questions of what orchids can go in with my geckos

[armagedon48]

im building a larger cage for my Uroplatus Sikorae (mossy leaf-tail gecko), and i would like to use orchids (along with some other plants) in the display.

my temperatures will be in the 65-75 degree range, 70 being what im shooting for. i will have 6500k lighting over the tank, not known how many watts or what kind of lights to use yet.
humidity will be high, i will use cocofiber bedding (substrate will be raised off the bottom and water will drain out so i dont flood my vivarium). i will water the cage daily, and i might be buying some foggers which basically soak everything in the cage after running for 30 minutes.
i will have several thick logs in the vivarium so i wish to mount orchids to the bark (i have no experience with this!).

well, basically i hope to use the orchids that home depot sells (the 5$ ones that are small), though i may buy online if the prices are right.

and here is a picture of my male gecko which ill be building the vivarium for.

[armagedon48]

hmm, my question to everyone is what kind of orchids are good for a system like this, and what are some things i should know.

[Paul]

Cool gek!

You didn't mention just how big your terr will be.

The majority of orchids the BBS sell will get way too big for most terr. Many of the really neat mini's cost $25 or more. You might try to check Oakhill Gardens [they have an on line catelog] for some relatively inexpensive mini's [about $10 -15]. If you are also able to attend an orchid show in your neck of the woods, you might find some mini'e for sale there.

Mounting really isn't all that horribly difficult, some venders sell their orchids already mounted.

[armagedon48]

im thinking of making something either 2ft long x 2ft deep x 3ft tall, or maybe 4 ft long x 2ft deep x 3ft tall.

if i go with a 4 ft long cage, ill use the cheap 4ft shop lights that use two 32 watt 6500k T8s. probably use two shoplights so i have a total of 4 bulbs. the bigger i can make the vivarium the more plants and features i can include.
im making the whole thing using 2'x2' sheets of acrylic, aluminum screen, and plywood. i may use larger peices of acrylic if the prices are fair.

[armagedon48]

to grow lady-slippers, what kind of soil would i have success with? my defualt medium is coco bedding but i do have 100% organic compost available. naturally i will not use any hard substraits or chemical firtilizer pellets because of my geckos.

now i know this question should wait till i actually have orchids, but that misting system linked above is just too much to spend (my reeftank pulls alot of money) and i intend to buy a hand sprayer for like 10$. how often and when should i be misting the setup? just some quick reading tells me that the orchids should be fairly dried out by night time or else the roots may rot.

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[Tindomul]

I would highly suggest Masdevalias. Andy's Orchids has some reasonably priced miniature Masdevallias available. I would also suggest growing some other types of plants to shade the Masdies as it sounds like you have too much light for their liking, but you have the perfect temps/humidity/and watering regimen.