Hey /herp/ and /plant/ let's combine forces and talk about vivariums
What are vivariums you may ask? Vivariums are basically enclosed ecosystems that you can keep both tropical plants and animals, such as lizards and frogs in due to similarities in humdity requirements.
Most successful vivs stay clean by using small invertebrates such as springtails and isopods to clean up detritus and cycle nutrients back into the soil for the plants. They also can act as a supplemental food source for your herp friends.
I'm building my first vivarium and i am fucking excited, and want to spread my newly acquired love of the hobby to the rest of you. This thread is for general questions and posting pics of cool vivariums.
I will start.
So fucking sexy.
>>2119611
truly works of art, you prob don't get the praise you deserve on this
I've always wanted to try a vivarium but it has always seemed liked something thats too complex for me to sustain correctly and would just make me angry if it all ended up dying.
>>2119618
Haha these arent mine, i wish, but they are what I'm aiming for. Right now im siliconing on a cork background to my tank and letting it cure for a day or 2 before i put the dirt and other fun stuff in.
I can post pics of the process if any other /an/ons want? This is the first vivarium i'm building.
>>2119621
Yeah that's the risk you take, i'm a little anxious. I found out i used the wrong silicone and had to scrape it off a piece of cork i already mounted. The only real roadblock so far, crossing my fingers.
However if you take all the right steps, it's essentially suppose to just take care of itself. You just spot clean poop and water every so often. The springtails are supposed to be resilient little fuckers and will produce a culture in the substrate indefinitely.
Here's the plan for my background, the gaps in the bottom pieces im hoping will get filled with moss or something over time or be covered by plants. They dont make a cork wood panel for the size of tank im using so i had to customize it.
I affixed the corkrounds with screws from the back and aquarium safe silicone. I'm planning on mounting orchids inside them.
>>2119630
Fuck of course its upside down
Bump
>>2119611
i do bioactive substrate in my gargoyle and crested gecko tanks with a coco fiber and moss mixture + springtails and sometimes soldier fly larva. works great. i tried live plants for a bit but lost interest in that. it's mostly just about the geckos for me. those live vivs look awesome though.
You guys are reminding me I need to take pictures of my Vivarium.
I'll take then tomorrow, maybe.
Beautiful. I have nothing to contribute, but please keep posting pics of awesomeness. You rock.
>>2119684
As long as i have your support, just posting cool ones i found online
>>2119658
If you ever want to get back into plants, pothos pretty much take care of themselves.
Im building my enclosure with geckos in mind, would love a crested but ill probably start off with just a couple house geckos since ive never kept herps before and dont want something with that long of a lifespan just yet.
Here's one built into a kitchen wall.
*heavy breathing intensifies"
So cute
So cute part 2
A bromeliad i got in the mail, looks kinda sad, hoping it likes my vivarium
Some airplants, some of which might not like the high humidity but they were cheap.
>>2119675
Please do, help me keep this thread a thing, we can get more /an/ons on the trend. We can call it /viv/!
The orchids im sticking on the cork
The main inhabitants of my vivarium for now.
Do you think it would be a bad idea to mix these with house geckos? They only eat decaying matter and since theyre both nocturnal, one terrestrial and the other arboreal, they probably wouldnt disturb each others life styles.
I know mixing species is usually looked down on but i cant find anything about mixing a small colony of hissing roaches with a small species of gecko.
Can someone tell me why its a dumb idea? Would the geckos act hostile to something almost the same size as them, would they register it as prey?
I only do planted aquariums but vivariums have always fascinated me. I do love reptiles but if I got another, I would want another iguana and they take up WAY more space than I have available right now. I just don't have the resources for a 5ft long lizard.
>>2119723
I wouldn't do hissers in a tank with geckos for a number of reasons. For one, roaches breed really fast and with all the nooks and crannies in a viv, the population could reach plague levels. Two, all roaches are opportunistic. They might nibble on tail tips and toes while the geckoes sleep.
>>2119724
Have you ever heard of paludariums? Its a mix between aquatic and terrestrial environments, from what i hear theyre a little more trickier to keep balanced though.
And yes an iguana would probably mostly fuck up anything you could keep in a vivarium. You could always use the microfauna in the substrate though to help keep it clean.
>>2119729
Right now im thinking i only have 7 males but 2 have yet to molt for the last time so i cant say for sure yet.
Hissing cockroaches typically 99% of the time stay on the ground and under cover. The only times my roaches really try to climb upwards is once they are put back into the tank and have to get their bearings again.
Since they both would be active at the same time, primarily at night, i think that the gecko would be alert enough to escape if the off chance it was approached.
This is all just in theory of course, im not sure how much the gecko would in reality spend on the ground and in the way of roaches. Ive spent enough time studying the behavior of the roaches but have no experience with reptiles so im kinda iffy about it.
If i ever did and there was any kind of problem i could always juet remove the roaches (assuming ones not actually female and what you said happens)
Paludariums are a pretty cool guy too
Are there any small terrestrial lizards that are suitable for vivariums? I'd like to make one, but I don't want to worry about things escaping every time I open the tank.
>>2119833
Pictus geckos would work in a planted tank. Hot spot 85-88, cool side/ambient mid 70's, humidity 50%-80%.
these are all fucking gorgeous
thank you so much for posting these
C'mon guys don't you want to give your herp friends the best life possible?
>>2120302
I'm glad you like my porn collection.
>>2120568
That's pretty much the point, you dont. The isopods and springtails as well as your plants use it as a food source. From my understanding, you just do spot cleaning every so often so shit isnt everywhere with a diluted solution of lemon juice and water, or some other non-toxic solution.
This is all from what i understand from researching, ive never had tree frogs before, and this is my first viv.
As far as plants go, anything heavy duty enough to let them climb on is a usual good choice. Look for things like snake plants, pothos, bromeliads, orchids, etc. As long as it can grow in the humidity and doesnt get trampled by the frog its probably good.
You can also email some of the viv shops online, they are usually very helpful and knowledgable.
It's happening today (sorry my camera sucks so much)
What are some good semi-aquatic plants?
>>2120664
Pothos are the best if you're just starting and learning how to manage a planted tank. They are extremely harder and honestly you have to put in considerable effort to screw up enough to kill them. :p
pic not related
>>2120762
>harder?
phone pls. HEARTY.
>>2120664
Yes, and to clarify the point, live plants are not actually necessary to get a bioactive substrate going. Say you have an arboreal gecko tank, your ordinary coco fiber/moss etc. substrate + a culture of springtails will go bioactive quite easily. As for spot cleaning, once my springtail population blew up it has been rare to actually find stool/urates in which to clean (aside from on the decor and glass). The springtails are that fast at processing the waste. Springtails will also feed on any mold/fungus that may crop up.
>>2119758
lol at the black woman in the background
>>2120785
Kek good eyes, just noticed
>>2120762
Yeah pothos is easy mode but some of them are very attractive. Pic related, I'm putting this beauty in.
im thinking about getting a pet american toad. i'd really like to set up a terrestrial vivarium for it with deep substrate for it to burrow into. however, everywhere i've done research on their care says that you need to change their substrate a lot, like once every couple weeks, because they just dig down into it and sit in their filth. if i got a bioactive substrate going, do you think it'd be alright? or would it still be unhealthy for the toad? i don't wanna be throwing out like 5 gallons of substrate every month.
>>2120820
I'm pretty sure once you get a clean up crew of isopods and springtails going it should balance itself out. Both of those have population blooms dependent on how much filth is in the tank, they breed quickly. Depending on what species you get this can be a supplemental food source for the toad.
If people do it with dart frogs im sure you could do it with a toad. Cleanup crews are meant to make it so you never have to change substrate, if you pick the right kind to begin with.
The thing is that you have to set up the vivarium ahead of time so the microfauna has a chance to breed to a large enough number. I wouldnt add any herp until 3 to 6 weeks, enough for the microfauna culture to get established.
>>2120851
yeah, i know i'd have to cycle it for a while. i'll see how this works.
>>2120820
American toads have big solid poos the size of a child's finger made up of partially digested bug corpses. pretty easy to spot clean.
