Gonna build a Vivarium.
Posted on September 21, 2008
Filed Under General Insanity |
Every now and then I get an urge to do something different. I decided that building a Vivarium would be cool. I have been collecting interesting plants since moving to Utica and what I really want is a Solarium. Joan and I decided to wait until we move to Syracuse next spring to make that leap. In the interim, I will go with a Vivarium. I was looking at building one until I stopped at the local pet store where I found a nice used one on sale. It is about the size of a 20 gallon aquarium but imagine it standing on its side so that it is taller rather than longer with a screen top instead of a lid.
I plan on laying a potting soil bed down and planting it with some dwarf ficus and philodendron then putting a layer of peat moss down on top. I can get a programmable mister off of Ebay cheap and then comes the fun. I plan on putting in some New Caledonean Crested Geckos as the finishing touch. These critters were thought extinct until 1994 when they were rediscovered on the southern isles of New Caledonia. They are small, non-aggressive lizards that are hearty and pretty neat looking.
This Vivarium will make a fine addition to any future Solarium when the time comes. As usual, with my luck, I expect they will be well fed and breeding in due order like every other critter I ever owned. Joan’s response to all this is the usual raising of one eyebrow, but otherwise saying nothing. 
As I progress I will take pictures to post here on the blog.
Clayton
Well, given the cost of your previous hobbies, in both time and money, I imagine just a little tank full of plants and lizards is a welcome change.
Now that we have the snide remarks out of the way, here are a few more pictures. In this vivarium so far I have two ginseng ficus, one white bamboo and two bromeliads as well as a small waterfall for drinking and humidity for the little lizards when I acquire them.
LMAO. Good one Betsy.
Dad, Neat.
Being a clever fellow, I was at the local Petco about a week ago to buy a bag of crushed coconut shell bedding to go on top of the potting soil in the vivarium. I had been researching the various types of Crested Gecko on the Internet and so casually strolled over to look at what Petco had to offer in their cages. There in the Gecko case was a “chocolate harlequin” morph of the Crested Gecko!
While most of these lizards have some nice color to them, there are several types that generally have more value than others. The chocolate harlequin goes anywhere from $350 to $800 on the Internet. Here was one for $59! So, I bought it.
This was on a Friday, the same day that Joan was having a crown put on to replace a cracked tooth. The effects of old age I think. I have four crowns personally. Anyway, I thought I would leave a little surprise for her and put the newly acquired Gecko in the vivarium and not tell her. She was pretty doped up from the dentist that day so I did not expect much until the following morning. The next day I had to go in to work for an Inventory and so was going to be gone for the day. I was thinking “tee hee, won’t see be surprised to see a lizard in the house when she gets up.”
I was back home around 2:00 pm that afternoon and was expecting some fireworks from Joan when I came through the door. To my disappointment, she was happily typing away on her computer oblivious to the lizard in the house. I asked her, “did you see the gecko?”
Her eyes shot up in surprise and she made a beeline for the vivarium to take a look. My disappointment grew even further when she said, “ooh, isn’t that a cute one.”
I thought, “gee, I should have just bought a snake.” No excitement here today.
Well, Little Harley, as I have come to call him, has been doing just fine for the last week. He/she was enjoying the vivarium, eating the Gecko food I bought and running around in the plants with pleasure. This morning (Saturday) I got up and as usual went to the vivarium and turned on the infrared light over the top vivarium screen. Yikes! Little Harley was gone!
Yes, he/she has escaped into the house. I have no clue as to where. Joan appears completely unconcerned, again a big disappointment. Since these little beasties are nocturnal, this could prove very interesting as I doubt I will find him/her in the daylight. I will keep everyone posted on how this turns out. (snicker)
Clayton
Well, about 10:00 PM Saturday night I checked out the dining room with a flashlight and found a little lizard head sticking out over the top of the drapes. I was able to capture the squirmy bugger in a plastic container and return Little Harley back to the vivarium.
I had spent the day modifying the screen lid to the vivarium such that any further escapes would be impossible, so that effort has paid off now that I have recaptured him/her. It appears that many people on the Internet have written about their escaped crested geckos. These animals eluded detection in New Caledonia for nearly a century and appear to be quite adept at escape and hiding so I will be more diligent in the future.
I also refer to this gecko as a he/she as it is still not an adult yet and they are really difficult to sex before maturity. I want to be careful with this as two males in a vivarium will fight but females tend to get along just fine. Just like everything else in this world I guess.
All’s well that ends well.
Clayton
So when do we get to see pictures of the little bugger?
Pictures are a little tough, but here are two.
Well, things have been going well with Little Harley and the Vivarium. So, I have added a second Crested Gecko to the mix, called Sparkle. The two seem to be hitting it off, eating, sleeping together, romping through the greens, plotting their mass escape. Things are going well at this point. I will post here any new developments.
Clayton
Ever since I picked up my crested geckos for inclusion in the vivarium, Joan has been saying “no crickets.” I would patiently explain how all the instructions on keeping crested geckos recommended feeding a commercial grade, gut-packed cricket to your lizards now and then. Still she would say, “no crickets.” So, I went out and bought some crickets last night.
I picked up a package of 36, small crickets from the Petco here in Syracuse that come in a clear, plastic container. They were cute little fellas jumping around on the pressed-formed piece of egg crating included with them. Also in the clear container was a small, blue cube that had a sweet smell to it and was fairly sticky. I assumed that is what feed and water the little cricket victims for however many weeks they may have to live in the plastic container.
Live crickets come in three sizes, small, medium and large. The large size is typical of an adult cricket. Joan and I both know that even small crickets make that annoying cricket sound when it gets dark, which is what I assume was her objection to my purchasing crickets to begin with. But I was adamat that this is something good for my lizards and so bought some anyway.
When I got home I set the box of crickets on top the vivarium and asked Joan if she planned anything for dinner. As usual, the answer was no. So I popped in a frozen package of Ziti and Meatballs into the oven and then headed for the vivarium to open the box of crickets. Through this process I told Joan I had in fact picked up a box of crickets where her only response was to roll her eyes.
I pealed the wrapper off that was around the clear container of crickets and then attepted to remove the lid. Once again as with so many other plastic containers I found I needed to be a packaging engineer to get the darn thing open. In the process of ripping off the top I jostled the crickets mightily so that they all gripped down hard into the pressed egg crate fearful of their lives I suspect. Once I had the lid on the container loose, I carefully opened the top screen on the vivarium with the intent to let a few crickets loose.
The vivarium lid is held down tightly on one end by the misting unit have placed there. I had done this several weeks ago to hold the lid on more securely in my attempts to prevent any further gecko escapes. So propping up one side of the lid with my shoulder, I gently moved the container of crickets into the vivarium. I then removed the lid from the clear container where it once again decided to hang up on one corner requiring me to squirm as I forcefully pulled it loose further jostling all the crickets contained within it.
Setting the lid to one side in the vivarium I then attempted to get a few of the crickets to hop off the section of egg crate into the plants. I chased them around on the pressed egg crate with my finger as they basically ran away in every direction, but otherwise refused to leave the security of the egg crate. Frustrated, I shook the container and tried again to chase them out where they refused as if they knew they were being led to the slaughter.
Now this container supposedly held 36 live, small crickets. I gave the container another shake causing the lid of the vivarium to slip on my shoulder. The screened vivarium lid banged on my arm causing me to drop the clear container of live crickets. It fell upside down on the plants spilling all of its contents. The crickets, now sensing a gate to freedom, launched themselves from the upended clear container, pop! Pop! Pop!
where I was planning to put in only a couple of crickets, I now had about half the container of crickets charging wildly for the cover of the vegetation. I quickly grabbed the conainer while spouting a few choice words of profanity, grabbed the contents laying on the plant leaves and shoved them back in where they belonged. It could have been worse I suppose. I could have spilled the live crickets into the house. At least at this point, they were contained in the vivarium.
About this time Joan came running around the corner into the dining room to see what all the commotion was about. Laughing her head off at seeing my prediciton she asked, “Any crickets get out?”
“No, they are all over the bottom of the vivarium though,” I responded in a dejected fashion. With a another giggle, she turned around and headed back to her computer realizing there was really no crisis here.
As things would have it, one person’s lost was another person’s gain. Since this all occurred right as the sun was setting, Little Harley took excited note of the live crickets running everywhere. As soon as I closed the screen top and turned the light off in the dining room, he/she headed into action. Hiding in the foliage did little good to protect the crickets from a hungry crested gecko. Within half an hour, Little Harley and eaten nearly everyone then sprawled out on a bamboo leaf like a bloated whale.
An hour later Joan went in to check on the geckos and turned on the vivarium light to see how many crickets were left. She found one hiding on the waterfall in the corner, but otherwise they were all gone. Eaten by hungry geckos! Yes, another exciting event in life of my vivarium.
Clayton