The Gecko Princess

First step: get yourself some dirt! I created my own mix out of Exo-Terra Plantation soil and some tree fiber. You want to make sure your soil has some amount of nutrition for your plants, is airy, and will hold humidity well. I could have added some sphagnum for extra humidity, but I don’t have a hugely difficult time keeping the humidity up in my tank so I opted out of that. To be honest I’m crossing my fingers that my mix actually supports life and doesn’t just kill everything in a couple months so WE WILL SEE.

Next ya gotta get some balls. They’re gonna help with drainage to keep your humidity up while making sure your plants aren’t sitting in a puddle all day. I used Zoo-Med hydro-balls but there’s lots of different options. This is also a good time to add your background, preferably before the balls. Very hard when you forget to put the background in first, do not suggest it. Also the balls smell way weird. Idk. This is also a good time to ponder how you will ever get your tank out of your top floor apartment, because it now weighs 20 more lbs than before.

Now you gotta get your mesh screen. They sell ones specifically for this purpose from Exo-Terra--mine is just whatever the guy at the store cut for me, it’s more of a fabric than a screen. This is going to keep your dirt from getting all mixed up in your balls. I don’t know if it’s that important but I did it because everyone on the internet said to.

Next step: put your dirt in! I shaped my dirt into a slope going up towards the back because I thought it was more interesting than a flat plain. You can choose to shape your dirt however you want to, adding little hills or slopes or whatever you like! I took this time to bury part of my cork log so it would stay somewhat stable, and I actually stuffed it full of dirt too because I know my idiot lizard will go inside and get stuck. This also gives me the opportunity to use it as a planter, which will come in handy during the planting step! 

Time for plants! This was the funnest but also most stressful part of the process. When deciding what plants you want in your vivarium, I suggest going for easy, slow-growers that thrive in low to medium light. I went for Fittonia, Croton, Prayer Plant, Snake Plant, some type of Dracaena whose name I forget, and some Pothos because it’s indestructible. You’re going to want to bare root them, which is terrifying if you aren’t a huge plant person! De-pot your plants and shake out as much of the dirt from the root ball as you can. What you can’t get out by shaking, knock loose with running water. I suggest doing all of this in your bath tub. It’s okay if you can’t get every last crumb of dirt off, but you want to try to get as much of the dirt/fertilizer/perlite that could be harmful to your gecko. This is also a good time to check and see if you have any pests floating around on your plants. After I had all of my plants bare-rooted, I sprayed them with a vinegar and water solution, then rubbed their leaves under the faucet to get rid of any fertilizer residue/anything weird on them. Some people choose to process their plants in a mild bleach solution, but I got mine from a pretty reputable nursery. If you’re getting your plants from, say, Wal-Mart or Home Depot, I’d be a little more worried about pests, which is when a bleach bath might be a good idea. At this point, your bath tub should look absolutely disgusting like a dirt bomb went off which is really awesome.

Plant your plants! I fiddled around with placement for a bit before finally deciding exactly how I wanted them. After I took this picture I planted some of my Pothos into the cork bark, but decided not to use the whole plant because it already looked nice and full.

Now you have to add your buggies! I chose springtails. This is the step that turns your tank from being a planted tank to a complete, bioactive environment. The bugs will break down wastes inside the tank and help fertilize the plants. I just added water to the container and then dumped them all in, spreading them out around the tank. 

One of the last steps is adding some leaf litter! This will begin breaking down and offer some food for your bugs while the tank becomes established. It will also keep your gecko somewhat out of the substrate so they don’t risk swallowing it. Plus, it looks cool! I used Magnolia leaves because that is what the store had, but you can use all different types of leaf litter depending on if you have a specific look in mind. I also took this time to place some random cork bark bits and seed pods around, just to add to the natural look and to give my springtails somewhere to party.