Things You'll Need
- Aquarium with screen lid
- Full spectrum florescent lighting system
- Ceramic heater
- Humidity gauge
- Basking rock
- Internal decorations
- Mist bottle
- Substrate
- Nontoxic plants
- Shallow dish
Instructions
Choose a good quality container. Typically, this will be a large aquarium. Since you are creating a desert terrarium, it is a good idea to purchase a tight fitting screen cover for the vivarium.
Add a background if desired. This will help create a more natural looking environment.
Add substrate. This should be good quality sand with perhaps a few areas of smooth rock. The substrate should be about 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep.
Choose and plant some plants. Some of the plants for a desert vivarium include chalk cactus, jade necklace, the golden barrel cactus, the peanut cactus, the old man cactus, the pearly dots plant, the paddle or purple hedgehog cactus or a variety of aloe or sedum.
Add a shallow water dish and fill it with dechlorinated water.
Add a basking rock and other decorations. Include miniature caves to give your reptile a place to hide and branches or rock formations so that he can get closer to the heat source. All decorations need to be stabilized so that they will not be knocked over by your pets.
Place a heat lamp on one end of the vivarium. A heat lamp produces radiant heat that warms reptiles and increases air temperature. A desert environment will need daytime temperatures between 85 degrees F and 95 degrees F with very little to no humidity. Turn the heat source off at night to simulate the desert's natural drop in temperatures.
Lightly mist or use a fog generators in the morning to simulate early morning dew.
Make sure you purchase a full-spectrum light source to provide light for both the lizard and the plants.
Add a lizard. Leopard gecko and bearded dragons are two desert animals that are good fits for desert vivariums.