[Kavyaanshrike]

Before I go into any details I will first shortly introduce myself.
I am Alex a 20 year old student teacher english from the Netherlands.
I currently house 7 geckos here of varying species and I plan to expand my collection with some frogs aswell.
I currently have a 20ish gallon exo terra terrarium with a cave gecko in it, it used to house crested geckos but they turned out to be both males and I could not keep 1 and trade the other for a female so I brought them both to a zoo type reptile store.

But onto the build!

This will be my first build wherein I will do everything myself.
I have some experience with a naturalistic leopard gecko terrarium but this build will go above and beyond what I accomplished there.

The tank:
It is a 110 gallon (arboreal orientated) Lucky Reptile herp-tarrium, it is still unclear what will be housed in there.
The tank will have a small (5 gallonish) water area and a waterfall.
It will have all live plants ofcourse.
For the background I am planning the great stuff and silicone background with a twist: I want to try a greatstuff background method where I will paint the greatstuff and then cover it with Yacht varnish and press in the fernroot and eco earth mixture.
I am yet unsure wether or not that would work but I have had succes with a method like that in a fishtank I made for someone.
After some research I aquired peat based plant pots which I will use in the background, these will give my plants some nutrient value and look better than the black pots in my opinion.

I will use a false bottom made from eggcrate ( hard to come by in the Netherlands btw), and I am currently constructing my own rainsystem made from a campervan waterpump and a garden sprinkler/drip system.
The waterfall will multiple drops and it will be powered by a 600 liter per hour pump, I am still figuring out how to hide the fogger and the pumps but they will most probably be housed in PVC tubes which I will turn into fake trees or something like that.
Since it is quite a large tank (in my opinion), and I am still not a 100% sure and what will be housed in the tank I am unsure on what plants will be in it.
I have bought some oakleaf ficus and a golden pothos plant, I will also plant quite a few bromeliads and an umbrella plant.
As far as lighting goes, I have 2 uvb t5 lights from Lucky reptile and 2 halogen sun spots, this will be complemented by a bio light t5 bulb and night light LED lighting.

I have enjoyed reading all the construction threads on this forum and have decided to join it because of people like GRIMM who inspired me a great deal with his youtube videos.
I will include regular picture updates as soon as I have the tank ( may 1st).

 

[Kavyaanshrike]

The build is well underway, i have 3 sides with wood waterfalls and great stuff now.
When the cement is cured I will put the first layer of silicone and eco earth/fern root down.
I am very very exited for this project and my gf and I have decided what frogs are going to be in it.
Dendrobates auratus are my gfs favourite frog, and now we wondered how many frogs can a 130 gallon hold? its a vertical set up but with a large land part (roughly 18 by 15 inches). the background has several ledges and branches in it so that increases the living area a lot aswell.

I will include pictures asap.

p.s The tank is very high and after talking a bit to the breeder we are thinking of including a small group (3-5) of lygodactylus capensis/williamsi.

 

[tgregoire]

Sounds like a very fun and cool build. I am yet to build a "big" tank. As far as what kinds of frogs to put, Im not to sure I have not kept darts yet. I really love L. Williamsi so if that was my tank I would most likely put like 5 williamsi.

 

[zcasc]

With a ground area of that size, you could definitely accomodate an auratus or two, and they will climb, but they may not make full use of such a large arboreal dimension.

Then again, they may, if there is ample plant/hardscaping to allow them "plateaus" on the way up. I personally feel that many people underestimate "terrestrial" darts' abilities to climb and make use of vertical space.

One great beginner dart that will make use of an accessible vertically-oriented vivarium is Phyllobates vittatus; another is D. leucomelas. There are several species that enjoy climbing vertical spaces in addition to hanging out in the ground levels of the vivarium. It all depends on what you are looking for care-wise, as well as aesthetically, in a frog. Good luck on the build, and keep us posted!

 

[zcasc]

Just a quick addendum here...

With my previous statement in mind, you also want to be sure that the frogs don't get themselves into precarious positions in the upper levels of the tank. Darts can sometimes be clumsy, and I have more than once observed frogs climbing to the upper reaches of a viv only to come barreling down due to a "mis-hop" or being frightened.

A tank of this size should incorporate a "pagoda" type design, if you are trying to accomodate the more terrestrial species...that is, build different platforms of decreasing size on the way up, so as to allow a briefer fall, should it happen (which, I guarantee you, it will).

Just some more food for thought.

 

[Kavyaanshrike]

ive finished 2 of the 3 sides to be siliconed. I am almost completely covered in it because 1 of the silicone canisters exploded on me.
i have siliconed fernroot to the waterfall areas that will be constantly moist.. I really hope mosses will grow there if not ill let java moss take over .

I have some terrassing in the tankits hard to explain but i have bulges made into the great stuff for them to sit on and hide in (I hollowed some of them out).
As for the frogs I really really like both the blue aratus and the leucs but the leucs are a bit more bold and a bit more hardy so I will most probably go for a group of 5/6 leucs or something like that.
I like the auratus patterning more tbh but the seem harder to take care of.

 

[Wallace Grover]

Just a quick addendum here...

With my previous statement in mind, you also want to be sure that the frogs don't get themselves into precarious positions in the upper levels of the tank. Darts can sometimes be clumsy, and I have more than once observed frogs climbing to the upper reaches of a viv only to come barreling down due to a "mis-hop" or being frightened.

A tank of this size should incorporate a "pagoda" type design, if you are trying to accomodate the more terrestrial species...that is, build different platforms of decreasing size on the way up, so as to allow a briefer fall, should it happen (which, I guarantee you, it will).

Just some more food for thought.

I heard that this is nothing for a PDF, especially compared to when they fall in the wild and get away without harm. I believe I read a study that said any animal smaller than a mouse has to fall a huge distance to get hurt....