Does your gecko maximize it's space?

[Regalia]

Hey guys,

So I pretty much just completed Otis' cage. I'm really liking his setup and I think he is too. Its just a 10g aquarium, I build him a cool rock structure, it doesnt take up as much space as it looks. He never climbed up on the glass so I mainly did it to give him more climbing space. He's got a bunch of vines and a plant or two. Anyways, I'm posting to get your opinion on his setup. I know it should be a taller tank rather than longer, but when i got him he was in a shoebox and he doesn't seem to mind not being able to climb high.

My question for all of you, is how do you get your gecko to maximize his space lol? Even with all the fun stuff for him to climb on, he seems to only use a certain branch, climbs up to a certain spot and back down. He doesn't make much use out of the rest of the cage.

[dbarrm]

I've only been in this for a short time but and was wondering the same thing until the other night when I couldn't sleep. I built mine a 2' x 2' x 4' screen cage. As you can see it has a 2" rim halfway up with corner ledges and a ledge on one side almost at the top. At first I thought he spent all his time on the top ledge and sometimes going around the middle rim. I would never see him on the bottom, center plants, or the limbs I have going from the bottom to the middle rim. I was thinking to myself... All this space and he never uses it.

Well as I was saying the other night I couldnt sleep so I sat on the couch next to the cage and watched him until the wee wee hours of the morning. Boy was I wrong. He was all over the place. Spending the late night hours around the middle and the early morning hours all over the bottom, up and down the limbs. Generally exploring all he could. The more I started looking in the mornings the mroe signs i saw of his explorations. He still does and is now up on the top ledge under some fake leaves sleeping away.

Remember they are nocturnal creatures spending most of the day sleeping. Most living things have a favorite spot to hang out and what you are probably seeing is just that. His safe spot to hang when he wants to sleep or just do nothing, like us on a typical Monday morning.

Set your alarm for 3 to 4 in the morning and ill bet you will see him all over the place.

[Sumaii]

One of my geckos maximizes her space. She lives in a 12 gallon tank placed on its end and she climbs on everything is always sticking to the walls etc... you can even her her sometimes jumping around.

The others are pretty lazy. My adult female who has a 40 gallon to her self currently stays in the same place most of the time, occasionally deciding to jump from an object to another object. My adult male who is currently in a 15 gallon for cooling has been hanging out on a fake palm leaf just staring out (I think he is mad that I took him away from his girlfriend). The other 4 live in shoe boxes and don't do much.

[Ihkura]

As said before, they're more active at night, and believe me, they explore every inch, leaving their scent all over the place and occasionally leaving great stinky presents as proof. In no time at all, you'll notice little white spots here and there, little calcium deposits from the gecko's urates, which they seem to love leaving all over the place, lol. The space given will be used, rest assured.

[seadog68]

We have three Cresties currently in a 55G long tank.
We have lots of vines and wood for them to crawl around and some hides on the floor.

As soon as the light goes off at night they explore every inch of their environment and are quite active for most of the night.

[Taloan]

I think your tank looks great. My only recommendation would be bigger plants or more of them. My geckos pretty much live inside their plants. They love anything with huge leaves they can wedge themselves between. They don't so much need open space as plant filled space (not to say cram your tank completely full, but give them things to hide in.) If I didn't look for my geckos each night and watch them crawl around I could go days without seeing them. It makes them feel secure.
I don't know how big your gecko is but for a full size gecko most of those plants look to small for him to climb on.

Sumaii: I'm hoping the ones you have in shoe boxes are babies?

[Regalia]

Yea, he's usually out and about during the night, but whenever i check on it he seems to be in the same places. I guess its just coincidence. You're right about the poop, since i got him eating its been everywhere!

Oh and thanks Taloan. So far hes only the size of my pinky, i think hes about four months old. He really enjoys the vine suctioned to the glass so i might go out and buy another one of those for him. The picture makes the tank look a lot more empty than it really is.

I'm hoping that he can stay in the 10g tank as an adult. If he gets too big ill have to upgrade it but i think hes really comfortable in there.

[Taloan]

Looks great then for the little guy!