My Vivarium

[pocketgnome]

It's 29 gallons.

I used some styrofoam and great stuff as the background. I carved it out and covered it in black polyurethane. Then covered that with Eco Earth bedding.




The false bottom:



Water feature area:

The water is pumped up with a repti flo 250 pump through some clear flexible tubing. The pump is covered in aquarium foam and screen and put into a plastic tub with holes in it.







I have a pair of azureus coming to me as well as a pair of imitators. I can't decide who is going in this tank.

I can't decide if I want to make another 29 gallon tank or buy one of those XL exo terras.

I also plan to order and put in a couple more smaller broms.

[Frogtofall]

While your viv looks excellent, I would take out a few of those plants. It appears that you have a Croton, an Aglaonema and Irish Moss in there. All of which are not exactly appropriate for a viv. The Croton especially. These plants grow outside here in Florida in people's landscaped front yards in full sun and reach about 5ft tall or so. They are bushes. The Aglaonema (if thats what it is) get rather large leaves and reasonably tall. If the moss is Irish moss (like from Home Depot) then it will most likely rot.

I really like your water area. I think thats a neat idea and the big Guzmania looks like its at home in there.

Can you post a closer shot of the front of the viv?

[pocketgnome]

Oh, I didn't know about the croton. It was listed as low light and keep moist and the guy at Lowes said it would stay small.

All the other plants came from Petco, so I assumed they were safe.

I think the moss is Scottish moss and another taller kind of moss both from Lowes, if that makes a difference.

Let me see if I can upload my pics somewhere that doesn't resize them and I'll post a bigger pic.

Thanks!

[pocketgnome]

Where is a good place to pick up plants for a Viv since Lowes and Home Depot aren't the best places? I'd rather buy locally (LA) than order online.

[Smogre]

:shock:

[Grassypeak]

The best places that I know of for viv appropriate plants are;

Frogbroms.com Antone keeps frogs and builds vivs. He will gladly help you put a package together.

T&C Terrariums http://www.tandcterrariums.com/ These guys have a large selection of viv appropriate plants. A few are not as appropriate as others, so If in doubt ask the board.

Joshsfrogs.com While I haven’t purchased plants from Josh, I have done business with him. He has always been very reliable. Most of his plants are totally viv appropriate. I would question the Staghorn Fern and the Rex Begonia though. Both are very big plants.

http://www.cloudjungle.com/eshop/ I haven’t personally done business with Harry, but he is well regarded and knowledgeable. I have had many board discussions with him, so I feel comfortable recommending him to you.

It’s hard to just go to your local greenhouse and find a good selection of viv appropriate plants, unless you know a lot about plants. The good people at Lowes and Home Depot are usually clueless about the finer points of horticulture. Even the people at your local green house probably have a very limited knowledge about how plants behave in a vivarium. Talk to the guys/gals mentioned above They will get you off to a good start.

[pocketgnome]

Thanks guys. I guess I've got a lot more work to do. Sucks that I spent all that money on plants I can't use. I should have researched more instead of listening to the garden people at lowes.

[MELLOWROO421]

I was not really keen on the idea of ordering plants online either, but i ordered many of my plants from Blackjungle.com. They came in just fine and are doing great. I also got some of my airplants at the local home depot and petsmart carries some nice vivarium plants sealed in plastic tubes.

[Grassypeak]

I didn’t mention Black Jungle because they have too many plants that are viv plants if you know what you are doing. For example they have a ton of Tillandsias, which can do nicely in a viv if placed properly. They can also rot in two weeks time. You also have to be careful about the mature size of some of Black Jungle’s plants. Some of them get quite large. Then there are the carnivorous plants, most of which are not for the new viv gardener. I’m not dissing Black Jungle. I just think that it’s easier for people who are new to vivs to talk to some of the smaller suppliers.