Crestie Vivarium Build! (pix)

[Anya]

Something I'm uuuuber excited about is a crestie vivarium I'm going to be building from the ground up, complete with greatstuff/silicone/peat moss background. I'm putting the cart before the horse a little, though, and today I went plant shopping.

Here's the 50 gallon tall tank where all the action is (going to be) at!




Now for plants...

Spikemoss-



A member of the wandering jew family:



and an umbrella plant!



I also just mounted an orchid onto Pineapple's corkbark hide, which will be in the viv as well. (although poor little Pineapple gets a shoved-in-it. ) :



And then I have a croton and a spiderplant where will also be going in there, along with many Tillandsia.

Watch this space! I'm going to photo document the entire build. I just have to share my excitement a little.

Now some crestie pix from tonight. I caught him getting all fired up!









Thank's for looking!

[I-KandyReptiles]

FYI, buy a LOT of silicone

It took a lot to do mine

[MarkS]

Nice size, I can almost see it in my head already. I love those umbrella plants, they look good and they're real hardy.

[DestinyLynette]

Will be watching this closely; very interested. I also hope to build a crestie viv in the future. 50gal is big for one gecko; are you getting more or just wanted to play with a lot of space?

[Southern_Breeder]

Ill be watchin closely to see what your finish work looks like!

[Anya]

FYI, buy a LOT of silicone

It took a lot to do mine

How much?? I've been trying to figure that out, but I can't really tell...A lot of silicone gets expensive reeeal quick...Did you document your build? Pix?

And thanks guys!! I'm ridiculously excited. I just went and gathered my isopods today, they're now happily living in a little plastic container until I'm ready for them. I'll order a springtail culture and my millipedes once it's closer to the finish. I would just use local millipedes, but I just spent 4 hours searching for them, and all I found were salamanders, banana slugs, and ticks. Which are cool, lol, but NOT what I'm looking for. (The ticks aren't cool, though. )

Oh, and I guess I should have made that clearer- Pineapple isn't going to live in here, lol. I'll have a colony of 3-4 female cresties that I'll pick up at the herp show I'm going to in September. I'll eventually have a male, too, but he won't live in there constantly. (Don't want to stress the girls!)

[I-KandyReptiles]

I used, I think, almost 6 tubes?


Blacked out backing. The GS is yellow, so I didn't want it to be showin through the glass.


GS layer. Be careful to apply thin as it expands quite a bit.


I used styrofoam to make sturdy ledges. Cork bark on the sides for traction.


Made it all lumpy. Did carve some off.


Adding the eco earth


Time to add plants


Done

[Anya]

cooool.

Love the ledges. is this a 10 or a 20L?

[I-KandyReptiles]

I think it's a 10? Not too sure. Haha

[Raven01]

How much?? I've been trying to figure that out, but I can't really tell...A lot of silicone gets expensive reeeal quick...Did you document your build? Pix?

And thanks guys!! I'm ridiculously excited. I just went and gathered my isopods today, they're now happily living in a little plastic container until I'm ready for them. I'll order a springtail culture and my millipedes once it's closer to the finish. I would just use local millipedes, but I just spent 4 hours searching for them, and all I found were salamanders, banana slugs, and ticks. Which are cool, lol, but NOT what I'm looking for. (The ticks aren't cool, though. )

Oh, and I guess I should have made that clearer- Pineapple isn't going to live in here, lol. I'll have a colony of 3-4 female cresties that I'll pick up at the herp show I'm going to in September. I'll eventually have a male, too, but he won't live in there constantly. (Don't want to stress the girls!)

Check all hardware stores in your area.
Around here aquarium silicone is around $20 for a small tube at pet supply retailers but, at Home Hardware I can get 3 tubes of aquarium silicone for a standard caulking gun for under $15. A substantial savings. Just don't expect the employees to know what you need for sure, check that it is in fact aquarium grade for yourself before buying.