DIY - Naturalistic Background, No 'Great Stuff' Needed!

I'd be amazed if no one had thought of this before, but I personally haven't seen any threads about it, so here you go! They're quick, easy, and don't require the curing time or mess that great stuff and silicon do.

You will need:
-Your tank
-A pen of sorts for marking (I had a sharpie lying around so I used that)
-Strong scissors/wire cutters
-Hot glue gun&extra glue sticks
-Fake plants (I got mine from Michael's Arts&Crafts - it is important when selecting your plants that you make sure there are no sharp edges or little pieces that they could pull off&hurt themselves.)
-Contact Paper Cork Board (You can find several different brands, available in different places - I don't remember where I got mine, it might have been Orchard Supply Hardware. Here's a link to some that they have on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Tact-04F-C6421-06-18-Inch-4-Feet-Adhesive/dp/B000WEPD6U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1301162045&sr=8-2
-Optional, Strongly Suggested: A good sense of humor

All the supplies, put together (oooh... ahhh... a visual aid...):



Pick the side that you want to decorate, and measure it out on the cork board. I'm working with scraps that I had left over, and managed to have just enough to cover that back wall of a 10 gal that I wanted to decorate. Draw your lines, then cut.

Personal recommendation: I like to cut the cork a little bit smaller than the dimensions of the side I'm putting it on, so that I know it will fit, and it gives me a little leeway with the plants and letting them stick over the edges. (For example, if the side was 18x24, I might cut the cork at 16x22)

Measure, draw, cut:



Plug in that hot glue gun, grab your fake plants, and start decorating!



A couple 'rule of thumbs' that I like to keep in mind:

-With my geckos, "If it's not nailed down, they're going to tear it up." My critters /love/ these backgrounds, and it shows.

-Fabric is easier to glue than plastic. I always make sure to anchor the plants down by the 'stem', and then additionally by gluing a couple of the leaves to the cork as well.

-When in doubt, add more glue. It doesn't always have to be to the cork board - sometimes I'll glue one leaf to another well anchored leaf.

I like to rotate it a little, make sure I get a different view as I'm gluing stuff down, and 'over fill' the background a little - that's my own personal preference.



When I think the background looks full enough, or I'm done burning my fingers on the glue gun (which, for a ten gallon, takes about an hour), it looks something like this:



Turn it over, peel off the paper...



And press it onto the inside of the tank. Make sure to be very thorough, so that it adheres fully - I like to start from the center and work out, which helps to eliminate any air bubbles that might have gotten caught between the paper and the backing.



They're quick, easy, and hold up well to both the geckos and the humidity.

Hope this is helpful! :D

A gratuitous shot of the 20 L I did about 4 months ago:

Seeing Spots

Well, tonight marks the 'official' retiring of my first breeding trio. (This may be retracted at a later date, but for now, it stands.)

Emerson, Zippo, and Honey will most likely live out the rest of their lives as 'pet only' ladies, luxuriating in restful days of lapping up Crested Gecko Diet, hanging from the glass walls of the tanks, and never having to look at a male again.

That said, I do plan on continuing to breed Cresties, at least for another year. I redid the reptile wall this evening; set a 20 Gallon Long on its end, creating a new home for one of my male Crested Geckos, Norbert (more on this tank and its backing later), and removed Lillun (the male that was in with the girls for the past few seasons) so that he now has his own enclosure.

Norbert is what they call a Super Dalmation color morph, meaning that he has over 100 spots on his body.







Earlier this week, I purchased a girlfriend for him - another Super Dalmation - and she can be seen here:

http://www.crownjewelreptiles.com/animals/view/26#

They should produce some very, very spotty babies, with some great crest structure and body size.

The offspring of Dalmation morph geckos tend to reflect the parents, and then some - being that both mom and dad have 100+ spots, the babies should definitely be some lookers.

I can hardly wait. :D

Hatching Them Is The Easy Part

Those of you that know me, know that I breed Crested Geckos. For those of you that don't know what those are, imagine a tiny, wingless, toothless dragon, whose temperament ranges somewhere between lap dog and apathetic house cat. Or, for those with a less creative imagination, look below:



When I entered into breeding these geckos a few years ago, my animals were competitive level breeders - their coloration and structure was worth noting and reproducing. It has now been a few years since I purchased these geckos; by today's standards, they generally have one quality worth reproducing (some have great patterning, some have awesome crest structure), but are no longer top of the line. Being that I have not invested in new geckos, the animals I'm producing are generally very high level pet quality, and in about 20% of them, breeding quality. For this very reason, this will likely be the last year that I use these geckos as breeders - I'm alright with producing pet quality (someone's got to cater to those who are really just looking for an awesome pet lizard), and keeping those that I don't sell off, and at the same time, I don't want to 'flood the market' with them. It's sort of like dogs - everyone wants something different, but you don't want too many of any one kind out there or people are going to start mistreating them.

If you're looking to get into breeding reptiles, it is important to consider why you want to do this. Is it to make oodles of money? I'll tell ya - breeding reptiles for the cash and prizes is like chewing bubble gum to win an algebra contest (minus the sore jaw). Are you breeding toward a particular goal? If so, are you willing to continue investing in purchasing breeding stock to keep pace with the evolution of the traits that you're shooting for? What are you going to do with the babies that don't fit into your breeding project? Reptiles need food, and space, and decorations, and care just like any other pet - only, they can be a lot harder to get off of your hands and into a new home. (I don't understand why, really - scaly babies are just as adorable as a teeny tiny fluffy bunny...) Are you breeding them just to see if you can do it? To hatch and raise your own babies?

My next project is going to be my Ball Python line. Back in 2008, I purchased two Lesser Platinum Ball Pythons - one male, one female - and I've spent the past few years growing them up into something of breeding age and weight. I bought these two with a particular goal in mind: I want to produce, hatch, and raise my own Blue Eyed Leucistic Ball Python. I may produce several clutches of Lesser Platinums before this occurs, and all of them will be breeding quality, because they are being bred for their coloration genes (Lesser Platinum is a color morph of a standard Ball Python) rather than a combination of traits (Crested Gecko breeding quality is based on the individual displaying a large collection of different visible traits).

Normal Ball Python (my pet-only sweetheart, Loki):



Lesser Platinum Ball Python (my female, Leyla):



Breeding reptiles is a constantly evolving (no pun intended) practice - it saves you a lot of time, energy, and money if you really do your research beforehand. It all comes down to responsibility, really. Get some background on the species that you want to breed, know /why/ you want to breed them, what sorts of projects other people are doing with the same species, have a plan for what you're going to do with the 'extra' babies, and - if push should come to shove - know that you need to be prepared to take care of every animal you produce.