37G Forest Floor Viv

[hydrophyte]

37G Forest Floor Viv

Hi! I am a new member here. I don't keep chameleons (yet) but the more I look around the more I want to put together a setup. I really like the idea of some of those pygmy chameleons. I might try to see if my local store can source some for me. I have a 12" X 12" Exo Terra that I'm not using that might work for a pygmy.

Anyway, I wanted to share a 37-gallon planted setup that I have had going for a while that I put together for an Avicularia tarantula. I still don't have the spider yet; I've been looking for one and I've also been trying to get the enclosure set up right.

This setup is a "forest floor" terrarium. It uses a false bottom plate and place a stronger emphasis on filling the space with nice foliage plants, rather than with a built-up 3D background. JonRich just put together an Exo Terra like this and he has it journaled right here...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/natural-forest-floor-terrarium-testing-build-84013/

Here's a recent shot of my 37G. The plants are all looking good, but like I said I still don't have the spider in there...

I have some older pictures too that show the set up, but I'll have to go dig them up.

Here's a close-up shot showing a few of the little palm seedlings that I have as foreground plants. I've foind palms to be some of the best plants for this kind of planting. They almost always grow well. Most palms grow pretty big eventually, but there are various species that grow as true miniatures.

 

[laurie]

That is a nice set up. I knew from seeing you on Jon's thread that you had some very detailed info I could tap into when the time came.

 

[hydrophyte]

Thanks Laurie! I have lots of ideas for how to do this kind of setup. You can put together a real nice planting with regular houseplants or wherever, or you can track some more unusual collector plants if you might like more botanical interest.

The Forest Floor setups are nice because everything is modular and pretty easy to put toether. You can have a real nice planting without having to dump a lot of soil soil substrate into the enclosure or glue a background into it.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's the tank. This is a Marineland 37G Column. It's 20" wide by 18" deep by 24" tall. I really like the shape.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's the enclosure with Forest Floor false bottom...

 

[hydrophyte]

Here is the manzanita driftwood feature that I included in here.

It doesn't look like so much, but it took me the better part of a day to put that thing together. The manzanita branches are attached to the 1/4" plastic sheet with stainless steel screws.

Here's the whole deal.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here it is with plants...

I have kept a number of these plants in there, but replaced a few of them.

I really like to use palms in these setups. This largest plant is a NOID Geonoma palm.

 

[hydrophyte]

This is a different tank, a 30G growout, but I wanted to link this picture quick with real nice foliage plants including Hoffmania, Sanchezia and a few others.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here are the rest of those pictures I got last night.

I am trying to figure out what Begonia this is.

 

[JonRich]

Amazing!! How did you seal the top? Does the platform that the wood is mounted to seat into the rim of the tank and you have a screened top for the whole thing?

Top down pix please..

Looks great, I have this same idea for the bamboo placement in my viv. You'll see what i mean once the everything comes in.

 

[hydrophyte]

I will try to dig up some more pictures.

Yes the plastic sheet that the manzanita is mounted to just fits right into the inside grooves of the top plastic frame. Right now I have the whole top covered and with very high humidity (>90%) inside, but there is a small fan blowing air around. When I add the tarantula I will have to open more ventilation in the top and decrease the relative humidity.

I am pondering doing a similar kind of configuration for a pygmy cham with the 12" X 12" X 18" Exo Terra that I have here.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here are a couple more shots of the foliage in this tank.

Here it is with the manzanita feature lifted out.

This is a really cool palm that I had in there for a while, Pinanga sp. "blue seed".

It started looking sad so I had to remove it.

Here's another small-growing palm, Licuala dasyantha. This one develops leaf mottling as it gets a bit larger.

 

[hydrophyte]

I just got a few new pictures and I will try to post them up later. Now that our house is warmer the plants are looking happier and growing.

 

[JonRich]

What are you using for your leaf litter?

 

[hydrophyte]

The leaves in this enclosure are all from an oak tree that is down the block. I collected them last fall and semi-sterilized them by baking in an over roasting bag.

 

[hydrophyte]

Might be picking up the tarantula today...

 

[hydrophyte]

More Forest Floor Terrarium news on the way pretty soon!

 

[birdlover71]

Begonia

It looks like a strawberry begonia or some type of one.... I used to love those as a kid....

 

[hydrophyte]

This is a different setup, but I wanted to copy it while I had the link handy. This is a 65G display for a single Hyla versicolor tree frog. I set it up with a Forest Floor kit and used quite a few different ferns along with other plants. The frog seems to like it in there.

 

[KirbyTheCham]

This is a different setup, but I wanted to copy it while I had the link handy. This is a 65G display for a single Hyla versicolor tree frog. I set it up with a Forest Floor kit and used quite a few different ferns along with other plants. The frog seems to like it in there.

If I was a frog I would love it in there no doubt, great looking setups you have!