Naturalistic + Bioactive Crested Gecko Vivarium (Housing Henry 2.0)

hey everyone welcome back to another four varium demonstration in this video we'll show you how I set up another naturalistic bioactive ovarium for my crested gecko Henry without any delay let's get into the build to begin we'll start by making some removable backgrounds here are some panels of 3/4 inch thick styrofoam as is these pieces aren't the right size for what I want to do so I cut them down a bit using gel super glue and clamps attach two pieces of foam together like so after letting the glue dry I removed the clamps from there I made a measurement and cut the foam down to size then I repeated the same process two more times if you've never done this before I recommend getting foam that's the right size to begin with as I do with most of my builds I use materials that I already have so in this case it was necessary to prepare the foam as such next it was time to prepare the hardscape elements for the background I grabbed a large cork round and broke it into two pieces then I set a piece of bark on the styrofoam to ensure it was sized correctly [Music] using a series of different drill bits I created holes throughout the cork to create a more naturalistic look this will also allow the gecko to have more access points into the cork if it feels threatened with the main piece of cork addressed I moved on to preparing the back panel of phone first I marked the sides with a piece of foam so that I knew where the other panels would touch then I got a drill bit with a 3/8 inch drill bit and made holes all throughout the piece of foam these holes don't need to go all the way through the foam just enough to create an uneven surface doing so will give the expanding foam a better surface to adhere to next I got a piece of cocoa husk liner and the cork using the cork as a guide I cut out the piece of liner accordingly then I got a few smaller pieces of cocoa husk liner and marked for them on the foam along with the original piece I set these element society and applied 100% silicone in their place afterward I pressed the pieces of cocoa as glein are firmly onto the silicone from there I set the pieces of cork bark in their respective locations then I prep the side panels the same way after getting the placement of all the elements down I went back and attached Coco glider to the foam like before then I play several planters and appropriate locations throughout the background [Music] next I began to apply the expanding phone you can use various types of expanding foam but in this case I'm using great stuff pond and stone expanding phone although this one is a little more expensive it tends to be easier to use as you're applying the foam keep in mind that it does expand so you might not need to apply as much as you would probably think that said I tend to overdo it although this may be a waste of materials I prefer to over apply so that I can carve more later on after applying all of the foam it was time to let it cure now let's carve out the backgrounds for this process I use a razor blade scraper you can use various tools for this process but I prefer to use a scraper because it cuts the foam in a way that minimizes the mess what I mean is that it doesn't create a bunch of small debris like a serrated knife would you'll notice that any uncarved foam is shiny this is important to recognize because silicone won't readily stick to it in this state so when carving the foam make sure to at least remove this layer after a little carving you should end up with something like this you may wonder why I removed all of the foam on the edges if you remember I measured for the side panels earlier if I were to leave the expanding foam in these locations the side panels wouldn't properly fit into the enclosure later on from here I proceeded to carve out the two side panels just like before with the foam all carved out it's time to apply the silicone to do so I simply apply a little silicone and paint it smooth with the paintbrush I like to do it this way because it keeps it clean and disperses the silicone evenly with a large background like this I recommend doing it in sections that said after getting just a portion of the foam covered in silicone the decorative elements could be added first I dropped down a few pieces of orchid park and then firmly pressed a handful of dry Coco fiber onto the silicone it's extremely important that the Coco fiber is completely dry otherwise whatever moisture is present will cause the silicone to cure prematurely if this happens then the Coco fiber won't adhere properly to the silicone and it will likely fall off the background in no time with the Coco fiber pressed firmly into the silicone the entire panel can then be flipped over to remove any excess I recommend doing this over a discard pile so that way you can keep reusing the same Coco fiber doing a little bit at a time I gradually build up a layer forked bark and Coco fiber on the expanding foam using silicone if you miss a spot here there it's not a big deal you can always touch it up as you go or later on an advantage to making the background out of the enclosure like this is that it's much easier to carve details on the foam and to apply the Coco fiber using the same methods I proceeded to cover the other two panels if you're gonna learn how to make other naturalistic backgrounds be sure to follow the link or check out the video description [Music] after letting the background dry overnight it was time to put them into the enclosure to do so I flipped the enclosure upside down and set the back panel in place next I put the side panels into their respective locations individually these panels wouldn't stay in place however as a collective unit they apply pressure on one another and stay firmly secured and if at any time I wanted to remove the background panels I could easily do so since they aren't actually attached to the enclosure itself from here I took the enclosure back to its upright position and vacuumed any excess debris to complete the overall aesthetic I went back in silicone pieces of Sagna Moss onto the background [Music] to finalize the background completely I drilled holes into the bottoms of the planters this will keep stagnant water from building up which could harm the plants in retrospect I should have done this before putting the backgrounds into the enclosure but I didn't feel like going through the hassle of it now we'll move on to the false bottom layer for this for varium I'm going to make an egg crate false bottom I've done this many times in the past so to remove redundancy I already have the sections of the egg crate cut to size these pieces were simply attached together using some zip ties after combining all of the pieces together I snipped the zip ties clean then I grabbed row of carbon fiber glass windows screen mesh I've said it many times before but please do not use any form of metal screen for this process under these types of conditions the metal will quickly corrode or rust and eventually ruin your 4 variant with my mesh selected I cut out a piece slightly larger than the egg crate and then attached to using some zip ties [Music] [Music] after getting all of the zip ties in place I snip them clean and removed a little bit of the excess screen it's important now to remove all of it though you want some excess to go outward like so next I got a bag of Lika clay pellets I prefer to use the ones from Ikea here because they're cheaper by volume than most alternatives and they are the same thing from here I dumped the lead guy into a bucket and soak them in dechlorinated water for about a half hour this will clean them off a bit and allow them to absorb some moisture this is important to note because it will make it easier to achieve entertain a high humidity later on so I removed one of the background panels and vacuumed out the debris then I place the egg crepe portion of the false bottom into the enclosure while doing so I made sure that the excess mesh dentin Kuran der the egg crate next I filled the void between the egg crate and the sides of the enclosure with Lika finally I got another sheet of Windows screen mesh and covered the entire bottom of the enclosure if you notice it's slightly larger than the area I'm working with this is important because when we put the substrate into the enclosure it will actually press the mesh up against the sides of the enclosure preventing the substrates from getting down into the rest of the false bottom now let's mix up the substrate to start we'll prepare the charcoal any sort of lump board or horticultural charcoal will work just fine you could break it up into smaller pieces as is but I'll show you something a little better that said I dumped the charcoal into a large bucket and filled it up with some water you'll notice that I put wrapped isafe drops in as I filled the bucket this is important because the charcoal will absorb some water however we don't want the charcoal absorbing any chlorine so little dechlorinator will do the job after loving the charcoal soak for a good half-hour I placed it into a different container then using a splitting maul I smashed a charcoal into smaller more manageable pieces this is where soaking the charcoal comes into play had we smashed dry charcoal it would have released soot all throughout the air therefore this method is not only cleaner but it's safer as well with the charcoal prepared we'll move on here I'm mixing up my standard ABG substrate mix first I started out with some Coco fiber then I added some sphagnum Moss I will say that I tend to gravitate towards cheap sphagnum Moss because I like that it has twigs mixed into it but you could use whatever you want after mixing these together I added some orchid bark I then mixed in some charcoal from earlier finally I added some sand if you want a full demonstration or more information on how I make this follow the link or check out the video description you may be wondering why I didn't measure the things that I was using well I've made this so many times that I know how it should look and feel so I don't bother following my proportions it's kind of like cooking once you've done it so much you just know how to add the ingredients without measuring now that our substrate is completely mixed up we can add it into the enclosure to start we'll lay down a generous layer of charcoal this layer will do many things but most importantly it will inhibit mold growth and provide a home for our springtails that said wide to established cultures of springtails into the charcoal layer when making a bioactive ovarium I think this is the best method to seed the enclosure with springtails I say that because the established cultures not only have an abundance of springtails but the charcoal from those colonies are also covered in eggs since spring tails will largely reside in the charcoal layer seating this way will jumpstart the entire process and get you a more substantial colony in a shorter amount of time now add a generous layer of substrate when adding this layer I recommend making it much thicker in the back and slip it downward toward the front this helps from planting background plants and creates a greater sense of depth [Music] with the vivarium ready for the next step we'll prepare the plants for use a lot of people like to prepare their plants in different ways but the beginning steps are all pretty much the same let's start by removing as much dirt as we possibly can from the roots of the plants if any pests are present this is likely where they will be hiding out unless it's something like scale after removing as much dirt as possible let's thoroughly wash the plants with some warm water in doing so gently rub the roots of the plants to remove excess dirt also rub the leaves with your fingers to remove any chemicals that could be present such as insecticides from here a lot of people like to use a diluted bleach or hydrogen peroxide mixture to clean the plants even further although it never hurts to be more thorough I think it's a bit overkill however if that's what you prefer to do I completely understand in my opinion if you're thorough enough with the process I just showed you can get the plants clean enough for use however I should say that after rinsing the plants I highly recommend putting them in quarantine for at least a month especially if they are going into an established for varium this will allow the plant to gradually acclimate to the conditions that you will provide and you can monitor for pests or other issues that way if any issues pop up you can address them in a controlled environment rather than in the enclosure itself however in this instance I don't have the space to put these plants in quarantine so they all have to go right into the vivarium with that in mind I'm not going to put my gecko into this setup for at least a month from here we're in the homestretch let's start setting up and planting the enclosure to start I have some flexible jungle vines I could have made something like this myself but I didn't feel like dealing with it at the time using two different vines I created a design that I thought looked natural and that would work well for my crested gecko before we start dyeing the plants I'll show you what I have here here I have some zinc wire I'm going to use sections of this depend various plants to the background the reason why you want to use zinc wire is that it won't corrode or rust and will last long term in the Bavarian without creating any issues now let's add some plants I started by placing java moss on the vine [Music] then I put some substrate in one of the planters and planted a crypt anthis black mystic after getting it situated I added some more java moss next I attached a nearer jellia fireball to the background from there I added the bill birch of TL Mead and dicin gonna impart a phylum run or to the other side then I put some java moss in the same place next I attach some Kerber Charu brought to the backside of the formation using this inquires I showed earlier [Music] then I added Annie or Julia Tiger to the same side another section of Singhania pada file Imran or an decrypt anthis the Kahless Jade were then planted into the ground some cuttings have wandering too purple were then added to the planter on the background from there I added a mini prayer plant and a crypt amethyst snow goose to the right side of the vivarium [Music] next I added a parlor palm to the left side to fill in some space then I planted a sink Oni impart a phylum Regina red in front of the parlor palm after that I added a few sections of golden pothos and fraternal red vein to various locations within the FO varium [Music] from there I planted more parlor palm [Music] next I added a few segments of kallithea gold mosaic from Henry's current ovarium he seems to like this plane a lot so I wanted to include it in this setup as well next I proceeded the Pinson fudgie's Pimlico so folia to the left side of the background [Music] and then I pinned some standard focused email to the right side of the background [Music] finally I added an unnamed father dendron to the top right [Music] from here it was time to add the isopods much like the spring tales like to add leaves and substrate from my existing isopod culture since it's already colonized in turn this will make it much easier to get a larger carnie of isopods to establish in the varium itself [Music] after adding the isopods I put down a layer of leaf litter consisting of Magnolia and oak leaves I like to use a combination of leaves because it creates a more natural look from there I gave the leaf litter a good spray down next I added several patches of live sphagnum Moss and joggle Moss [Music] last but not least I gave the vivarium a final spray down here is the final product overall I really like how it turned out but it has a lot of growing in to do once this vivarium becomes established it's going to look like a mini jungle with the dense canopy that in mind I recommend letting your very own established for a month or two prior to adding your animals you have much more success with your plants if you let them root and become established in their new environment prior to the animals crawling all over them especially something a little larger like a crested gecko also waiting a little bit will allow your cleanup crew to populate and as a result they will be more efficient in doing their job once the animal is introduced you may be wondering what the specs are on this for varium but I will talk about that in part two of this series when we put Henry in his new home you may have noticed that I have another four varium to the left of this one that's another bioactive varium for my crested gecko Delilah don't worry I'll release a different type of video series on that one as well in the meantime we'll let this for varium do its thing Henry will likely be added in mid-april or so anyways that concludes this demonstration I hope you enjoyed this video and learned something useful for your next vivere and build if you want to see project sneak peeks or updates on my animals be sure to follow me on Instagram also if you won't mind giving this a thumbs up it would mean a lot anyways I greatly appreciate you guys and I'll see you next time

Channel: SerpaDesign

Views: 1,141,902

Rating: 4.9289217 out of 5

Keywords: Crested Gecko, vivarium, terrarium, bioactive, naturalistic, live planed, reptile, how to, diy, do it yourself, background, foam background, herp, herps

Id: aSGq-9kbaxM

Length: 23min 32sec (1412 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 17 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Real life pokemon

You mean "animals"?