Okay so for my leopard gecko I want to make a more natural enclosure. I was going to mix garden loam with play sand because I was told it will cause the soil to harden and shouldn't cause any problems with the gecko eating it, but anyway how should I actually set up the substrate? I was going to plant the plants directly in the substrate so I will have to water them occassionally of course, but how deep should it be and should I have anything under the soil to keep it from touching the glass or whatever reasons their may be?

Thanks!

Live plants might not be the best of ideas with a leopard Gecko. No matter how you do it, it's going to raise the humidity.

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You think? I've posted a few times about this and no one ever mentioned that it could cause any problems as long as I make sure I do it right. I just ordered a new book as well that seems to encourage vivariums with leopard gecko's to make it more interesting. Of course like I said before it has to be done correct. I can't see too many problems having only a few desert plants that only need watered once a week or so with dry soil.

I'm always open to opinions and info, just no one has really suggested against it from what I've read.

thanks!

Please don't take this in offense either, this is just from what I've read from other posts and books. If anyone else can throw in their opinion that would be great because I was never told that this would be a bad idea = /

I have a live plant in my schneider's skink enclosure, though i'm not sure how much longer the plant will stay live the way he burrows into the dirt below it. If you set the tank up properly you could have live plants with arid species, though you have to be careful how you do it.
Use a Wire Lid (not a screen lid, like window screen, wire) make sure there is nothing directly over the plant that would keep moisture in, and use arid type, water retaining plants you would not have to water often. I also would not do this without at least a 20long, or 29 gallon tank (not 20 high), and be sure you don't overdo it, i'd say no more then 2 plants for a 20L.

In my Skinks tank the plant is on the cool side of the tank, and provides a slightly more humid micro-climate, It replaces the moist hide in my tank.
However, once it does actualy die, i'll be replacing it with something more hardy, the one I choose just has'nt tolerated the abuse he puts on it well.

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."

I have a 36" long 45g tank

I use excavator clay in my tank, and simply have a hollowed out spot on the far right end where i've filled in with a cactus type soil (dry, a little bit sandy) and planted the plant in. any excess water is soaked up by the excavator clay surrounding the plant, leaving the rest of the tank dry.
I'm not sure how well that would work with the sand/loam mix though.

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."

Well my experience in the last month or two with live plants in my leopard gecko tank, runs like this. I was using a 20 long, mesh /screen top, with the big no no, sand. Before I get told off about the possibility of impaction. They aren't feed on/in this tank. I added 2 very small barrel cactus in 1 inch clay pots. The humidity in the tank seemed to hover around 10 to 20% with no help from me really for the 2 week long test. I did notice that if the temp/humidity changed drastically outside the tank it changed with in tank too. For example when I first put them in the heat was still on, since then the weather has changed, now no heat or air conditioning yet,raised to 30 to 35%.
Fast forward to the new setup, 90 gal with wood canopy which hides lights, ceramic heater if needed for winter. The humidity in this tank is staying in the low 40% range, but has reached high of 50%. I'm going to get a small muffin fan to pull the air out of the tank, which should lower humidity. Or the other option is to remove some of the plants, which I was thinking about doing too, there's about 8 or 9 plants in there. They are planted directly in cactus soil behind that horrible little wall. My leopard gecko potty area..UGH.. This is it when I first set it up







I'm not happy with a few things and will be changing them, probably this weekend. I'll post finished pictures in a thread to show how I made cliffs, and how everything has changed. Sorry for the long read, I tend to ramble in person too.

I love the fake rock wall.

Okay so where could I get some dry cactus type soil?