[BonnieLorraine]

I was making new displays for my booth, and wanted to do as varied examples as possible for planted vivariums. I made one a mini replica of my larger Exo Terra sikorae tank, but this time in a 12"x12"x18" Zoomed, in which I someday hope to be able to house baby sikorae <fingers crossed>.

This was the finished display



The gecko tank







The gecko tank contains a South American species of Pothons (the tall green thing with the triangular shaped stems against the left hand back wall), Marcgrevia species (shingle plant against the left hand wall), Pilea spruceana 'Silver Tree' (dark green and silver plant over to the left hand side), Ficus 'Panama' (in front of the tree branch on the right hand side), Philodendron scandens 'Micans' (velvety plant in the rear right side), and Ficus pumila minima (creeping vine on the right side of the rear wall). If anyone wants to see close ups of the other tanks, you can find them here Mini display tanks pictures by bonnielorraine22 - Photobucket or on Verdant Vivariums on facebook.

Let me know what you think so that I can continue to try and improve with each vivarium

[Yoshi'smom]

Those are some gorgeous mini tanks! You're so brave to go with real plants. I'm a notorious plant killer, so I've decided to stick with fake ones! I'll bet you have a better green thumb than me!!

[BonnieLorraine]

Thank you

They're really not all that difficult. My friend owns a reptile store in Stanton (So Cal), and wanted terrarium plants to sell in it, but no one really offers rare terrarium plants wholesale. His solution was to have me do it, since I used to be in charge of plant propagation for my college's greenhouse, and we built a 10'x24' greenhouse in my yard, along with several racks with glass tanks and t5 lighting for some of the more delicate stuff. So far I'm working with about 230 terrarium species, and always expanding. The trick is to not drown things, that's the most common mistake I see on peoples vivariums. For my tanks, I mist maybe every other day, and only water once a week.

[Yoshi'smom]

May I ask how you got those lichens (I think that's what they are) to grow on those branches. Those are sooo gorgeous! They just look like they'd be perfect for some little gargoyle gecko feeties! I have some branches in my tank but those are just awesome!!

[BonnieLorraine]

If you do a search on ebay for "lichen branches" there's a really nice lady from Georgia on there who sells pesticide free ones. The only downside is you have to bake them to kill off any insects, and that tends to kill a few of the lichens. The ones I baked about 3 months ago are bouncing back nicely though.

[Sporonicle]

Sweet tanks! I really want to get a sikorae but I don't have enough room in my room.

[JSmithGirl]

Those tanks look amazing! I also like to incorporate a naturalistic theme into my geckos tanks including live plants, bamboo etc.

I happened to notice the background, is that a premade one that you can buy or did you design it? It looks better then the one's you usually see for sale made my ZooMed or ExoTerra.

[BonnieLorraine]

Thanks! The background to the left is a cork tile, and the middle tank is done with forest tiles, both from Zoomed. The right hand tank is great stuff, manzanita, black silicone, and peat moss, along with some net pots. For the tiles, I like to finish off the corners with some clear silicone and peat moss, helps them blend in better instead of just looking like a tile stuck in a tank.

[JSmithGirl]

Thats great, I may have to steal some ideas.