vivs,tanks,terrariums

Thor Hakonsen

New member
Here is a picture of a unfinished Crested Gecko viv - will try to post a picture of the finished terra later today...


terra_hyt_ferdigmedplanter_web.jpg


This terra is 30x20x40inches - and is used for 1.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
 

cacoonkitty

New member
yep i will double that comment!! totaly awsome link will try thisd i think ...its giving me ideas for my soon to be new green tree monitors viv!!!
 

catevala

New member
Designs for Vivaria

I actually design vivaria as one of my "cottage industries". I have a background educationally and professionally in landscape design, and in lieu of having work in that field for much of the year (I live in northern climate :cry:) I started to do drafted plan designs for terraria and vivaria. With my knowledge of plants and design principles, I think I come up with some very nice setups. Have a look. If interested in contracting with me for a drawn plan for your tank/cage/vivarium, drop me a private message. I can customize a plan just for your situation and animal(s).

The first photo shows an old 29 gallon glass aquarium I adapted to vivarium use. The second photo shows a recently planted Exo-Terra (18" x 18" square base with 24" height) which still needs to grow some to look really naturalistic. As you can see all of my work is done in potting soil type substrate in which the plants are actually planted.

Breck
 

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cacoonkitty

New member
:idea::idea:Thanks for the pics!!.. and wow these are beautifull tanks , i love the planted vivs, i am pretty happy with ones i have done for myself in the past , i must say as i too am very intersted in exsotic plants so have researched into suitable types for vivs and i also have an artfull eye shall we say so this helps me too . The only this is recently i have had an experiance with small mite type creatures ( not spring tails ) perhaps wood mites inside the planted vivs that contained wood plants ect ect so even though they were not effecting my animals as they purely lived within the soil and on the glass (could see the trails left behind after them crawling around) i have now compleately ripped apart every one of my 8 larger vivs - de bugged and now use only sterilize soil baked in trhe oven of in the microwave and plastic plants and baked wood from the oven to kill nasties, so this doest happen again...have you any suggestions for remidies..or prevention on the creepys crawlys appearing as no matter how clean i keep my cold blooded friends these beasts pop up in live planted /naturalistic vivs..very annoying as i love them and wish to keep my geckos within such enviromental condidtons and surroundings for there well being. but at presant the coco fibre and plastic plants seem to be working.
 

catevala

New member
a couple of thoughts

i must say as i too am very intersted in exsotic plants so have researched into suitable types for vivs and i also have an artfull eye shall we say so
I don't consider any of the plants I use "exotic" in the sense of being rare or unusual. In fact I try and stay with very tried and true species, as the last thing I want to have to do is to replace any!

The only this is recently i have had an experiance with small mite type creatures ( not spring tails ) perhaps wood mites inside the planted vivs that contained
At first I thought you have what are called "fungus gnats" (they are really sciarid flies); these are my bane. But leaving trails on the glass is not their style. You must have gotten some pretty bad potting soil. I have found a brand here, nothing special, that is fairly clean and bug-free and I have been using it.

I want my vivaria to be as naturalistic as possible hence would never use plastic plants and coco fiber, but if that's what works for you and your critters, for now, then that is what it must be!

In any event, I would love to design some naturalistic vivaria for anyone who comes in on our little thread. Drop me a line. Prices are reasonable and I am a charming fellow to boot! :biggrin:

Breck

:idea::idea:Thanks for the pics!!.. and wow these are beautifull tanks , i love the planted vivs, i am pretty happy with ones i have done for myself in the past , i must say as i too am very intersted in exsotic plants so have researched into suitable types for vivs and i also have an artfull eye shall we say so this helps me too . The only this is recently i have had an experiance with small mite type creatures ( not spring tails ) perhaps wood mites inside the planted vivs that contained wood plants ect ect so even though they were not effecting my animals as they purely lived within the soil and on the glass (could see the trails left behind after them crawling around) i have now compleately ripped apart every one of my 8 larger vivs - de bugged and now use only sterilize soil baked in trhe oven of in the microwave and plastic plants and baked wood from the oven to kill nasties, so this doest happen again...have you any suggestions for remidies..or prevention on the creepys crawlys appearing as no matter how clean i keep my cold blooded friends these beasts pop up in live planted /naturalistic vivs..very annoying as i love them and wish to keep my geckos within such enviromental condidtons and surroundings for there well being. but at presant the coco fibre and plastic plants seem to be working.
 

Chum

New member
I have a little input to this thread too.

The terrarium is an Exo-Terra 24"x18"x24" (60cmX45cmX60cm)(LxDxH) with a trio Lygodactylus williamsi in. Well actually I only have eggs in it atm - I had a bunch of 8 eggs in there and decided to move the adult geckoes and hatch the little ones in the terrarium.

P1060695.jpgP1060702.jpgP1060710.jpgP1060706.jpg
 

cacoonkitty

New member
hiya i will only have the one male, hes c.b and 4 years old ..i will be collecting him in a few weeks just testing the lighting and viv temps first as i want him to go into a nice and happy viv...why do you ask?? have you got some too?? x:biggrin:
 

catevala

New member
What about...?

I have a little input to this thread too.
The terrarium is an Exo-Terra 24"x18"x24" (60cmX45cmX60cm)(LxDxH) with a trio Lygodactylus williamsi in. Well actually I only have eggs in it atm - I had a bunch of 8 eggs in there and decided to move the adult geckoes and hatch the little ones in the terrarium. QUOTE]

Quite nicely done. I attach a photo of my Exo-Terra. And I would like to ask, since you have planted heavily like I, how you handle the problems associated with heavily planted vivaria, relative to feeding. I keep hoping someone has come up with a solution I have not figured out. When insects are introduced into a heavily planted vivarium, they immediately hide, and with so many places created by the plants for hiding, the problem becomes important for me.

Of course I have gotten all kinds of suggestions, whenever I have posited this problem, but thus far nothing that has really solved it. The most common thought is to place some food into the vivarium that the insects like and that lures them out. I have tried that repeatedly to no avail. My crickets simply are not interested, no matter what I use: bananas, apple, Fluker's orange gel bits.

I like the look of a naturalistically planted vivarium but I am beginning to think that it is simply not compatible with herp husbandry.

Breck
 

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Chum

New member
I tend to feed with flies that does not eat the plants and have a colony of woodlice in the soil (as theese eat the organic litter from the geckoes or dead plant leaves (the geckoes forrage for the woodlice as well).

Once in a while I add pinhead crickets and I never see any that grow to a big size.

However as Kruler said putting the insects into a dish they can't crawl out of should solve the problem.
 

catevala

New member
insects in dish

have you tried offering insects in a dish?

OH yes absolutely. That was one of the first things I tried. Crickets jump right out of them. And with young hatchlings the dish seems to disorient, so that they do not associate it with having anything of interest for them.

As I said initially, I imagine that there is no "solution" to this "problem". I either have to forego some vegetation or forego some lizards... :cry:
 
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