tropical habitat

Discussion in 'Enclosures, Heating & Lighting' started by dogking, Jan 19, 2012.

  1. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    Hey guys! I am going to move my BP Neil into a bigger tank this weekend, and that means an empty tank! I was thinking of converting it into a tropical habitat that I could put some tree frogs in sometime in the future. The only problem is that I have never made this type of habitat before. Do you guys have any advise on making a good tropical habitat? What is the best way to keep the humidity up while still having good air circulation? If you have any pictures that would be great!
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    you should try making a live viv, they are suposed to be easier to maintain with a tropical enclosure. plus live vivs keep the humidity up all on their own for the most part while keeping the air fresh
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    I was looking into that, but I don't know what kind of plants are best for tree frogs. The tank is only 18x18x18 so I can't find any good plants that would fit.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Oh my goodness you need to stalk this website if you think there aren't plants that would fit in an 18x18x18!!!! That tank is big compared to some of the tiny little live vivs I've seen made. I actually made one once... let me see if I can find some photos... I found it! Yay! Here you go:
    [​IMG]
    That is a 5gal tank on it's side with a custom made front, drilled a hole in the bottom of the tank and RTVed (silicone) in a 1" PVC about 1.5" into the tank, then put a small cutout of ceiling stuff at the bottom to help make the bio-medium layer on the bottom. Fed a 0.25" tube up through the PVC from a water pump and put the tubing along the back corner of the tank and "GreatStuff'd" in the tube to make a waterfall. The other random blobs of white stuff are little "GreatStuff" shelves I made. Then....
    [​IMG]
    Then I filled in the bottom of the tank with rocks, covering the white grating, used aquarium grade silicone to glue the background on, then also filed down a bit of the ledges into the shapes I wanted and siliconed the background stuff on them as well, and put a little moss on it too. I also used little bits of the silicone to cover my "waterfall" with little tiny "river rocks." Then....
    [​IMG]
    This is a close-up of what I made the bottom of the tank of so the water got "filtered" as it went down from the waterfall and into the bottom of the tank, then would drain down the PVC to the bucket I had underneither. I put regular plastic screen on top of the rocks, then some moss, then eco-earth and built up the rocks around the bottom of the waterfall so the water had the least resistance to run right down to the bottom while also keeping the moss moist which kept the whole tank humid and the plants happy :)
    [​IMG]
    The I planted the whole tank with items I had picked out specifically for this tiny of a tank.... Oh! I also put a small bit of plexi in the front to keep any water from coming out, and I cut the tube down a bit. I don't remember what plants these were since this was like 6 years ago... but that website I linked to has amazing info on so many species of plants... it's slightly ridiculous, lol.

    Anyway, this was the final product:
    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
    Louie, Cammy, dogking and 1 other person like this.
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    wow....thank for the help! I love the little "shelfs" you made with the foam stuff! where did you get the plants from? what kind of water pump did you use?
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. Shanna66

    Shanna66 Well-Known Member

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    thats beautiful. heck i want to live in there lol
     
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  12. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Click the link, it's like the encyclopedia of plants for vivs :) Oh! when you go to the website one of the links on the left says plants for vivariums, then in there they have kits for the exoterra size cages. Yours would be a "large"... I think it's just under $100 but you get a full kit for geckos :) (Or pdfs or whatever else you want). It's pretty awesome! Or of course you could go through and click on the link for each plant you think would look good in your viv and see it's "stats" and make sure it thrives in the right temps you'll need and correct humidity and won't get to big... so on and so forth. It's a lot of research but in the end you come out with an awesome looking viv! Good luck!
     
  13. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Here's the link for the vivarium plants. You can see in the "sub-category" section that you can click on a link specifically for what type of animal you're going to put in your viv (tree frog, anole, geckos, poison dart frogs, etc.)

    Here's the link for all the "kits" that you can purchase. Just for reference here is what is included in the "large" exo-terra kit:

    "Regularly over $100.00! You get: • 6 Assorted Plants • (2) Dendro-Bedding • Dyna-Gro Fertilizer • (2) Pieces Drift Wood • Small Water Dish • 20 Gal. Terra-Lite • Substrate Divider • 32 oz. Spray Bottle • Co Co Hut • Instruction Sheet • Please Note: These kits include only those items listed in this description and do not include the glass tank, top, lighting, heating, etc."

    It really is a fantastic website, might be a bit TOO much info in some cases but I've never found that to be a problem (other than navigating through it all!)
     
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  14. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    OMG!!! this is awesome! I'm looking at these "glow in the dark" mushrooms that look really cool! I was looking at the pearcea abunda, but do you think it would fit in my tank? The one thing I can't find is the requirements for keeping them. do you need to mist them or feed them?
     
  15. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Hm, It says that it is out of stock and that with a lot of maintenance that it can be kept at about a foot tall... with only an 18" tank I wouldn't go for that one unless you're ready to be constantly trimming it...
     
  16. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    ....Now you have me searching the site and planning things out and wanting to make another one.... darn it! I don't have the time to do another one but I WANT to! Lol.
     
  17. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    well, I wasn't able to get a bigger tank for my BP during the "dollar a gallon" sale at Petco so I have to wait a while now before I can actually start building it. I am still planning it out and buying some supplies, but it may be a month or two before I can cart constructing the tank.
     
  18. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    I just have a couple more questions! what is the background made of? how do the plants survive when they are pinned to a piece of drift wood? don't they need some sort of soil? and finally, would this kind of setup be ok for a crestie?
     
  19. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Coco fiber background... you used to be able to purchase a roll of it at Petco but I think you may have to just purchase it through that website now...

    You have to check the requirement of the plant but a lot of them are "air plants" and their roots are perfectly fine being out in the air, no soil involved :)

    Yup! I had mine as a interim crestie tank.... for when they were too big for the little tubs I had my hatchlings in, but too small for a 15gal I had for the juvie/adults.
     
  20. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    ok, I am building my vivarium now, but I still have a couple of questions.
    1. What kind of water pump do I use?
    2. how did you make that piece of glass holding the water in?
    3. how did you attach the door hinges to the tank?

    thanks for all the help!
     
  21. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    1) I just took a little pump from a water feature waterfall thing I had that I didn't want to use anymore...Mine didn't have to pump that high or a lot of water at any specific rate so it didn't matter to me what pump I used...

    2) the piece is actually plexi glass and you can pick up pre-cut pieces at any home depot or lowes, if it's not the exact size you need then you can purchase the little cutter thing (looks like a weird razor blade box cutter)

    3) I attached the door hindges with Gorrilla Glue, it works well on almost every surface, just make sure you read the directions and follow them to the T :) Good luck!
     
  22. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    874
    ok, this is what I have so far...

    first I used the "great stuff" to make the shelves.
    [​IMG]

    Then I used black acrylic to stick coco fiber on the background.
    [​IMG]

    do you have any suggestions for the lighting? I can't figure out a way to have a light in the tank.
     
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  23. lizardgurl87

    lizardgurl87 HOTM Winner April

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    Looks nice! I just saw this thread and couldn't find(with my skimming)what you said you were putting in this tank? Frogs or lizards I'm guessing? How big of one is that, a 20G? And how big of a tank did you get for your BP now? I like how you stuck the coco fiber to the background! :)
    Sorry, so many questions :p Just interested!
     
  24. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Looks awesome! I had my UVA/UVB bulb on top of the glass tank.... little did I know at the time that the glass filters out most of what the light was putting out :confused: BUT, my plants did ok anyway.... and I had a crestie in my tank and he doesn't need UVA/UVB so he was quite happy :)
     
  25. dogking

    dogking HOTM Winner September

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    I have installed the screen top and the plexiglass bottom so it is coming along well! I am just waiting for some Ghost wood and a pump that is coming in the mail! I'll get pics up soon!
     

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