Hi!
Now that my youngest male leo is old enough for other substrates, I decided I would try a couple of things with him.
He has been on a sterile type enclosure all his life and never seen anything other than paper and plastic. I decided he should have a taste of the real deal and if everything works well, maybe I'll change all my Leopard Geckos to naturalistic enclosures.

First and most important, a disclaimer: I got a lot of good info and ideas from Ron Tremper's latest book. It really helps when you can rely on someone else's vast experience and not reinvent the wheel without knowing what are you going to use it for. I highly recommend that book!

What I used so far:
- 2 PVC connectors of 68mm (almost 3");
- 1 5kg bag of Namiba Terra's TerrarienSand ( a special substrate with a high dose of clay that becomes very hard after misting );

I used 2 PVC connectors. One Y shaped and the other C shaped as you can see from the red marking on the picture bellow. I was eager to start so I haven't any photos of them, sorry =)
Hopefully they will be used as tunnel and hide.

First I placed them on a bag, cut open the middle end and covered the other as you can see from the picture bellow. It was going to be covered with sand and too close to the wall to be useful, so I close it.


Here's another view:


I then proceeded to cover it with sand and close all gaps.


I placed the rest of the sand on the enclosure and shaped the tunnel entrances. You can easily shape it right out of the bag. It has enough humidity for that.
One log later one of the entrances was covered and a path was carved on the sand beneath it, like if it was worn out. The log was secured with sand. Sounds silly but it's really secure =)


Here's another photo. It's lousy because the flash flatten it out. Tomorrow I'll take a couple of better shots with sun light.


The piece of schist will be a basking spot and the "heater" of the hide I'm going to place near it.
I misted it heavily and as soon as it dries I can move the leo in as well as the rest of the decoration.
It will have a plant covering the other entrance.

Will post more pics later! =)

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

Sounds like an interesting project. I don't know if that clay/sand substrate is available in the states, but I have heard alot about it from international herp keepers.

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Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

Good work. It does look very natural. I've also heard of that substrate. If anyone knows where to get it in North Amercia please TELL ME.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

That looks really cool! I also would be interested in learning more about that sand. I wonder if it would be possible to make a naturalistic tank bottom out of air-drying earthen clay, molding it to the shape desired and then letting it dry and harden. I guess the issue then might be if the leo went down into the hide and the keeper needed to get it out, they'd have to break apart the clay to get to it... One solution might be to apply the clay in sections, so that the PVC hide and the clay covering it is actually a separate piece (with a very small crack) from the rest, so that it can be lifted out...

Very neat, thanks for sharing!

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Amy

Exactly what I was thinking! And if the leo was shy you might never be able to get it out to handle it.
I have never seen this substrate material offered. It does sound interesting but I wonder, since it is a moisture absorbing material, when the leo eliminates would not the wet portion immediately be sucked down into the material and be impossible to clean up. It sounds like that would make for a very smelly, unsanitary, tank very quickly.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Looks awesome, but not a huge fan of that sand crap! I will never use sand and would enver recommend it for anything especially not Leopard Geckos! Good luck though hope everything stays healthy and well for you!

Brizzy this is not sand as such but basically a clay that hardens and becomes solid.
But I have never seen or heard of it offfered in North America.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Looks pretty loose to me, until it hardens it's not a good substrate, sorry I misunderstood, but I have not heard of this either offered in the us maybe why I never heard of it!

It would have to be to get it out of the bag and into the tank.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Nice rbl, I used the same idea with pvc and fake leaves. Great hides and they loved it.

I wish we could find some of that stuff here but sadly no one here has it and importing it would cost alot.

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