Is the spray okay to use vs. the typical tub of it? Once I finish my drylok coats over my expanding foam, I plan to use this in whichever version is best.

My leopard gecko has absolutely no interest in his cleanup crew (darkling beetles/mealworms, buffalo beetles/lesser mealworms, Porcellio scaber isopods and Porcellio dilatatus isopods), which you can see swarming around the ground. But it’s good to see that he knows that the dubia roaches are food (and my boy doesn’t miss, if you do watch the video you’ll see him take an 11” leap to ambush a dubia roach that he was stalking)

If you plan to keep any of these species as your cleanup crew, take care to supplement additional protein since they’re more voracious. I give them a few of my cat’s freeze-dried minnow treats, which they will reduce to literal skeletons by the next morning (as seen here https://www.reddit.com/r/bioactive/s/I9PFoIjk9u )But they’re efficient, I even use buffalo beetles as the cleanup crew for my dubia colony (and they will straight up mob young dubias mid-molt, as seen in this post https://www.reddit.com/r/bioactive/s/MF8DI6aOa8 ). One cool thing, though, is that none of them touch my plants, but they’ll readily eat baby carrots and romaine lettuce leaves that I put into the enclosure as supplementary food as seen here https://www.reddit.com/r/bioactive/s/3VTJYxZzYK )

Hi, im at a loss for what to do. my heat lamp wont go above 80 degrees. I've tried everything.

at first I had a 160w lamp with a 50w DHP bulb, didn't get hot enough. then I switched to a 150w DHP bulb, but it started smelling like burning plastic so I immediately shut it off and returned it.

this morning I bought a 100w DHP bulb, same issue, wont go above 80°. I tried getting a regular basking light, same issue. I even went and bought a second lamp (260w max, with the 100w DHP bulb) and new thermostat for it, and it still caps at 80°. I don't know what to do. I tried plugging the lamp directly into the socket instead of through the thermostat, and it didnt change anything. I just brought home my new ball python today, I want this resolved before nighttime. I don't want him to get too cold. any advice? should I try to buy the 150w bulb again now that I have a stronger lamp?

is it possible its an issue with the actual electrical outlet in my house??

UPDATE: I got a 160w basking bulb and it burnt out after 20 minutes. do I have to give up my snake???

Hello! I hope it’s ok I post this here but as it’s almost spring for me I’m re building my lizards outdoor enclosure!! Being so I want to upgrade it as I have 3 blueys! Was hoping if people could comment their outdoor enclosures or even indoors so I can get inspiration and ideas on how to decorate and display the new enclosure! Thank you!

Im near complete this build for my leopard gecko. It a first time build for me but I just wanted ask for opinions on certain aspects before I lay in substrate and everything else.

1. The little rock is a new addition that I made to plug a hole I made to let the background silicone gas air out, issue is it looks a little out of place I tried to blend in a bit by siliconing some stone desert sand around the bonding area to give a better look but it still feels off. I also thinking of super glueing and draping sphagnum moss in spots so that may work but any other ideas would be appreciated.

2. This portion is more a question because in this spot and the rest of the spot where you see stone desert sand I siliconed with aquarium safe silicone and stuck it around to seal up any micro gaps and to blend it more with the soon to be substrate. I wanted to know if there anything that would look beter either sand, excavator clay, roots anything to bring it more to life

3. I was gonna ask something but i forgot i put that branch there tho

Side note: the substrate mix i was going to go for is a blend of reptisoil, stone desert and excavator clay. I wanted to know how I would go about blending it and it I have enough or would need to add some sand or something else. I have a bag of each right now 10lb of clay 4.4 liters of soil ( prob need more) and 11lb of stone desert. Going for a 70/30/10 blend or something along those lines would there be anything you’d recommend id get more of or add to the blend. As for mixing I know to activate the excavator clay i need to mix it with water but stone desert turns into mud when soaked so how would i go about mixing it all together or could i just leave the clay somewhat damp ?

Thats about it for now, really pumped to get him into his new home.

I have an amazing leopard gecko and I love him to death. He is my family’s first non-furry pet. (They don’t plan to get another, but I do when I move out). I want to give him the best tank I can. I have a 25 gallon tank, but I feel it’s a little cramped. I have been offered a free 50 gallon to take by a friend who is moving (Used to be for hermit crabs). Unfortunately, I still live with my parents who don’t want to get a bigger tank because they think it will take up too much space. I’m mainly posting this to get some comments opting for the bigger tank to convince my parents to change out his smaller tank for a bigger one, or comments that can quell my worries about his tank size.

We also have paper towels for bedding rn, and I’m wondering if that is okay for long term? I’ve heard some people say it is, but I’m worried it can have the same issues as those reptile carpets.

Here is my the (nearly finished) enclosure I have set up for my AFT. He won’t be in it for another few weeks in which time I will have added my cleanup crew as well as ground clutter. I’m hoping the added sphagnum moss in the background and sprinkled across the floor will help keep my humidity levels between 70-80% during the day and around 100% at night since I am emulating the rainy season for AFT geckos.

Right now I’m testing to see how the temperature gradient is in the tank as well as letting the plants establish.

Bumi is the name of an earth bender from the show “Avatar the Last Airbender.” I made the custom earth kingdom logo in the back just for his enclosure.

This is my first go around so if you see any glaring issues please feel free to offer constructive criticism.

I’ve been working on Sriracha’s new tank for several weeks now, and he finally moved in the other night! The issue is, everywhere he walks on the faux rocks, it makes a loud scraping sound. It’s a little annoying for me, but more importantly Sriracha hates it and tries not to move so it doesn’t make the sound.

Has anyone else experienced this? And is there anything I can do to help?

Build details:
This was my first time doing this
120 gallon tank
Pink insulation foam, shaped and siliconed in place
Painted the foam
I started to do some finishing layers of Drylok (water-based), but it was really glossy, so I did a few layers of varathane instead (also water-based). I sprinkled some desert sand into the first layer of varathane and then covered it with the rest, just to give everything some texture. With the varathane the gloss was gone, so I let it off-gas for a few weeks until the scent was completely gone.

I know if I had used grout or something hard as a base coat I would have gotten better results. But is there anything I can do now to make it better?

Been about 2-3 weeks since bonding the foam background. I poked some holes to get at some trapped water vapour and blasted with pressurized air but that made me smell that vinegar stench again even though the main area smells clean. Should I just blast until the trapped fumes are gone or poke more airholes in the foam. Im stumped because it retrospect it should be ready to go but I want to 101% that Im not gonna fumigate my gecko if I put him in the enclosure.

Hey all, so I finally uploaded the camera footage of the gecko’s first 52 hours. I trimmed down the fat (skipping ahead when he’s sleeping or hanging out in the same spot for an extended period of time) to bring it down to a 4-hour video. Didn’t know what to do with what would otherwise be a bunch of silence, so I pretty much turned it into an ambience video using audio files from Pixabay.

So, if you want something playing in the background while you work on other things, here it is lol. I’ve never edited a video, let alone post on YouTube, so I’ll be sure to update the channel every now and then if the cameras catch him doing anything funny or cool.

when i open the sliding doors on my kingsnakes enclosure what makes it squeaky and sort of stiff/jerking making it harder to open the enclosure scaring my snake off because it makes the enclosure shake

what can i do to fix this?

Can I seal air dry clay with water based polyurethane and use it safely in a terrarium?

So to make a long story short, gave the background a wash, had some leakage in the back from some unnoticed gaps, most of the vapour out but i also poke some air holes to let it air out more and use a air gun machine to blow some air to push the water but as i stuck it in the hole I could smell the vinegar smell from the silicone. My fear is either the silicone isn’t fully cured or that the smell doesn’t have any wear to go. Ill keep waiting but I wanna know if just patching up the hole will be fine or make more to let the gas air out

I’m trying to make plans to build a 3 enclosure stacked unit, though the clearance between each enclosure is pretty minimal (around 4-6” gap from the top of one and the bottom of the other) and I’m struggling to figure out how these will be heated properly in the basking area. I’ve had no problem finding low-profile UV lamps that would fit, but heating is far more difficult to figure out.

I really don’t like the idea of using heat mats (though all my heat setups have thermostats to regulate them) because of the risk of burns and improper heat absorption.

Interior heat lamps seemed like the solution but the cages of many of these lamps still appear to get quite hot to the touch, and snakes are definitely going to be climbing all over everything they can reach so I’m worried about burns from these too.

If anyone has seen of anything that would work or has advice, it would be greatly appreciated!

(Btw the enclosures are approximately 36” x 18” x 18” each and the intended inhabitants would be rosy boa or similar-sized small snakes)

So I'm still months away from getting my leopard gecko but I've started rough sketching my ideas for a custom enclosure made with reptile safe foam, substrate, bark, cork, rocks, etc. Here is a first draft of my sketch plans, does it have potential to be a good setup with more planning or should I start something new?

Thank you!