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Online pet magazine.
Almost everything you need to know about pet care.
Reptiles - Terrarium (Terranium)
The basic home for a reptile is a glass or plexi aquarium used as a terrarium, topped with a secure lockable lid. You can start with a 60 litre tank and go up from there.
Aquatic turtles need a large terrarium with a filtration system. You will need to add a raised piece of cork bark to one corner and add a basking lamp over the cork bark area so your turtle can 'sun bathe' and completely dry off. A 60 litre tank is large enough for an aquatic turtle up to 5cm in length.
As your turtle grows it will need a larger filtered terrarium.
Snakes need a living area that is at least half as long as their length, and at least one third of their body length in width. A 1 metre long snake needs a terrarium that's about 35 cm wide and at least 50 cm in length.
Lizards can go into a glass terrarium, but some of them, particularly chameleons, need more air circulation and may be happier in a wire mesh reptile cage.
The terrarium needs a substrate, disposable, absorbent flooring. Natural substrates such as sand, mulch or any commercially produced pelleted or shaved substrates are preferred to newspaper because they look better, are more absorbent, provide more grip for the creature to push against when moving about the enclosure, and may provide some burrowing opportunities for lizards and snakes.
The water dish, drip waterer, or misting system is a critical factor in reptile husbandry.
At night snakes and lizards like to use a 'hide' area.
For tortoises, the cage area should be at least 16 times the footprint of the shell; a 15cm tortoise needs as a minimum a reptile cage that is four shell-width's wide, or 60cm wide, and about four times the shell's length in length, or 60cm. That gives a 15cm long tortoise a tank the size of a 90 litre aquarium, which is okay for a month to two. For longer (summer) periods the tortoise needs to go in an outdoor enclosure or into an indoor enclosure that's about 120cm square.
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