Keeping herps on a weird day/night cycle?

I've got a 18" cube Exoterra I'd like to turn into a fully planted vivarium at some point, probably with dwarf geckos or some frogs.

My problem is my unusual schedule. I'm pretty much nocturnal, my house is quiet and dark during the day, and lit at night. Will this be a problem for whatever herps I get? Will it disturb diurnal herps like dart frogs and day geckos? Will they adjust to the new schedule if I set the tank light to turn on at night instead of day? If I got nocturnal ones, would nights be too noisy and bright for them?

Anyone else on a weird schedule who's dealt with this issue?

Post a picture of how dark the room gets during the day.

Ok, I'll do it when the sun comes up.

Edit: Nevermind I'm goin to bed early, I'll post a photo when I wake up this evening.

Here's my apartment at the brightest time of day

This is probably too bright for animals to think it's nighttime. I might put some heavier curtains over the windows anyway. As it is now the sun coming from between the blinds hurts my eyes if I'm up during the afternoon.

I don't know about frogs but I have cresties and I'm a second shift worker. They are in a room with an eastern exposure. Then it gets dark, then I come home and turn all the lights on lol. They seem to have adjusted and eat whenever I put food in, whether it is light or dark. I think certain captive animals can adapt because the reason they are nocturnal (food source or prey availibility) has been eliminated.

That's good to hear. How long did it take them to adjust? I was thinkin about cresties, but they're too big for my tank. Mourning geckos are a possibility though.

If I may offer some suggestions. I would obtain test animals that exhibit noticeable, obvious diurnal-nocturnal cycles and observe them. For example, tokay geckos never come out during daylight except when they are physically disturbed.

Then make your observations in a careful methodical manner, noting down the results. I suggest this scientific methodology from recalling a friend who was experimenting with hydroponics and altering the plant light-dark cycles and the effects of synthetic light sources. You might discover you are doing ground breaking research. Some animals don't adapt regardless of the ambient light, some may even become weak and subject to diseases and other ailments. Then some may readily adapt.

The Thai king imported many species of plants and started royal projects, carefully recording the plant adaptation to various changes, inclusive of plants being moved to the opposite hemisphere. He won international recognition and accolades for his experimentation.

To be honest I'm not sure, I didn't pay attention. I usually feed when I get home around 0000hh and I know my friendliest always came out. The others would wait till I went to bed around 0300hh. Now they are conditioned and it doesn't matter. You could just wait to feed them when you go to bed if they are a more shy species (cresties rant too shy IMO). Btw, my morning gecko had the same personality as my cresties and the are cool, but IMO get more than one.

The Snark said:

If I may offer some suggestions. I would obtain test animals that exhibit noticeable, obvious diurnal-nocturnal cycles and observe them. For example, tokay geckos never come out during daylight except when they are physically disturbed.

Then make your observations in a careful methodical manner, noting down the results. I suggest this scientific methodology from recalling a friend who was experimenting with hydroponics and altering the plant light-dark cycles and the effects of synthetic light sources. You might discover you are doing ground breaking research. Some animals don't adapt regardless of the ambient light, some may even become weak and subject to diseases and other ailments. Then some may readily adapt.

The Thai king imported many species of plants and started royal projects, carefully recording the plant adaptation to various changes, inclusive of plants being moved to the opposite hemisphere. He won international recognition and accolades for his experimentation.

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I don't think I can offer a consistent enough environment for a proper study at this point. My schedule varies a little depending on if I have things to do during the daylight hours, and my mom visits pretty often and she's a (ugh) morning person. I definitely don't have room for tokays right now anyway. Maybe I can do a study on this in the future though!

That's really cool! What era was this? What was the king's name?

mmfh said:

To be honest I'm not sure, I didn't pay attention. I usually feed when I get home around 0000hh and I know my friendliest always came out. The others would wait till I went to bed around 0300hh. Now they are conditioned and it doesn't matter. You could just wait to feed them when you go to bed if they are a more shy species (cresties rant too shy IMO). Btw, my morning gecko had the same personality as my cresties and the are cool, but IMO get more than one.

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I figured a tank this size could easily hold a small colony of mourning geckos, especially with all the hiding places a heavily planted tank provides. My only concern was the asexual reproduction and if I'd end up to my eyes in baby geckos. How often did yours reproduce? Did your mourning gecko adapt to your schedule as easily as the cresties?

I don't plan to get any herps in the near future, I just want to figure out what I want to get later on so I know what plants to put in the tank. If I start planting the terrarium now it will be nice and lush when it finally has tenants.

Cavedweller said:

That's really cool! What era was this? What was the king's name?

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The present king, HRH King Bhumipol. Off the subject slightly but of interest. I worked in erosion control in So. Cal. The worst erosion area in the entire US. Decomposed gravel and mingy clay bearing silt. They produced a hybrid of the rock rose to grow under these severe conditions, named after the arboretum where the principle experimentation took place. We planted this Descanso rock rose in some of the worst erosion conditions. Then many years later I moved to Thailand and was wandering the northern contryside. I came across a royal project, an incubator type set up to adapt plants and provide them to the local farmers. Lo and behold, there's the Descanso rock rose. The King had done his homework with his usual eye for the extreme detail. Right now we have a Honduras Mahogany growing in our yard. A part of another royal project diversifying the deciduous forests with hardwoods imported from the opposite hemisphere. A polymath, building a hand made sail boat, an accomplished musician with an honorary doctorate from Texas A&M, designer and engineer of the largest dams in the country, founder of over 1000 nursery projects, hydrology and erosion control expert, competent botanist with several international accolades, winner of various humanitarian awards, King Bhumipol is an incredibly remarkable man.

A perfect example of intelligence VS the average political scene. After the major floods in Bangkok the politicians started all sorts of schemes to deal with the floods. (Mostly kickback scams). Somewhere along the line the King was consulted. As it turned out he had already designed a full flood control system for the greater Bangkok area many years earlier, the Monkey Cheeks projects*, which had gone completely ignored. His response to dealing with the floods was logical sensible scientist: His first words: Reforestation. Plant mixed deciduous forests. Which the politicians have of course ignored.

* Monkey cheeks projects. Essentially a very competent analysis of potential flooding and a series of catchment basins and runoff diversions very similar to the flood control of the greater Los Angeles area. (There is little doubt in my mind the King used some of the design elements of the LA River and flood control systems. A huge entirely man made river that sits empty 362 days a year. But LA never has floods.) The largest catchment basin has subsequently been filled in to accommodate the new airport. Facepalm. A genius king and nobody listens to a single word he says. Typical.

I made the mistake of only buying one. Found out later they do better with companions. I had mine for about 3.5 years. She started laying eggs at about a year, laid 2 at a time. For some reason they would fully develop but fail to hatch, I opened the eggs up to see what was going on. I'd start small, like three or four so you have room if they reproduce well.

She laid about 6 eggs in a years time. Not sure if she would have laid more if she was not alone.