Getting an ATB and looking for advice.
I have a 36x18x36 exo terra that I was keeping a crested gecko in. Now I am thinking of using it for one of these beautiful creatures.
I understand the screen top is not ideal and will have it sealed off with plexiglass to help increase humidity. I have plants in it now but should I keep it bioactive or so more minimalistic? Do any of you keep them in bio activity setups?
The one I am getting is a year old and female if that makes a significant difference. USCB 2020.
She is feeding on F/T mice and “has a good personality for a ATB” so probably not ball python tame lol
If this enclosure is good I have two ideas I’d like to run by you all.
One keep it bio active but remove some of the tall plants and add a couple of naturalistic looking vines and maybe some leaf litter to the top half and keep mainly living plants in the bottom and some in the back. I have a small “waterfall” (really more of a wet wall) in the back of the enclosure now. Should that be removed?
Plan two. Strip it clean it and start from scratch. Maybe use a couple of wooden branches running across at different levels and a couple of those breaded dragon hammock things that are made of rope mesh on the sides. Maybe add a little artificial plants hang from the top or back to give cover. In the bottom have a water dish of course and maybe reptile bark or something?
Any of this good or am I way off the mark?
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Re: Getting an ATB and looking for advice.
So since no one said anything about my ideas I’m just going to work on a hybrid of the two ideas. Lol
I’m getting my girl later this week and will update the thread again then. I’ll probably make another thread just for her as a long term care update thread.
I’ll try and post a link here when I do. Peace [emoji3577]
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Getting an ATB and looking for advice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bogertophis
It's great that you're getting a well-started yearling, btw. That helps. I'd personally be worried about the new ATB being infected by something the crested gecko left behind- remember that animals (or humans) can harbor & share germs/diseases without themselves being sick. I'd favor a full clean-out (disinfection), but that's me. Nature isn't that clean either, but when animals are transferred to a new home, the stress can lower their immune system functioning. I try to err on the side of caution, since herps are easier to keep healthy than to make them well again.
That is a good point. I had not thought about the possibility of disease or that kind of contamination. It would be easy enough to take down and disinfect any plants I planned to add back. I could take the substrate out easily enough and use new substrate back in. [emoji848]
Or just do what I had considered before and just not go bio active. I love bio active setups but I’ve learned that for many snakes it is not as ideal as it would first seem. I love my one bio active enclosure for a ball python I have but honestly the waste cycle is not ideal for bioactive setups and it’s harder to clean them out. The small steady poops of other reptiles that I have seem to work fine with them but the massive “bio load” that a python produces can’t be easily broken down and processed by the isopods and microfauna population before mold and fungi become more of an issue.
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Re: Getting an ATB and looking for advice.
Hello everyone.
So I changed my mind a little bit. I was going to rate that other one apart and disinfect it and get it ready but instead I decided to use a different terrarium I had for now. It will probably not be a long term home but with all the overtime I’ve been working setting it up was easier.
It’s an 18”X24”X18” terrarium.
In the bottom it has coco fiber and a large water dish/pond. I have a small pump and waterfall/wet wall in the back draining into the pond. I have branches and a few rocks(treated with reptile safe disinfectant F10) I have an Arcadia shade dweller 5.0 UVB and deep heat projector suspended above the screen top. The projector is not thermostat controlled at the moment as I’m trying to figure out a good way to do so in this type of habitat. But I have used an IR gun to test and after 24hr it reads 90-92F on the wood surface.
It’s been set up for 2 days and she seems happy. Only bite my hand twice when I first put her in. Lol She didn’t even draw blood, cute thing she is lol
So pics!
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Re: Getting an ATB and looking for advice.
She eat her first meal with me. Had no problems taking it. F/T mouse hopper.
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Re: Getting an ATB and looking for advice.
Just an update. She is doing great and had ate several meals. She also had her first shed with me and it was perfect.
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Re: Getting an ATB and looking for advice.
