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Is there a good resources for mixing different desert lizards and plants in a bioactive enclosure? I've gotten really into succulents over the last couple years to the point where I now have a a few thousand in plants and grow lights. I unfortunately have pretty much all my stuff on shelves with reflective foil on them to help stuff grow better. Good for plants but really boring to look at. I was thinking about making a big arrangement in an old aquarium so I could admire stuff while also keeping it under lights. That turned into an idea to get a really big aquarium for a whole little desert forest. At that point I kind of figured out I really just want to make a whole ecosystem with critters. Problem I'm having is all the advice I'm finding isn't consistent and I even got mixed answers from the staff at the local exotic pet store which is a very reputable place. Id like to mix some small lizards and maybe one big one with some death feigning beetles, isopods, and other appropriate insects. The insects all seem to be easy to work with in relation to plants, but I've been told both that anything more tender than a Zebra plant or cactus will be trampled to death or dug up immediately when mixed with lizards as well as the opposite.
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Sep 19, 2023 19:37
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Like 4x2x2' is about the biggest I could imagine this being. I wouldn't want to house more than 1 larger animal and would prefer more smaller ones that would be able to hide in and around the plants without destroying them. By larger animal I mean something along the lines of a leopard gecko of bearded dragon. E: I'd only use some of my plants. Ill deal with the rest by making getting some display shelves and hopefully just by not buying every interesting plant I come across. -Zydeco- fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Sep 19, 2023 |
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Sep 19, 2023 20:01
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Leperflesh posted:Mixing species is always fraught. In the real world, most animals can escape a locale where it's overcrowded, whether due to actual risk of death or lack of food, or just the perceived risk. Real ecosystems are rarely the size of a tank you can put in your home. Oh, for some reason I thought they grew to similar sizes. I did plan on introducing anything beyond plants gradually. The succulents will take a while to properly root in and there will be a few that inevitably don't make it and need to be replaced. Things like even small finger sized lizards would be the last step I'd try once the whole arrangement seemed to be working for the plants and bugs. I don't want to end up with an animal I don't have a proper setup to care for them. Are there smaller lizards that are fine in a colony that can be controlled by restricting the sex of the individuals in it?
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Sep 19, 2023 20:19
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Desert Bus posted:Narrow down your fauna choices to what will work with your flora (the succulents). Native or close to native is always easier. Flora would be actually kind of determined by the fauna for this. I have succulents that are probably inedible to anything without a beak all the hr way to ones that lose leaves just from being wiggled too vigorously. The fragile stuff I wouldn't bother with as even isopods could cause issue crawling on them, but if like to be able to put in some moderately durable and "fast" growing crassula varieties like Watch Chain Plants. Being able to include crassula (jade plants) or echeveria would be ideal, but neither can really take being walked on so most likely not. Most plants would be cacti or haworthia varieties however as they are durable and should be immune to anything a small reptile might do as long as they didn't dig them up. Since I'm approving this from the plant rather than animal side, I'd like to have a more plant heavy enclosure than most desert vivariums seem to be and I'll make sure to keep some open spaces and basking spots reserved so I don't crowd out any animals in the enclosure. Some sort of reptile between 1-4" that would like to hide, be ok with cohabitating with its own species, and not be bothered by death feigning beetles is kind of what seems to be the best thing. Australian helmeted geckos came up online, but the exotics shop here didn't have any info on them. E: looking further and helmeted geckos apparently should never cohabitate. Desert Bus posted:This person is REALLY good, check their stuffs: Yeah, I found his desert vivarium video and it was very informative. I'm still looking for details on mixing plants and animals beyond using sacrificial plants or combinations that can't harm each other. -Zydeco- fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Sep 19, 2023 |
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Sep 19, 2023 20:51
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After doing more research, I think I'm just going to stick to insects for the near future. Between blue feigning death/hide/darkling beetles, Sonoran desert/Texas striped millipedes, and all the various varieties of isopods there is plenty of interesting stuff that is much less prone to being cared for incorrectly. They'll also make more of themselves, will eat pretty much any sort of garbage I throw in there, and are much less likely to cause issues with plants. Maybe in the future I'll see about a semi-arid tolerant garter snake variety that can feed on the insect population if I end up with h something larger than beetles
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Sep 25, 2023 14:33
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