my drainage layer

Tdizzle10 · #1 05-24-2009, 01:55 AM

OK, so in my terrarium with my reptiles, it requires a lot of humidity because theyre tropical and what tends to happen is alot of the water from me misting the tank goes into the soil which it should but it doesnt evaporate and just sits in the soil making a big puddle and making the soil start to stink from to much water.

so what i am doing is putting this plastic egg crate panel on the bottom which has supports so its up about an inch or two, and that makes the water from the soil drip down into the bottom below the egg crate, i am putting landscape fabric on top of the egg crate so that only the water goes through and not the soil. heres an image of what it looks like...

Also i am putting live plants in which i couldn't before cause there was too much water in the bottom of the soil which killed the plants from soaking the roots too much.

acpart · #2 05-24-2009, 10:46 AM

Consider using hydroton or LECA (clay balls) instead of the plastic egg crate. You can get them from local hydroponics stores or from blackjungle.com. There are also instructions on the black jungle website about making a terrarium with good drainage. I have 4 planted tanks with this method. Interestingly, I accidentally left the mesh layer (landscape fabric?) out one of the tanks and the soil gets a lot wetter than with the other ones. I have had these tanks going for 1-4 years with no problems.

Aliza

Dyesub Dave · #3 05-24-2009, 11:20 AM

I use something very similar to what Aliza mentioned in many of my enclosures ... especially the ones requiring high humidity. First I put a layer of Hydroton (clay) balls covered by a layer of plastic screening. Then a layer of gardening charcoal ( supposed to help with bacteria and smell ) covered again by a layer of plastic screening. On top of this I put my substrate which is usually an earth, mulch, cocofibre combination.

The Hydroton will soak up most of the excess moisture and help to keep the humidity up. I even have a couple of female cresties in an all screen enclosure set up this way and I've hatched around 16 or so babies from them with several more eggs left to hatch.

Plants also grow well with this type of false bottom provided that they have enough light.

Dyesub Dave.

Timber · #4 05-27-2009, 07:57 PM

So, you would replace the water layer with the hydro balls....I am working on my enclosure now too and I am wondering the same thing...so it would be
Hydro balls....mesh layer...charcoal...mesh and then substrate (peat, coco etc)? I was thinking of taking a pvc pipe and putting it in one corner all the way to the bottom with a sponge in it so that I can pour water down into the bottom too....do you think that would work?

thx

Dyesub Dave · #5 05-27-2009, 08:12 PM

Yeah ... you don't need a water layer. The hydroton balls will hold the humidity instead. Unless of course you really want a false bottom with water for say frogs or newts or something. I don't think that you'll need the PVC tube at all.

Just spray fairly heavily the first few times and then with regular misting the humidity will stay up. It all depends on what you're putting it in as well. If it's an all glass terrarium then the humidity will be higher but if it's a mostly screen enclosure then it won't be as high. However I keep my adult cresties in screen enclosures with this type of bottom and mist in the morning and evening and they're all doing great.

Dyesub Dave.

Timber · #6 05-27-2009, 08:21 PM

Great! thx Dave. I will be keeping U. Sikorae in the enclosure, it is an exo terra glass enclosure.
What does your humidity stay at with your morning and evening mistings?....I am in AZ so, mine may differ if you're in a more humid area.

Dyesub Dave · #7 05-28-2009, 09:11 AM

Hey Timber,

Unfortunately I don't have any experience with Uroplatus yet however I'm sure that type of setup would be fine for them. Just be sure to make the final layer of substrate deep enough for them to dig in if housing a pair. You may even want to post in the Uroplatus section of the forum to see what responses you get there.

I don't have humidity gauges in my enclosures (except for the tree frog enclosure) however I've been keeping White Line and Gold Dust Day geckos in Exo-Terras set up this way for a while now. The White Lines keep laying eggs and I just introduced the male to the Gold Dust enclosure so time will tell with them. Both of these species require a fairly high humidity level and I judge by the soil and plants as well.

If necessary you can always cover half of the top of the enclosure to increase the humidity if it's too dry in your area.

Dyesub Dave.