"Natural" Forest Floor Terrarium "Testing" Build!

[hydrophyte]

Well ran home from work to collect my BlackJungle shipment from the frontdesk of my building. Opened the box and it went a little like this.

This is what $60 worth of plants looks like.(only the 6 towards the front) . Not too happy with this order, but i'll chalk it up as a learning experience.

This was probably the only plant i was pleased with
Jeweled Orchid

The rest..
Crypyanthus

Victoria Bird's nest fern

Ficus pumila

Pellionia pulchra

Chamaeranthemum venosum

Yeah plants from that store tend to be smallish, but it looks like you got nice selections. Several of those plants should start to grow right away. The Asplenium bird's nest fern is I think actually an epiphyte, but people grow that one as a regualr potted plant so as long as it doesn't get overwatered it should do well.

One good thing about plants from that store is that they seem to be free of insect pests. That's been my experience anyway.

Is that a coffee plant in the back? That might be a real good plant to include. If you repot it you might consider dividing the clump so that there are just a couple of individual plantlets in each pot.

 

[hydrophyte]

re-potting madness

Im really not pleased with the placement and choice of plants rite now. I will most likely pull some out and place them in a 10g tank for them to grow out more. I was forced to put a dwarf Hibiscus in here to help provide some cover.

What's wrong with the hibiscus? It looks pretty good in there to me. That should be a good plant to use to fill in with and maybe later you can replace with something more interesting. Maybe it will bloom in there too.

 

[JonRich]

Leaf litter in (which is a little too large for my liking, i will order smaller leaves to mix in later)

Hopefully the Ficus will grow in and scale the wall

Some Coffiee plants i had laying around

This should fill in and carpet a bit

Leaf litter in..

Side view with some babboo poles ( they will not be used)

Front view

 

[JonRich]

Yeah plants from that store tend to be smallish, but it looks like you got nice selections. Several of those plants should start to grow right away. The Asplenium bird's nest fern is I think actually an epiphyte, but people grow that one as a regualr potted plant so as long as it doesn't get overwatered it should do well.

One good thing about plants from that store is that they seem to be free of insect pests. That's been my experience anyway.

Is that a coffee plant in the back? That might be a real good plant to include. If you repot it you might consider dividing the clump so that there are just a couple of individual plantlets in each pot.

Great minds think alike.. See above pix regarding the Coffie plants.

And the birds nest is not truly potted. I wrapped the base in coco fiber and a light layer of ABG on the top.

 

[JonRich]

One good thing about plants from that store is that they seem to be free of insect pests. That's been my experience anyway.

i did get bit by a centipeed while repotting the birdsnest. My thumb is on fire, thank god i don't seem to be alergic.

 

[JonRich]

Enjoying the progress....have you ever ordered from http://www.neherpetoculture.com/ ? I have always had good luck with them. Their plant list is probably more limited than others.

This is the only naturalistic viv I have built http://www.pangeareptile.com/forums/showthread.php?57652-First-Naturalistic-viv&highlight= It was a fun project for sure, have a blast with your build

i'll check it out for sure. But i think i will go locally and hand pick a few replacment plants.. That viv looks great.. I'll be doing something close to that with a 10g converted to a standing viv soon.

 

[PREACHAP]

that's such a dope set-up

 

[showjet95]

Jon, this would be perfect for some pygmy leaf chameleons! minus the perch sites attached to the glass

 

[JonRich]

that's such a dope set-up

Thanks, just can't wait to have this thing grow in. Won't look the way i want it to for a few months.

Jon, this would be perfect for some pygmy leaf chameleons! minus the perch sites attached to the glass

The perches won't be used. I'm just waiting for my bamboo order to arrive. And this will be rotated out to a Pygmy group once i get a more secure glass enclosure. The ExoTerras have some decent gaps that baby and juvi Geckos will be also to slip through. I'll tape it up for now, but eventually i'll be switching to something a lil more secure and i'll look into getting some Pygmy Chams.

 

[Trillian]

That set-up looks really wonderful, and you've obviously thought it through carefully about drainage etc. It's this sort of thing where us beginners can really learn from you more experienced people. It's lovely, thank you so much for sharing the whole process. When I die I've filled out the form to be reincarnated as one of your reptiles, hope that's okay with you.

 

[JonRich]

That set-up looks really wonderful, and you've obviously thought it through carefully about drainage etc. It's this sort of thing where us beginners can really learn from you more experienced people. It's lovely, thank you so much for sharing the whole process. When I die I've filled out the form to be reincarnated as one of your reptiles, hope that's okay with you.

Thanks, and i'd rather you not die but if you did i'd welcome you reincarnated as one of my animals. lol

This whole process is all new to me also, this is a bit of know-how and trial-n-error.

Speaking of drainage, i misted the enclosure pretty heavy lastnight and ZERO water made it to the bottom. But when i watered the plant pots themselves some water trickled to the bottom void. Today i'll be doing the air tubing into the void and setting up the airpump.

 

[laurie]

lol. I was going to hold out for an unvailing!

But i'd like to give a HUGE thanks to Lauire for giving me the opportunity to acquire these gems!!

I'll be getting a young group of these guys! They are amazing and just listed as Critically Endangered!

My goal with this project will be to breed them and hopefully trade bloodlines further down the line to keep the captive group of them in the US avaliable and healthy.

Jon is it too late for me to change my mind? I am just not comfortable sending some of my babies to you. I think when they get to your house all of them will think the have died!!! But they will think the have went to heaven!!!!!!!!!!! And if you ever let the ones left behind know that they live in a slum, well things will not go well for you.

Wonderful job you have done on their home. I knew there was a reason I wanted them to go to you.

 

[JonRich]

Jon is it too late for me to change my mind? I am just not comfortable sending some of my babies to you. I think when they get to your house all of them will think the have died!!! But they will think the have went to heaven!!!!!!!!!!! And if you ever let the ones left behind know that they live in a slum, well things will not go well for you.

Wonderful job you have done on their home. I knew there was a reason I wanted them to go to you.

lmaooo. Laurie it is most definitely too late, lol

They will be pampered, I'm going to try to make them feel as comfortable as possible. The goal here is to increase the #s in captivity.

One question though. Did you ever separate them and put them in a sort of hibernation (lower temps etc), i know in the wild they experience a seasonal temp drop and i heard of some keepers mimicking this.

 

[maxttu]

you did all of this for some geckos?? man, I was hoping to see some kick-a$$ chams up in there! J/k!! That is seriously a nice setup! Great planning!

 

[JonRich]

you did all of this for some geckos?? man, I was hoping to see some kick-a$$ chams up in there! J/k!! That is seriously a nice setup! Great planning!

It will have pygmy Chams soon enough in here. The ExoTerra is not suited to Geckos (they can and will escape is you can't seal the enclosure well, which defeats the purpose of ventilation.). This was used as a test to see how well the kit worked and what potential there is.

I will be doing a more secure enclosure in a few months for my Geckos and this will be turned into a Pygmy Cham enclosure. But because they lay eggs in substrate I'll have to mod the floor plate.

Like So vvvv

 

[laurie]

lmaooo. Laurie it is most definitely too late, lol

They will be pampered, I'm going to try to make them feel as comfortable as possible. The goal here is to increase the #s in captivity.

One question though. Did you ever separate them and put them in a sort of hibernation (lower temps etc), i know in the wild they experience a seasonal temp drop and i heard of some keepers mimicking this.

Jon you know how I am with these guys, every day with them was a day. That is all, no changes, different food some time but that was the only thing that changed.

you did all of this for some geckos?? man, I was hoping to see some kick-a$$ chams up in there! J/k!! That is seriously a nice setup! Great planning!

Did you know these are critically endangered? Williamsi are rapidly disappearing. Try to buy them - you can't. There is a reason my extra's are going to Jon. I want these little geckos to survive.

 

[JonRich]

Jon you know how I am with these guys, every day with them was a day. That is all, no changes, different food some time but that was the only thing that changed.

And this is probably why you did soo well with them. I might have to adapt to your ways if things arnt going well. Sometimes less is more.

 

[laurie]

Try it how you want cause I think you will do fantastic with them. Any help you want from me ids always here for you.

 

[Whatcamo]

Looking good! sorry I must have missed it or something but what kind of geckos are you getting?

 

[Rango05]

wow that is amazing!! great job, my son and I really enjoyed the pics of the build, he wants me to build one now but that wont happen for a while lol.
Great job man