[VivariumWorks]

Got tired keeping up with the water changes and cleaning the filter and all that jazz. It really wasn't that much work but I wasn't getting rampant semi aquatic moss growth like I had when I first setup the paludarium. (The lack of background allowed light in from the window and thats all it takes sometimes.) I'm going to be upgrading the lighting sometime soon to include a high power LED fixture, or else the broms will loose all their color. I'd go HQI, but they are so hot and the room is a good 80F anyways.

So I basically just dumped in some soil I made ontop a layer of leca and added some tropical moss from a nursery in California. Nothing too fancy. Drainage was taken care of due to the plumbing the paludarium used to have.

Due to the weather this summer being just plain brutal, 100-108F for weeks, the only things that survived in my greenhouses were broms so the plant selection was a bit limited. (That and the weekend before I went to a brom society show and I just had to use a few of them.)

All the rocks are artificial resin/foam replicas that I mold/cast in my spare time. I can take only about 1-2 orders a week at this point since I'm devoting all of my free time to finishing up a series of DIY products chemically formulated for the vivarium/saltwater hobby. (Not just re-purposing something and putting a reptile sticker on it. I have standards.) So if you are interested in the rocks pm me and I'll send ya a link, but I'm not ready to become a sponsor just yet as I don't have the time to keep up with anything but the slowest of order demand. In time though.

Here are the pics. Its for a vine snake that should be visible in the full tank picture.

Started like this, but the cats pooped in it all the time so I changed it to below.

Then the water was becoming annoying to keep up with and bla bla bla so now it looks like this:

 

[eos]

Looked good then... looks good now.

 

[BethInAK]

i love it, looks great.

Although, I had quite a chuckle at cats pooping in the paludarium. I thought they hated water?

 

[davidadelp]

i like it better now then before! great job!

 

[parkanz2]

Looks good! Asian vine snake?

 

[epiphytes etc.]

Those rocks, well... rock!

 

[Brotherly Monkey]

but the cats pooped in it all the time

awesome cats, mate

 

[Youngherp420]

I really like the new renovation that took place.It looked great before now looks awsome

 

[Steverd]

Looks great!

Also what brand or who makes that terrarium?
I really like the way it looks.

Steve

 

[VivariumWorks]

Yea those infernal cats have done little but cause problems ever since I've had them. Cute and all, but seriously annoying. There was a dry soil-ish area in the back and they'd just hop up there when I wasn't looking and I'd come back and find the room smelling terrible and half eaten plants and muddy (god I hope it was mud) paw prints all over the house. So yea, I had to do something. First time it was funny. Third time it was not.

The tank was an odd sized glass tank I got from a local aquarium fabrication company, and I just took off the top trim. When I re-did it the first time I designed and had constructed a plexi top for it. (Local plexi place whom I consign all my plexi work.) I made the background into it and then just dropped it ontop of the glass and siliconed the two together. Thus making a glass bottom and plexi top.

Yea its an Asian Vine Snake. A whopping $14 at the local reptile show. Best $14 ever spent. Coolest reptile I've ever owned. It watches and tracks you as you move through the room. It reacts to your presence, it eats live lizards, and is pretty active. Now if I can only get it to stop screwing with the misting system heads...

 

[Mitch]

Although, I had quite a chuckle at cats pooping in the paludarium. I thought they hated water?

Exactly... they don't like it, so they poop in it! That's what I do with things I don't like too.

Yea its an Asian Vine Snake. A whopping $14 at the local reptile show. Best $14 ever spent. Coolest reptile I've ever owned. It watches and tracks you as you move through the room. It reacts to your presence, it eats live lizards, and is pretty active. Now if I can only get it to stop screwing with the misting system heads...

The snake is awesome, and so is the viv. Aren't those guys venomous though?

 

[parkanz2]

That's awesome. I've been wanting to get a large viv set up for some of them. I really want to try to get some captive breeding going with those guys which is near non existent right now if I recall. I want to do it right which is why I'm hesitant to jump in yet even though they're so cheap.

 

[VivariumWorks]

Yes they are hot. They use a rear fanged neurotoxin to disable the lizards/geckos and then eat them more/less alive. Its really really fascinating to watch when feeding anoles because you can literally watch the venom progress through the system.

There are neurotoxins that are "top down" and "bottom up" in the way they effect the nervous system. Theirs is a bottom up. You can tell because the tail stop moving first and becomes dark black as the chromataphores no longer have the ability to control the pigment concentrations so they all flood into the skin cells which makes the dark color. You can watch it slowly creep up the lizard.

Another neat thing is the snake always goes for the back of the neck. Every time, with perfect aim. It then holds onto it and moves the lizard out into the open air so it can't gain leverage to get out of the grasp. Its pretty wild.

No cases of human envenomation have been recorded and no deaths, although most snake bite deaths in the US are a result from an allergic reaction to the venom or the anti-venom (or being a religious loony and denying treatment) so you do still have a chance of death if you get hit if you happen to have a sever allergic reaction. Although same could be said for any spider/tarantula/ant/wasp/bee bite or sting too. I use gloves and tongs and a net and just treat it with caution and respect although its likely way overkill.

After having kept this species for the last 6 years, I'd easily pay $100+ for a captive bred specimen. I've just never seen one and with their price so low, any breeder will have a hard time competing.

 

[DragonSpirit1185]

what is the hardware you're using to keep the doors closed?

 

[eos]

Got any feeding pics?

 

[VivariumWorks]

The top is a basic latch system you find at home depot. Its a simple turn knob that force closes the door to the frame. The bottom is a small plastic turn knob that is just there in case the door tries to warp. I had issues with that for a little while but when I increased the distance between the lights and the top of the cage it stopped the warping.

Oh yea I've got all kinds of feeding shots. I posted a bunch from a long time ago somewhere on the forum. Got some flack from the pics being "graphic" though. They might still be on the forum somewhere... I just looked and I don't know if it goes back far enough. I'll consider uploading some again at some point.

 

[eos]

Oh yea I've got all kinds of feeding shots. I posted a bunch from a long time ago somewhere on the forum. Got some flack from the pics being "graphic" though. They might still be on the forum somewhere... I just looked and I don't know if it goes back far enough. I'll consider uploading some again at some point.

Yea, I think I remember seeing some a long time ago.... I tried searching last night but none came up... Care to PM me a couple? Yea, I like the graphic stuff.