Drainage Layer?

[Young Geckoboy]

Hi y'all. I am getting a larger terrarium for my leopard gecko, and I want to get some coconut substrate. I remembered that soil substrates for dart frogs require a drainage Layer. Would I need the same for my leopard gecko? If so, what should I use?

 

[acpart]

Dart frogs need a lot of moisture (as do crested geckos to a lesser extent) and all the spraying causes the substrate to get saturated with water so a drainage layer is needed. You won't be misting your leopard gecko so you don't need a drainage layer. Here are 2 Gecko Time articles that deal with the leopard gecko's habitat in the wild and how someone used that info to make a bioactive leopard gecko enclosure:

Holistic Design in Bioactive Vivariums: Leopard Geckos, Part 1 - Gecko Time

All bioactive enclosures have the same basic requirements, but the needs of your main inhabitant dictate the ways in which you can support bioactivity. Many people have claimed it impossible to create a bioactive desert terrarium, but let’s not forget that life persists all over the earth, even...

geckotime.com

Holistic Design in Bioactive Vivariums: Leopard Geckos, Part 2 - Gecko Time

This is the fourth article in this series and part 2 of leopard geckos. Gecko Time readers might recognize this enclosure from a previous leopard gecko bioactive article. What happened? Superworms! Zophobas morio overpopulated and became a smelly nuisance, and the worms escaped through gaps...

geckotime.com

Aliza

 

[Young Geckoboy]

Thank you. That really helped me out, and saved me a ton of money. I was thinking about putting isopods in the terrarium. I read the article, and I feel that my gecko would more than likely eat quite a few of them. Is this safe?

 

[acpart]

I think isopods need more moisture than you'd be providing. If you put them in there, they may end up hanging out under the water bowl. I doubt your gecko will even notice them since they're so small. I have isopods in all my planted enclosures and I don't even think my micro geckos are eating them. And if they did happen to eat some, it would be safe.
I had one bioactive enclosure for leopard geckos for awhile and I used dermestid beetles as a cleanup crew. In the articles I cited above, the author uses feigning blue death beetles which are kind of fascinating, though hard to find.

Aliza