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 #1673057


Gecko craze
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 My Vivarium!

I started building this thing a couple of weeks ago at the beginning of my spring break. It’s a 33 gallon, with a custom background made of driftwood and great stuff insulating foam. After the foam dries you cover it with black silicon and dried coco bedding (shredded coconut husks that comes in blocks.) I also built in a small water feature that trickles over a few branches into a small pool area that has some java moss which will hopfully fill out the wet waterfall areas. For the land portions I started with a base layer of hydroton (expanded clay balls used for hydroponic growing). They are larger and MUCH more lightweight than gravel and work perfectly. This is also the layer that the watefall pump sits in. Then on top of that is a plexiglass screen to keep the two layers from mixing. Right above the screen is a very small layer of activated carbon (used in aquariums) to keep the soil and water free from little nasty things. The main substrate is more coco bedding because it retains moisture and makes a very humid environment.

For the plants, there are four species of bromeliads, most of which are growing as epyphites on the backround. There are also some baby tears and live sheet moss. I’m picking up some live new zealand sphagnum moss in the next couple of weeks from a local carnivorous plant grower to cover the rest of the exposed soil. Other than that, and a glass top that I need to get soon, I’m finished! Everything is staying alive with a 4’ shop light running lengthwise along the top, containing twin full spectrum flourescent tubes. This will hopfully be the future home for a pair of D. Azureus dart frogs (AKA. blue dart frogs, the pretty blue ones with the black spots, google them if you don’t know what ones I’m talking about!). Space allowing, these guys will be my dorm room pet in University! Culturing (flighles) fruit flies to feed them aught to be fun too.

Here are some pictures:






Tell me what you think!



03/23/08  06:46pm

 #1673156


Clawedfrogsrule
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   Message To: Gecko craze   In reference to Message Id: 1673057


 My Vivarium!

I think it’s gorgeous, the cleaning seems like it’ll be some work though...but it’ll be worth it.
Good luck, I hope you get the frogs and can get that into your dorm :)
03/23/08  07:52pm

 #1673195


Whitie
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   Message To: Gecko craze   In reference to Message Id: 1673057


 My Vivarium!

Wow! Great job!!
Your frogs will be very happy with their new home. Don’t forget to show us pics of them, when you get them!!
03/23/08  08:11pm

 #1673817


Nomedyloh
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   Message To: Whitie   In reference to Message Id: 1673195


 My Vivarium!

i can only see ur face is cleaning day. very nice vivarium i wish i could 1 like that but i don’t have the Patience
03/24/08  12:08pm

 #1673887


Gecko craze
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   Message To: Nomedyloh   In reference to Message Id: 1673817


 My Vivarium!

Thanks for the comments. The thing with dart frogs is that you don’t have to clean up their waste. It is so small that the plants use it as fertilizer...the vivarium is in it’s own little cycle and all I have to do is provide water, and food for the animals. Pretty neat!
03/24/08  01:18pm

 #1673957


Zacksdaddy
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   Message To: Gecko craze   In reference to Message Id: 1673887


 My Vivarium!

Very nice set up gecko. No, Beautiful set-up actually. If you have never raised wingless fruitflies - no worries, super easy to do. I purchased a kit from a website (I dont think I can say from where per forum rules) and never had any issues.



03/24/08  02:18pm

 #1771992


Jere
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   Message To: Zacksdaddy   In reference to Message Id: 1673957


 My Vivarium!

nice tank!!!!!!! alland all how much did it cust you to set that up im thanking of macking one.
06/24/08  01:55pm

 #1772074


Froggie75
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   Message To: Jere   In reference to Message Id: 1771992


 My Vivarium!

wow that is impressive!!! i really like that! great job!!!!
06/24/08  02:53pm

 #1781249


Gecko craze
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   Message To: Froggie75   In reference to Message Id: 1772074


 My Vivarium!

Wow, I forgot about this post!

Thanks for the comments. The tank is still void of animal life, but most of the plants are flourishing. I had to replace the baby tears (They really only do well for a few months and then rot out) and I changed a few things around. I’ll try to get some more recent pics up.

I think in total I spent about 100 bucks on it, although I did have a lot of the materials previously.



07/02/08  11:37pm


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