A viewer pointed me to this shop to fix my falling fake plants. I ended up ordering half the catalog.
Video · 14 min watchWritten by Brian
The shop is called Stroodies. A viewer recommended it in a comment after I complained about a fake reptile plant that kept falling off the glass. I browsed the shop and ordered a box of things to try. This is not sponsored: I paid with my own money and used a different email address so the owner wouldn't know who was buying. I plan to use everything I bought with my own geckos.
I've shopped for reptile supplies on Etsy before and rarely found much I liked. This shop is different.
Gecko condos with suction cups
Hollow hides that stick to the glass with suction cups. They make a dark, elevated resting spot, and with some moss inside they'd be a good humid hide. They come in several sizes and colors. I'll use the larger ones for day geckos. The smaller ones I'm hoping to use as egg collectors for mourning geckos, because the rough, layered 3D printed surface should be easy for them to glue eggs to.
Magnetic hides
The same hide, held on with magnets instead of suction cups. These got me more excited, because suction cups always let go eventually. The magnets are strong enough to hold heavier geckos, the materials look good and they should be easy to clean. I highly recommend these if you want elevated hides. I think the natural colors, like dark forest green, will suit most planted or bioactive cages, but there are many colors to choose from.
Magnetic plant holders
This is what brought me to the shop. You feed the stem of a fake plant through the holder and the magnets hold it to the glass. It solves the problem of suction-cup plants from Zoo Med or Exo Terra falling down. There are around 30 colors. I'm putting them in my day gecko, chahoua and other cages.
Magnetic climbing ledges
A multi-level ledge that sticks to the side of the cage and gives your geckos rests and hides up the wall. It helps use vertical space, which is often hard to do. The one I got is a good size for young to sub-adult crested geckos. Another version holds a food dish, and the hide pod fits right next to it, so you can build a hide, climbing levels and a feeding station on one wall.
Odds and ends
I also got a clutch of dinosaur eggs with holes for geckos to climb through, and the shop added a small food dish I don't think I ordered.
Downsides
Because they are 3D printed, they're a bit rough around the edges and not the nicest-looking materials. That's the reality of home 3D printing, and it's why they are affordable. What you pay for here is function.
Verdict
The magnetic hides, climbing ledges and plant holders are very useful, and I'll be using them across my cages. If you buy from them, you're supporting a small business, which is how I make my living too.