My First Build Thread - 28Gal Tokay Gecko House with Water Feature, Comments Please!

[firstorbit84]

Hi there everyone!
Like many on here, I stumbled across this great site and became inspired to try to build my own vivarium. I've currently got a Tokay Gecko housed in a 10gal bowfront makeshift vivarium. It's got two live plants and a rock base for drainage but it's a far cry from the home I'd like my lizard to have, and much too small for her.
Here's a link to my first post and pictures of the current setup, as well as the lizard in question. Basically it's a fish tank with a modified lid for more ventilation and clamps to keep the critters in.

So I picked up a long 28gal off of Craig's List for $20 with no glass bottom that had a wood bottom and was being used for snakes. My plan is to use the aquarium vertically and have plexiglass on the sides with hinged doors with on either side to reach the critters, plants, equipment etc. The doors will also have a center section cut out and replaced with screening for ventilation and to add humidity, but more on that later.

I started like most people, with a eggcrate backbone:


Here you can see that the false bottom will not go all the way to the front, and is cut out in an irregular pattern. This is to allow the water fall feature a place to fall, while still giving the lizard and crickets some solid ground to rest on. There will also be fish (feeders at first, then who knows) in the bottom, under the false floor.

Here's what will be driving the water feature behind the scenes:


It's an AquaClear Mini for filtering and a Peaktop 170GPH submersible fountain pump to push the water up from below.

A shot of the filter in place:


I'm not sure what to do with the gap above the filter because it's needed to take it in and out (or at least put it in). It's looking like the AquaClear might have to be put in there permanently with just access to the filter cartridge from behind, so that no critters crawl in the back area through that hole.

Now you may be thinking that I've put the filter on the wrong side to flow down to the inlet in the false bottom. Enter the 45 degree PVC waterfall:


This PVC pipe is rather heavyweight, and I've since siliconed river rocks to the exposed half-pipe parts which make it look like a real river bed. Soon I'm going to silicone sphagnum moss to the outside for a cool look and for the lizard to climb on it (more pics to come). The pipe will be supported at the top by a zip-tie or two through the egg-crate. I've tested it at full weight with the rocks on and it doesn't seem to crack the egg-crate squares. It may be pushed out toward the front in the middle of the pipe by some great stuff. Finally it will be supported at the bottom by the fake drift wood aquarium accent as shown above. The driftwood will eventually sit a little higher, and push the end of the pvc pipe out more, as the false floor is getting a layer of screen, then hydroton and ammo-carb that plants will root into on either side of the drift wood. It will also provide drainage from any waterfall spills or leaks. The hydroton base will then be covered by another layer of screen, with holes cut out for the plants, and coconut husk and sphagnum moss reptile bedding on top of that to hold moisture and be a soft base for the lizard to come down to. All of this will be bordered by a GS edge, as shown later.

The reasons that I left the PVC waterfall covered in the middle are: 1. My hacksaw wouldn't go any deeper without it starting to cut at a bad angle and the Dremel would have been grueling. 2. There aren't any rocks in the covered part so it lets the water flow smoothly in the middle at the steepest part from the top without backing up and spilling over the sides (a problem I've seen others run into). 3. The extra weight from laying rocks on the whole thing might have been too much for the egg crate to support. 4. I don't have to worry as much about lining the angle up perfectly so it won't spill over when I go to install it permanently.

Just by mocking it up at partial weight, I could tell that the rear vertical eggcrate support was not going to work:


I ripped it off and decided to make a triangular housing for the submersible pump, surrounded by screening on the sides. So far, the triangular pump housing is working well as a back wall support in all my mock ups. This also adds quite a bit of room for the fish to swim around back there, rather than cutting off the entire back.

Then I went on to do my first layer of great stuff ever:


I also tried to stick some coconut husk directly to the GS as it dried and it didn't work so well, so I had to go back and silicon it on later.

Here you can see the guts and the new pump housing, as well as the base screen on the false floor where the plants will go:


Then I used acrylic paint to color the GS fake rock wall and silicone II to add cocohusk and moss:


I know it looks dark in the picture, but my dog started barking at the camera flash for some reason and I didn't want to wake up my girlfriend. The color is a custom mixed dark gray with some burnt sienna in it for texture. I may lighten it up some on the second coat and add more brown.

The big missing spot in the middle is where I wasn't sure how I was going to arrange the PVC pipe and filter and I wanted to leave it as open as possible. Plus I started running out of GS and you can't exactly save the cans for reuse either. So, that's basically where I'm at for now. I've cut the plexiglass and got the hinges and locks. Now I need to cut out the middle of the doors and attach screen to them.

I also need to finish covering the outside of the PVC with sphagnum moss, mount it in place, and decide what plants I want in there. I'm thinking of going with what's already doing well in the old lizard cage: some purple plant, and some other big leafed prehistoric looking plant, maybe someone can ID them for me from my other post. I've also been thinking about ferns, spanish moss, and other stuff that's abundant outside here in North Central Florida.

Then a second coat of GS and acrylic paint and I'm ready to seal her up and do some leak testing.

Damn this is a long post, and a long project. Any thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

[Tiamat]

so far so good.

One thing i have to check thought. I am unsure if tokays need so much humidity wich this setup will provide. I will seek this little bit of info for myself..

[firstorbit84]

i've heard 70% to 90% humidity and it should not drop below 50%

after reading about some more vertical setups with a water feature, i may change the plexiglass at the bottom along the sides for regular glass about 1/3 of the way up with silicone on the inside and outside to prevent leaks.

another change I was considering was modifying the backdrop so that there's less dead space behind it and only enough room for the aquaclear, and to get in there to change the filter out.

[JohnEDove]

Originally Posted by firstorbit84

i've heard 70% to 90% humidity and it should not drop below 50%

after reading about some more vertical setups with a water feature, i may change the plexiglass at the bottom along the sides for regular glass about 1/3 of the way up with silicone on the inside and outside to prevent leaks.

another change I was considering was modifying the backdrop so that there's less dead space behind it and only enough room for the aquaclear, and to get in there to change the filter out.

You are correct on their natural environment of high humidity and the day temps should be in the 85 - 90 degree range with a night drop to the mid 70s.
I have seen them and was bitten by more than one of them in the wild back in the late 60s and early 70s when we had a less polite name for them. I hate Tokay geckos.
As a comment on your set up, I would cut the egg crate on the backing so it allowed more room, front to back, around the filter.

[sinflspeed]

I like it. From the pic I don't think that the eggcrate can go back any further. I understand the comment, but I don't think it is feasible. I really do like it.

[Tiamat]

Originally Posted by JohnEDove

You are correct on their natural environment of high humidity and the day temps should be in the 85 - 90 degree range with a night drop to the mid 70s.
I have seen them and was bitten by more than one of them in the wild back in the late 60s and early 70s when we had a less polite name for them. I hate Tokay geckos.
As a comment on your set up, I would cut the egg crate on the backing so it allowed more room, front to back, around the filter.

i'd rater get bite by an ATB than a tokay, that i garanty!

And after some research, 50-60% humidity is good. You should make sure it doesn't go more than that. Altough, after asking to a breeder friend of mine, it is not a big deal to go over that, it is better to keep it as close as possible to this range.