Common terms used in the leopard gecko world | Part One

TERRARIUM
This is a container or enclosure in which either living plants or small animals are kept. It's often transparent (glass or plastic) to let the sun and/or heat in and usually has plants in it, like a mini-garden. Think of an aquarium looking like a water world, and a terrarium looking like a land-based world.


VIVARIUM
Like a terrarium but vivarium contains an animal such as a lizard. In Latin, vivarium literally means 'place of life'. So, in the old days a terrarium might contain just plants whereas a vivarium always contained animals. So an aquarium is a form of vivarium. And a terrarium containing 'life' is a form of vivarium too. Don't worry...the terms can be interchanged when talking about the typical leopard gecko housing.

Here's the wikipedia definition of Vivarium