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Keydiver's 24x18x24 exo-terra vivarium


keydiver

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Hi everybody. This is my first vivarium, and also my first attempt with poison dart frogs. This is the 24x18x24 exo terra model that is currently housing two dendrobates azeurus froglets. Feel free to let me know how you like it! The deets are below

 

Equipment and inaminates

ABG mix substrate

cholla/ manzanita wood

Petrified wood for waterfall

"Great Stuff " Background method

peat moss glued to GS to increase humidity

Exo-terra fogger

Mini-sol 170gph pump for waterfall

Small pond

2 regular cfl lights

 

Inhabitants and Microfauna

2 dendrobates azeurus froglets

temperate springtails

dwarf white isopods

giant orange isopods

drosophilia melanogaster "wingless" (fruit flies)

dwarf purple isopods

local isopods

surinam roaches

 

 

FTS 6/26/11

DSC_0517.jpg

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to hide your egg crate you can make a fake wall out of insulators and heat fuse them together. you can get materials for really cheap at your LHS, my boss reacently did this for a green tree python/ pond combo and it looks amazing.

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to hide your egg crate you can make a fake wall out of insulators and heat fuse them together. you can get materials for really cheap at your LHS, my boss reacently did this for a green tree python/ pond combo and it looks amazing.

 

Could you give me a link to what they are? I'm not sure what you mean

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owlbassboy

can you get expanding foam? i started a build with foam and covered it with eco earth but never got it planted and stocked with the arrival of the baby but it was looking pretty cool.

 

frogtank.jpg

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can you get expanding foam? i started a build with foam and covered it with eco earth but never got it planted and stocked with the arrival of the baby but it was looking pretty cool.

 

frogtank.jpg

 

yeah i'm planning on covering the background in foam and then siliconing coco fiber on to make it look natural. The items are just in the positions I want to foam them in with

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Yeah i'm on dendroboards, there doesn't seem to be very many active members though, so i thought i'd ask here for advice as well.

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owlbassboy

yeah theres also dendroworld(british forum) but they all seem pretty quiet tbh

 

to hide the egg crate cover it in weed fabric(you know the stuff you put on a flower bed before covering in bark or gravel) before you put your eco earth on it.

 

you can also use slate to cover the front and sides ;)

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yeah theres also dendroworld(british forum) but they all seem pretty quiet tbh

 

to hide the egg crate cover it in weed fabric(you know the stuff you put on a flower bed before covering in bark or gravel) before you put your eco earth on it.

 

you can also use slate to cover the front and sides ;)

 

Thanks for teh advice. I think I may just use something on the outside, on top of the weed blocker to keep the substrate in place. It seems like the easiest way to do it.

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I started the background today. Once this layer sets, I will add petrified wood to the waterfall to give eit a nice texture, then layer some more and add more pots to give depth. I will probably extend the background out to the side panels to add a couple ledge features and stuff like that.

 

How do you guys like it?

 

lol @foot

 

I dont even get it, how does a foot get in there?

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lol @foot

 

I dont even get it, how does a foot get in there?

 

 

Lol das mah toe.

 

but forrlz outside the tank :P

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OHHH I get how you shot that picture now lol

 

Tank looks nice though! I like the idea with the pots, Ill be following along :)

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Awesome!

 

Thanks am

 

I finshed the second layer, added the petrified wood which will be the waterfall, sealed off the pond section so substrate won;t get into it, and created a ledge on the top of the mopani wood.

 

I'm deciding whether or not I want to do a another whole side, or a portion of it. I asnt to try and suspend some petrified wood hunks to get a cool ledge effect, and add one more small piece of driftwood. What do you guys think?!

 

Of course I will clean it up, cut out the blobs that don;t look good, then paint it in silicon and add peat moss/coco fiber to make it look natural, like the rock is engraved into the wall.

post-55106-1305844420_thumb.jpg

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Finished the build. It came out a lot better then I expected. I will post a pic of it tomorrow with substrate and all.

 

Now I just have to plant it and seed it with springtails.

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My questions are:

 

1. How do I hide the false floor from the front and side views of the tank? Could I insert something in between the egg crate and glass, or could I just put something on the outside so that you can't see it? What it the best method?

 

2. The pond- I plan to separate the substrate from the pond with great stuff, leaving a small portion of the vertical eggcrate exposed so that the water can flow through it, so the pond isn;t separated from the rest of the water. How could I make it look natural? Could I just fill it with gravel, and have the water flow through it?

 

Any help or comments would be awesome. Here are some pics of the current setup.

 

1) If you haven't built the FB already I'd make it like a box and leave some space on the front and sides. These can be filled in with aquarium gravel, which will also provide drainage and will look nice. Check out GRIMM's youtube channel for the idea:

 

2) If you have the box FB you can leave space in the corner where you can dig out some of the gravel so the water will be there. It's kind of hard to explain but you can see it in the video's and it's explained well.

 

I hope this helps. I'm an active member on Dendroboard and posting there will get you a lot more help. It's pretty active too, so I don't know why you don't think it is. Good luck and keep us posted!

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Could you give me a link to what they are? I'm not sure what you mean

sorry about the late reply... all the did was buy insulation sheath from lowes and glue it together with non toxic glue for how high and wide he wanted it. Then he chizzled it, with a drill, into a dope background and painted it realistic colors.

 

I like your expanding foam idea too. looks way easier.

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This thing came out a lot better than I expected. I've put almost all my free time into it for the past few weeks, and now all I have to do is seed it and plant it, and add the substrate. The waterfall and false flooring are operational after a few small modifications. Let me know how you like it.

 

it will be housing dendrobates tinc. "cobalts"

 

I will be hiding the false floor with external contact paper, and I'm going to get the glass cut for the top tomorrow.

post-55106-1306281188_thumb.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Haven't updated this tank in a while. I think I got fruit fly culturing down, it's becoming a process. Also, I got giant orange isopods, dwarf white isopods, and springtails for a diet variety and janitor duties in the tank.

 

The tank is set up, water feature and all, substrate added, mold is growing (A GOOD SIGN), and it is seeded with springtails. I will be getting frogs soon, once I fix a few bugs.

 

I still have to plant it, drill a couple holes in the top glass so it's not like a greenhouse, and then it will be frog-ready! It will be planted next time I go up to my grandparents in Delray Beach, they have a huge slat house for me to choose from.

 

Heres a FTS

post-55106-1308187178_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

UPDATE while i'm doing my other tanks. I got it planted, seeded with isopods and springtails, and I just got my two d. azeurus today!

 

I got them because they were local and a great price. I think my next viv is going to house d. tinc. bakhuis

 

Anyways here are the pics, I have since moved a couple plants and gotten a few new ones, so I'll post those later on

 

 

DSC_0519.jpg

He's been watching too much spiderman

DSC_0520.jpg

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I'm thinking about turning this into a mixed species tank. I know many people advise against it, but I really want to add a small kenyan pygmy chameleon. They are pretty much in the same niche as dart frogs, so care would be extremely similar. What do you guys think?

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I'm thinking about turning this into a mixed species tank. I know many people advise against it, but I really want to add a small kenyan pygmy chameleon. They are pretty much in the same niche as dart frogs, so care would be extremely similar. What do you guys think?

 

No. No. No. No. No.

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No. No. No. No. No.

 

Heeeyy mitch! I've seen you on the dendroboards before. Could you please give me some advise. I've done a search on the forums and a lot of good stuff has come up. What is your reasoning? I know local stores are just trying to make a quick buck, but he really made it sound like it was possible.

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Heeeyy mitch! I've seen you on the dendroboards before. Could you please give me some advise. I've done a search on the forums and a lot of good stuff has come up. What is your reasoning? I know local stores are just trying to make a quick buck, but he really made it sound like it was possible.

 

Please, please, please don't do it. Post a thread on dendroboard and people will give you some good advice. They may also get very angry, though haha. I'm too lazy to write an essay as to why you shouldn't mix species right now but basically it comes down to:

A) The Chameleon Stressing out the frogs (even though you may not see it) and vice versa

B ) The animals coming from different habitats

C) The spread of diseases and parasites

 

Way more than that but there's a simple explanation. I suggest you post a thread on dendroboard if you want a better explanation and also, don't listen to the Pet store guy. He's trying to make money off of you and does not know what he is talking about.

 

Also, check out this thread. The second post has a bunch of good links for you.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-d...ecies-help.html

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Please, please, please don't do it. Post a thread on dendroboard and people will give you some good advice. They may also get very angry, though haha. I'm too lazy to write an essay as to why you shouldn't mix species right now but basically it comes down to:

A) The Chameleon Stressing out the frogs (even though you may not see it) and vice versa

B) The animals coming from different habitats

C) The spread of diseases and parasites

 

Way more than that but there's a simple explanation. I suggest you post a thread on dendroboard if you want a better explanation and also, don't listen to the Pet store guy. He's trying to make money off of you and does not know what he is talking about.

 

Also, check out this thread. The second post has a bunch of good links for you.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-d...ecies-help.html

 

I'm scared to post that on the dendroboards :ninja: . It'll just bring a world of hurt. But yeah I have read a lot about it stressing the animals. It was just a thought in my mind, I thought it would be really cool, but it's not worth it if it means compromising one of the animals.

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