use this to figure out where his hiding spot is and either plug it up, or at least know where to look going forward. I haven't had time in the last couple of days to setup the camera, but plan to make that happen in the near future. So hopefully next update will include some darn gecko photos ;P

 

[LidijaPN]

Hey he’s just living up to his name, hiding in the rafters! And we’re not supposed to talk about him either, are we 😅

Disney references aside, Bruno is adorable. And nocturnal I think? Which is possibly why you’re not seeing him so much? I remember when we were considering a crestie it was one of the worries, that we won’t see him much.... he’s crazy lucky to have that incredible living space tho ♥ You should market your house as a zoo 🤩

 

[minorhero]

Hey he’s just living up to his name, hiding in the rafters! And we’re not supposed to talk about him either, are we 😅

Disney references aside, Bruno is adorable. And nocturnal I think? Which is possibly why you’re not seeing him so much? I remember when we were considering a crestie it was one of the worries, that we won’t see him much.... he’s crazy lucky to have that incredible living space tho ♥ You should market your house as a zoo 🤩

Its starting to feel a like a bit of a zoo..... Its bad when I walk into the reptile room of a local nature center and think "my collection is better" ;P

My wife and I have been making quite a few bruno jokes of late, he is definitely living up to his name. Apparently gargoyle geckos (and cresties as well) are being considered more Crepuscular then strictly nocturnal. Meaning they will be most active in sunset and sunrise, or for Bruno, early night and likely pre-dawn hours. For the first month or so we had him, he would find some spot to sleep during the day, but we could with a bit of hunting find that spot. This was fine by us. Now we can't find him at all though. Once he gets bigger, hiding will be harder for him. But at his current size its pretty easy for him to tuck himself into some niche and be completely overlooked or even out of sight completely. Ideally, I will find that niche and plug it up so he has to sleep somewhere I can see him ;P

 

[LidijaPN]

But you named him Bruno!! Gotta let him stash himself in the walls 😂

I think that’s why people tend to keep babies in smaller setups also... and upgrade later... for increased findability 😊

Hey having a better collection than the local nature center is a GOOD problem to have! ♥

 

[ddiomede]

It seems like I find myself saying "wow" on all your builds lol, but wow. I had a chance to go through the posts in this build and I really like it.

What would you say was the most challenging problem that you had to overcome with the build?

 

[Aaronious]

I read the part you said the baby gecko food doesn't smell bad. I worked at a pet store a decade ago, a customer asked how it taste. I laughed it off, but thought about it at next feeding. So I tried it, tasted like banana runts. Anyway, it tastes pretty good too.

This vivarium is fantastic, I was very into reading and following the story, really wanna set one up now. I had started one in the past for a chameleon, but once the chameleon, Moxy, came so did the crickets. My better half wasn't stoked on this and we ended up selling the whole set up to a neighbor and a really good price. But I am constantly trying to convince her to let me do this again. You've rekindled it!

I have to add that Moxy died a couple months ago at about 1.5 years old. Pretty sure it was egg bound. At hearing this I immediately looked at the one responsible for the rehome and she knew that when we were alone I was going to say, "if we kept her, she'd still be alive. I told them about her becoming egg bound when they first got her." let's just say, if we get another, I'll get to keep it.

 

[minorhero]

It seems like I find myself saying "wow" on all your builds lol, but wow. I had a chance to go through the posts in this build and I really like it.

What would you say was the most challenging problem that you had to overcome with the build?

Honestly terrariums are easy compared to aquariums. Biggest issue for me is getting enough water to the back wall to grow the moss. It's honestly not doing great back there and I don't want to triple my water usage elsewhere to keep it going so I have been sporadically target misting by hand. I could just let it go entirely but I keep hoping I can get it to flourish back there.

There have been other minor things, changing lights around, making a bigger water reservoir, some initial plant die off, the actual construction involved drilling 6 inch diameter holes in glass... That was nerve wracking but ultimately easy. Most things are pretty simple with a tank like this. You don't have to balance nutrients with light, or do water changes or worry about algae unless you are misting waaaaay too much.

Plus it's super fun getting crazy tropical plants that most people would kill within days of owning and effortlessly get them to thrive because they are kept in a humid environment with plenty of light.

 

[minorhero]

I read the part you said the baby gecko food doesn't smell bad. I worked at a pet store a decade ago, a customer asked how it taste. I laughed it off, but thought about it at next feeding. So I tried it, tasted like banana runts. Anyway, it tastes pretty good too.

This vivarium is fantastic, I was very into reading and following the story, really wanna set one up now. I had started one in the past for a chameleon, but once the chameleon, Moxy, came so did the crickets. My better half wasn't stoked on this and we ended up selling the whole set up to a neighbor and a really good price. But I am constantly trying to convince her to let me do this again. You've rekindled it!

I have to add that Moxy died a couple months ago at about 1.5 years old. Pretty sure it was egg bound. At hearing this I immediately looked at the one responsible for the rehome and she knew that when we were alone I was going to say, "if we kept her, she'd still be alive. I told them about her becoming egg bound when they first got her." let's just say, if we get another, I'll get to keep it.

Thank you!

Gargoyle geckos (and also crested whose care is identical) are super easy to keep. They have pretty much exploded in the pet trade because of it. Insect feeders are such a huge hurtle for most people, being able to forgo that has really increased their desirability.

I've never kept a chameleon before, they look so nifty, but I've heard they can be really tricky to keep healthy. If you get another lizard, definitely post the build! Vivariums are just so much fun!

 

[LidijaPN]

We were going to get a crestie and I was going to build him an awesome vivarium but then husband said no when he found out how long they can live. It’s really annoying when you realize you should have interrogated your significant other a lot more about their animal related views before tying the knot.... the kid and I were so excited about the idea.

 

[Aaronious]

Gargoyle geckos (and also crested whose care is identical) are super easy to keep.

I've never kept a chameleon before, they look so nifty, but I've heard they can be really tricky to keep healthy. If you get another lizard, definitely post the build! Vivariums are just so much fun!

the draw to chameleons is that tongue of course. But I honestly like taking her around the house and then asking people to find her. That was entertaining, especially when I would loose her. We have a lot of plants in our home. I wanted to get her used to just hanging out on me and it was working until she went to her new home.

As for crested and gargoyle geckos, no insects? just veggies? I also noticed you got one. Is that recommended or just the safest bet? Just looking at your set up I feel like you could home more than one. But I know very little about these guys anymore.

And I will post it if I get around to doing one. To be honest, I'm sure it will pale compared to yours. Though I have recently made a new local friend which started based on our love for aquariums and we are constantly talking about them. Pretty sure we have begun 1 upping each other with out admitting it. It's really brought up my game. Maybe I'll give you a run for your money one day.

I need to post some of my newer tanks and freshened up scapes. Everything I currently have posted is not up to date.

 

[LidijaPN]

the draw to chameleons is that tongue of course. But I honestly like taking her around the house and then asking people to find her. That was entertaining, especially when I would loose her. We have a lot of plants in our home. I wanted to get her used to just hanging out on me and it was working until she went to her new home.

As for crested and gargoyle geckos, no insects? just veggies? I also noticed you got one. Is that recommended or just the safest bet? Just looking at your set up I feel like you could home more than one. But I know very little about these guys anymore.

And I will post it if I get around to doing one. To be honest, I'm sure it will pale compared to yours. Though I have recently made a new local friend which started based on our love for aquariums and we are constantly talking about them. Pretty sure we have begun 1 upping each other with out admitting it. It's really brought up my game. Maybe I'll give you a run for your money one day.

I need to post some of my newer tanks and freshened up scapes. Everything I currently have posted is not up to date.

From what I had found out during my gecko obsession they can also take feeder insects but it’s not strictly necessary. Some really enjoy the odd cricket or worm and some don’t care. The food is like a fruit puree with added vitamins.. they can also take fresh fruit sometimes.

You can sometimes have more than one together but it’s not recommended, they are solitary, like hamsters, and cohabitation often leads to trouble...

 

[minorhero]

the draw to chameleons is that tongue of course. But I honestly like taking her around the house and then asking people to find her. That was entertaining, especially when I would loose her. We have a lot of plants in our home. I wanted to get her used to just hanging out on me and it was working until she went to her new home.

As for crested and gargoyle geckos, no insects? just veggies? I also noticed you got one. Is that recommended or just the safest bet? Just looking at your set up I feel like you could home more than one. But I know very little about these guys anymore.

And I will post it if I get around to doing one. To be honest, I'm sure it will pale compared to yours. Though I have recently made a new local friend which started based on our love for aquariums and we are constantly talking about them. Pretty sure we have begun 1 upping each other with out admitting it. It's really brought up my game. Maybe I'll give you a run for your money one day.

I need to post some of my newer tanks and freshened up scapes. Everything I currently have posted is not up to date.

Green Aqua on youtube has a chameleon that they seem to free range on a giant mound of plants in their space. I would love to do something like that but we have cats so its pretty much a non-starter.

Crested and Gargoyles get a 'complete gecko diet' which is basically vitamins, fruit, and sometimes insects ground down to a powder. That gets reconstituted with some water in a little dish. You can also feed them insects but you need to dust them with vitamin powder to keep them healthy and its very optional. Not all of them will eat insects actually, some just have a preference for the powdered food. Breeders will often try to feed them insects when they will take them because it fattens them up quicker then the powder. I don't mind how fast mine grows so I am sticking with the powder other then whatever cleanup crew he eats. I already know he hunted down a few spiders that unwisely tried to make the tank their home.

You can sometimes house mating pairs together, but even then its recommended to separate them for a few months after breeding occurs. So, yeah its really just one per enclosure.

I really only got serious about planted aquariums 4 years ago. My first attempts were... not awesome ;P Here was my my old Fluval Spec V from when I first decided to try 'aquascaping'.

But I kept rescaping every few months trying different things and watching a LOT of videos on youtube as well. George Farmer, Green Aqua, Aquarium Co-Op, Aquapros, and MD Fishtanks were/are my gotos for aquascaping. Some of them really know what they are talking about in certain areas, others are mostly clueless, but produce good content. Its nice to be able to watch so many different scapes come together using different materials and following different theories etc.

 

[ddiomede]

Honestly terrariums are easy compared to aquariums. Biggest issue for me is getting enough water to the back wall to grow the moss. It's honestly not doing great back there and I don't want to triple my water usage elsewhere to keep it going so I have been sporadically target misting by hand. I could just let it go entirely but I keep hoping I can get it to flourish back there.

There have been other minor things, changing lights around, making a bigger water reservoir, some initial plant die off, the actual construction involved drilling 6 inch diameter holes in glass... That was nerve wracking but ultimately easy. Most things are pretty simple with a tank like this. You don't have to balance nutrients with light, or do water changes or worry about algae unless you are misting waaaaay too much.

Plus it's super fun getting crazy tropical plants that most people would kill within days of owning and effortlessly get them to thrive because they are kept in a humid environment with plenty of light.

That's awesome! Seems within reach then for someone to set up.

I agree totally on the tropical plants part. One of the reasons these setups interest me is because of the variety of plants you can grow successfully. I spent almost 3 years of my teens living in SW Florida and loved every minute of it just because of how diverse all of the wildlife was. Having spent most of my childhood and adult life in the midwest, seeing a wide variety of reptiles, crazy looking tropical plants, fish, inverts, and marine mammals right outside your back door was the best. One of the only reasons I haven't moved back down there are the hurricanes.

Looks awesome though, love it!