diy terrarium/ aquarium floor with mini tute (pic heavy)

[sarah-beth]

This is zeus


He is a leopard gecko. He and his girlfriend, Bella, live in a terrarium in my boyfriends room. We adopted them from a friend and LOVE them. When we got them they were living on hard packed sand which is no the best for them. Geckos tend to ingest the sand and get sick. So my bf and I set out to make a tiled floor. we wanted something that looked natural, was smooth and would retain heat. We are stationed in germany so we had to find our materials at the german version of home depot.

We settled on some grey flat rocks that came meshed together. I dont remember how much they were but they were reasonably priced.


I cleaned the bottom of the cage and put the rocks in to see how the would fit.
After that I used tile glue to glue down the rocks


After it dried I grouted it with a dark grey grout and covered it with a few coats of  outdoor modgepodge to seal it.

It was a messy project but so worth it in the end. the floor has worked out great.

And here are the geckos enjoying their new fancy floor.

[Tygir]

Ooo! Looks awesome! I have a leopard gecko as well and I think she might like something like this. How long did it take before you could put them back in the tank?
Looks like this would be much easier to clean than sand or terrarium carpet (what I'm using now). She keeps biting the carpet when she tries to catch moving food (poor thing has a bit of an eye problem). I think she'd appreciate a smooth floor, haha.

[jcorn]

That is beautiful - GECKOLOVE!! Zeus & Bella are lucky to have such thoughtful and crafty humans!

[Juliettesjules]

So awesome!  I want! 

[sarah-beth]

Ooo! Looks awesome! I have a leopard gecko as well and I think she might like something like this. How long did it take before you could put them back in the tank?
Looks like this would be much easier to clean than sand or terrarium carpet (what I'm using now). She keeps biting the carpet when she tries to catch moving food (poor thing has a bit of an eye problem). I think she'd appreciate a smooth floor, haha.

Thanks Tygir.

I highly recommend the tile. We did it over the weekend. we glued the tiles down in the am then grouted in the pm then sealed the next day. I cant remember if we started on a Friday or Saturday. The project too two days but we aired it out for another 2 or three to make sure there were no fumes. So about a week they hung out in a smaller tank we had left over.  The rocks hold the heat really nicely, they catch the food easier and it is a dream to clean. I just cleaned yesterday. I take all their houses and stiff out use a vaccum to vaccum any bug dust, vitamin powder or food bit off the floor, grab their...poo...up with paper towels then wash the floor all natural soap and water and rinse really well. the rocks we use dry in less than 2 minutes since the cage is warm. It looks really nice in person. I think sand can look dirty.

Bella has eyesight issues too. when we got her she couldn't use one foot because it had who knows how many layers of old shred on it so we had to fix that then she was compacted from ingesting sand so we took her to the vet which was useless since the vet knew nothing so we took her to a local pet shop that was very informative. we had to but her on oil drops to get it out and then after that we had the tile floor and have had no issues she is completely rehabilitated she has gained weight strength and speed but we still hand feed her because she cant see well enough to hunt,

I'm not a huge fan of repti carpet because Zeus has major claws which can get stuck in it.  

BTW it makes the cage a lot heavier but we don't move the cage so that is fine. for heating we have one overhead heat lamp and two heat pad under the tank the rocks get nice and toasty which is good because geckos need belly heat to help digest food properly.

[sarah-beth]

That is beautiful - GECKOLOVE!! Zeus & Bella are lucky to have such thoughtful and crafty humans!

lol thanks!   

[Tygir]

Bella has eyesight issues too.

I was lucky enough to find a good reptile vet (after going to one an hour away and having him be useless...) The advice she gave really helped my Drake. She said to keep the humidity up in the enclosure and as long as it stays up around 60-80%, Drake can see pretty well. If it drops down, her eyes get all cloudy and stuck together.

Now I want to find a spare room for her to hang out in so I can tile the floor! Thanks for the great idea

[radiationbaby]

Very cool tank bottom!  You mentioned that you have a male AND a female; have they ever had baby geckos?  I can't imagine how cute that would be (also frustrating finding homes for the little guys).

[cookiedoe]

     this project is seriously awesome!(: you did such a nice job, i'm sure your
      geckos are really happy with it.