my 1st attempt at a vivarium

well i have decided to give a poison dart frog vivarium a try. first off let me say i have never built one of these i don't know how it will turn out. sorry about the pic qualities its really hard not to get a reflection when using my cell phone for pics


i'm using a 40 breeder i had laying around. first i siliconed some drift wood and reptile hide holes to the back for the background. the hide holes will eventually turn into plant holders.





next i added some straws for drainage and stuffed the plant holders with paper so no foam gets into them





sparyed two cans of great stuff pond foam





carved out the extra pond foam





glued tight bond 3 and coco fiber to the foam





different angle. ignor the skulls in the back ground

 

next i added the false bottom linner and abg mix. then added some drift wood





top down view





well thats all i have for now next ill be planting some plants and adding some frogs after that.

 

Looks great!

 

Wow Matt :0) Looks great! You made a lot of progress on it this week!

 

I attempted one before. I probably didn't do enough research, so don't know if this was a good idea or not, but I had a mini fog maker in there. Would turn it on once a day or so, to keep up the humidity

 

That's really neat! Someday I would like to have a dart setup too. Are you going to be putting a large water dish in there somewhere? (I'm not sure how aquatic they are) My concern with setting one up is how it will last longterm and if mold could become an issue. It looks like you're off to a really great start! Plants will really make it look nice.

 

I have always had a hard time maintaining humidity while preventing mold. Tricky balance to keep air moving but keep it moist. If I tried it again I would look into keeping an ultrasonic humidifier in another enclosure and then using an air pump to circulate that air into the display. Depending on the desired humidity you could increase or decrease the rate into the display as well as controlling the fogger in the other container.

 

well i have the planting done. plants look a little beat up right now but they will recover


as jermey would say (even though his looked better)


BAM!








top down view





ill take some more pics in a couple of days after my plants recover more. also iff your at the show stop by my booth and see my frogs im picking them up at the show


also tomarrow i get my glass top and i'm making a DIY fogger out of a ultra sonic humidifier

 

dont need a water dish as long as it stays humid enough in the tank. mold shouldnt be too much of a problem cause ill will have a vent on the top for air circulation and a clean up crew of spring tails and isopods

 

Damn you Matt!! Now I want to try one! Maybe this winter.

Looks great by the way!!

 

one thing i would do differently is use a taller tank at least 24" tall

 

i built a fogger out of an old humidifyer i had laying around


before








after








i have it on a timmer to turn on 3 times a day for 5 min. i will adjust this when needed in order to control the humidity the the tank

 

SICK!!

 

I've wanted to do one of these for sooo long. My wife would have my hide though. Looks great! What lights are you using?

 

Looking very nice!! Love how that looks with the fog/mist!!! Very Cool!