I'm not going to lie, it was only a week or two ago that I fell in love with geckos in general. Originally, I wanted to get the tokay because I really wanted a lizard with an attitude and I felt that even some of the designer Crested Geckos/Leopard Geckos were kind of bland by comparison. That was until I attended the MSU Herpetology Club meeting and saw one of the members holding her crestie. I realized that I wanted to be able to handle the lizard at that very moment, and that meant in general the Tokays were out.

So this weekend I decided that I was going to start setting up the vivarium for a future pair of Crested Geckos. Right now finances are pretty tight, but I just paid the remainder of the balance for my tuition so I'll be able to save a bit more in the coming months. But I knew this was something I wanted to do, and I knew that I wanted to have a home established for the Crested Geckos in case that by some chance I came across some for sale or needing adoption from a family who could no longer keep them. And that bring me to this:



This is the full tank as it stands from this weekend. Still a lot of work to do, but I'm away at college, and left the vines and other supplies at home last time I was down for the weekend. Right now its just some pothos trimmings from the plants upstairs. I have about 1-2" of sphagnum peat moss, and once I can track some down I'm going to put a layer of dried sphagnum moss. I had some before and it looks amazing as it becomes live and I think it'll help fantastically with humidity control.



Here's a picture of the proof-of-concept Do-It-Yourself misting system I'm going to use on the enclosure. I have been pricing out misting systems for quite some time for my iguana and when I became obsessed with poison dart frogs (they never panned out) and I couldn't justify the cost of the misting setup for what I'd need. But then (I believe it was here on HC) I found plans for the misting system using a windshield-washer fluid pump and the nozzles from spray bottles. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it worked, and will be adding in a T for the second nozzle whenever I get a chance to get to the store. The nozzles eventually will be mounted through the screen top so they are stationary. For now they'll be under manual control until I can afford the repeat-cycle-timer that allows intervals down to about 5 seconds. The pump cautioned against running any longer than 15 seconds and though it was cheap, I'd like to not push it too much.



And here's what it looks like after I've misted the cage down for the evening.

Like I said, I'm using the time between now and the beginning of summer as sort of a buffer. I don't need any more distractions during the semester, and if something were to come up, I'd be forced to interrupt my day-to-day routine of work, school and homework. Can't afford to do that But this gives time for things to mature in the enclosure as well as time for me to acquire some new plants and tweak things for optimal conditions. It also gives me plenty time to further research these little guys and time to track down a pair that fits my requirements - cheap and healthy

Good start on a set-up. We are also Michigan Society of Herpetology members, but don't attend meeting as we are on the eastern side of the state. Will you be attending the Vet-a-Visit at MS this coming weekend? Sean and I will be there with some of our kids.

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Colleen

I would like to commend you on taking your time. It is always preferable to get the enclosure set up and running correctly and to do the research and learn all you can before aquiring the animals. It is much easier on THEM as well since they don't have to go through the ups and downs of YOUR learning curve!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Keep up the good work and of course keep us posted on the progress

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

Looks like a good start!
That Do-It-Yourself misting system got me thinking about the problems I'm having with some enclosures.... can you recall if the plans were from here (or possibly HH)?

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

Here ya go!


Top Of Cage Mister

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Actually, I just joined the Michigan State University Herpetology Club, so I'm not sure what all is going on. I guess "joined' isnt the right word - I attended one meeting and intend on going to the future ones as I can around work and school schedules. I don't know anything about the Vet-a-Visit meeting - do you have any info?

I too am from the east side of Michigan (St. Clair Shores) but I live in Lansing for school and work.

Thank you. Through several of my other hobbies and interests, I have learned that this is the best way to go, especially in an instance where I'm not 100% sure what I'm getting myself into.

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I'll definitely try to keep this thread updated with progress and use the vast knowledge on HC/HH to ask questions. I'll have to get into the habbit of checking here more regularly.

That would be the thread I was referring to. It worked out fairly well though I still have to test to see if the pump is strong enough to run two nozzles. I'd love for it to be able to run four, but thats for another project, not this cage.