My first clay backgrounds

Here is Viv number 1 completed and planted. By the way, size on these are 11 3/4 side to side, 24" tall, 24" front to back. All set up for thumbnails.
Doug

Here is viv number 2. This was done by my son, Frogboy! His first Viv flying solo!
Doug

Number 3 I decided to get a bit more imaginative! Kind of went nuts with a sort of vine system! Here are pics before planting.
Doug

And here we are fully planted. Can't wait to see what it looks like when all those different vines grow in!
Doug

The substrate is sort of an experimental mix. First we put down about 1 to 1.5 inches of Turface. Then we put in a mix a coconut husks and charcoal chunks. We sprinkled this with about 1/8 cup of Calcium Carbonate, mixed it in and sprayed it down. Now wherever we put a plant in, we hollow out a spot and put in one or two handfuls of ABG mix. This is the cool part. We set up the ABG mix in a huge tray about 6 weeks ago, moistened it and fed it rice, mushrooms, and fish flake. Seeded it heavily with about 6 or 7 different types of springtails. Now it is crawling with springs so we already have a nice backbone of springs in the vivs! Sooo, time to release some frogs! Here is a pair of my Varaderos checking it out! They've only been in here like 5 minutes and the male is calling already! Right here the female is peeking out and deciding it might be ok to come out.
Doug

Two action shots here as I caught her mid-jump!
Doug

Together at last! I love the last shot where she turns and stares me down! "Scuze me...a little privacy please!"
Doug

Now she's following him all over the Viv. My man knows how to keep his woman in line!: Just Kidding! lol:
Doug

oneshot said:

Number 3 is I think my favorite tank ever! Good thing I'm starting a new tank tonight! I know what it's going to look like.

Any chance you could let us know what plants are in there?

LOVE IT!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the kudos, everybody! Appreciate it.

Oneshot, I wish I could but while I love getting a large variety of plants, I'm afraid I'm not much for plant ID. Basically, I purchase what I know works in Vivs, and I try to beg, borrow, trade, for plants I see in others vivs. Whenever I am in a greenhouse, I tell them what I am doing and ask for their recommendations on what to try. Sometimes they work out great, and other times, not so much. I'll try to ID a few for you but some of my names will just be "slang" or a nickname so to speak. These are all from tank 3. In pic 2 on the cork bark ledges is an assortment of mini orchids. In pic 3, in the far back left corner is a freaky tall growing plant. It's actually Ginger! To the right, the big oval leaves with the radiating pink/red thin stripes is Prayer Plant or Calathea. That's one of my "go to" plants as I love it and my thumbs love to lay eggs on it. The vines with the tiny round kind of thick leaves is Pepperomia Prostrata. I got a huge pot of it for 99 cents as it had root rot! Made a bunch of cuttings and it's doing fine! Two or three different kinds of dischidia vines. A bromeliad that is too narrow leafed for egg laying as I don't want any mystery tad deposits to turn off breeding. Still in pic 3 on the bottom left is another orchid I was given. My orchid loving friend knows what it is but I forgot already. Some creeping Oak Leaf Fig is visible in pic 3 and 4. Pic 4 bottom right is a Pothos with metallic silver spots. Slow growing but cool. To the left of that is a Lemon Button Fern (another fave). Further left, the wrinkly leaf is some sort of Pilea? First time trying it. Far right bottom corner...No Idea but man do I love it! Hey! Not too bad. Got at least a rough id on most of it! Oh yeah, and then three or four different mosses about. The yellow looking sphag WAS live green sphag but it did NOT like the bleach treatment! Hoping it will come back. Then there is a little branch of ghost wood on the right. I have another box of ghost wood coming in and I may put another piece in.

Glad you like it but here is perhaps my favorite Viv that I've done. It is for my Cayo Nancys. It is another of my slope fronts but it is twice the size at 24" x 24" x 24". Made it bigger to raise up those Pum babies!

And if you were paying attention...there was still one empty viv. Here it is "muded". (as in, "lets go mud the tank!) Now on this one I decided to incorporate the cork bark scraps from the Pumilio tank. Most of these were scraps about an inch wide by two or more inches long. They were pieces we couldn't bring ourselves to throw away even though they seemed to small to do anything with. That kind of became the focus here and actual sculpting took a back seat. Maybe not a truly natural scene but we built this one for the frogs and they are going to LOVE climbing the ledges!

Here is a little more info on our "experimental" substrate. It is a mix of charcoal chunks, coconut husk chunks, and fine orchid bark. In picture number two you can see the calcium carbonate we spike it with. This is so our frogs can pick up some extra calcium while grazing on microfauna. This will come in really handy should we decide to let any froglets morph out in the viv. In pic 3 we sprinkle it in and in pic 4 we mix it in. Then we mist the tank heavily and begin planting. Wherever we put a plant we put in a handful of ABG mix. The ABG mix has been seeded out for about 6 weeks with about 6 different varieties of springtails. They plan here is that the "chunky" substrate will grow a lot of calcium rich springtails and isopods.
Doug