# Cleaning free herp setup?



## Alexraptor (Jan 30, 2003)

I'm curious, is it possible to set up a terrarium for herps that does not require cleaning?
And before anyone says it, no i am not looking for shortcuts.

With a saltwater reef setup these days you really don't have to do any cleaning, all you have to do is make sure the water quality os good and that you have plenty of live rock or live sand and the nitrogen cycle will take care of the rest.

Now what i want to know, can one set up a planted terrarium for lizards that has a working nitrogen cycle in a similar manner?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

not really for any larger lizard above 12" beacause they produce far to much waste to not be removed but something like a dart frog fully planted vivarium could work but it could be a bit pricy to start (aquarium, frogs, plants, plant lights...) and most dart keepers do a lot of diy on their tanks (false bottoms, backgrounds)


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## Alexraptor (Jan 30, 2003)

But smaller lizards than 12" may work? Right now im researching some of the smaller european lizards that don't grow much bigger than 3-4"


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## dark FrOsT (Sep 23, 2006)

but just cause they are small doesnt mean they dont produce a lot of waste, example i found that crested geckos are super messy and require daily or every other day cleaning.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

well what im getting at is larger reptiles like bearded dragons make to much waste to be absorbed by plants in a set space for something like that and a bd you would need a very large tank and hevily planyed (though bd come from the desert)

you need something small that produces not that much waste but you still need a large (couple times larger then if you were doing maintnece) tank to dilute the waste along wityh plenty of plants to absorb the waste

i still think your best bet would be dart frogs 
if you dont know what they are her is a link:
link

they will require maitnece like feeding and misting but shouldnt need any cleaning unless you have a section of water (should have a filter)

another choice could be a small snake
it wouldnt be no cleaning but snakes mess once a week or less so its not that difficut to clean


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

A friend of mine has a 30 gal hex, modified setup with a pool and such at the bottom that she houses a single male crestie in. The only maitenance she does is wipe the glass and top off the water (there's a betta that lives in it) and that's about all...

Also, a friend of mine apparently has a virtually maitenance free setup with some variation of pygmy chameleons... Haven't seen it though, but he said it's incredibly easy to maintain. They're even breeding for him. So he must be doing something right.

But as said it's not cheap.


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