9/25/2023 0 Comments Large skull snake hideThese can be carved with a Dremel to create holes in the side that enable the enclosure’s occupant to use them as hides. The construction of the Universal Rocks artificial rocks makes them completely hollow. The other dishes for food and insects have performed well - I particularly appreciate how the lip of the Exo Terra Worm Bowl effectively prevents even large dubia roaches from escaping. So I swapped it for the Exo Terra Large Reptile Water Dish. I didn’t like how small the water dish was, as personally I prefer to use water bowls that are large enough for my reptiles to soak in if desired, but shallow enough to prevent drowning. I haven’t seen much of them since, but I assume they haven’t all been eaten by the plated lizard. These plants, by the way, have become an additional source of partial cover for Sorilea when she wants to be able to watch us from a “hidden” location.īecause I wanted this enclosure to be bioactive, I added approximately 150 powder orange isopods, 50 Texas fast isopods, and a number of pink springtails to populate the soil. Fortunately 5” easily accommodated the largest of the plants that I purchased for the build. In this case I used 3 36-qt bags of The Bio Dude Terra Sahara. The Maximum Reptile Essential 4 Enclosure allows for a substrate layer up to 5” deep. However it does produce something of a ringing noise that can get grating after being in the room for a while. The strength of the “breeze” produced was not too strong or too weak, and did well in the desired purpose. They were not overly stressed, despite the rough treatment.Īlthough the online photos of the Alice Springs kit create a pretty good template for anyone who wants to reproduce that particular layout exactly, I arranged the décor slightly differently in order to accommodate a different set of plants, a larger water dish, and hides in a variety of areas around the enclosure for a range of thermoregulation opportunities that the plated lizard could use while still being hidden.įor lighting this enclosure, I used a 100w Philips PAR39 halogen floodlight bulb, a 22” T5 HO Arcadia Dragon 14% UVB, and a 22” Light Your Reptiles 6500K fluorescent bulb.Īn Olimaster Laptop Cooler fan was also installed on top of the enclosure to encourage air flow and prevent overheating by creating a gentle breeze. However, the artificial plants in the kit photo look very attractive, and they are advertised as fireproof and nontoxic.Īlongside the artificial rocks, log, and food/water dishes, and added the following live plants:Įach plant and its roots were thoroughly rinsed before planting to minimize transmission of chemicals into the enclosure. I let the enclosure and décor sit for a while to let the plastic décor air out.īecause I wanted to try going bioactive with this kit, I opted for the “4 Foot Décor Kit + Dragon Skull – No Artificial Plants”. I received the Maximum Reptile Essential 4 Enclosure and Alice Springs kit at the same time, so the background and ledge came already firmly adhered to the enclosure, with no gaps. What if - after all that work and expense - your reptile’s enclosure still looks ugly?! And in both cases, there’s no guarantee that the finished enclosure will actually look good. For the second, it’s very difficult to visualize the final result or whether everything will even fit. If you’re not so creative, you’re more likely to just walk into the pet store or hop on Amazon and grab whatever accessories fit your budget and look cool. If you’re creative, you’ll have some pictures of the reptile’s natural environment, and try to recreate it that way. But from whom? And do you want it 3D or more like a poster? On the other hand, you can buy the background. You want a background? Okay…will you make it yourself or are you going to buy one? One the one hand, making a background is cheap, but there’s no guarantee that it will turn out looking good, or that you even have the time to do it. You want branches? Okay…what type of branches? Where will you get them? How do you clean them? Do they need to be sealed? How big do they need to be? What shape do they need to be? You want plants? Okay…which plants? How big? How many? Are any of them toxic if ingested? Where do you even get them? How will you arrange them? There’s just one problem: decorating reptile enclosures is hard. And more importantly, they make the enclosure much more functional, interactive, and enriching for the reptile that it houses. But it’s the accessories - backgrounds, plants, branches, rocks - that make the enclosure beautiful. Sure, you can have your heat lamp, your UVB, substrate, food and water dishes, hides - those are the basic components. One of the hardest parts of setting up a new reptile enclosure is the décor.
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