Terrarium planning

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Originally Posted by Muddyredneck

4) build two termite mounts one in each corner, make sure to build them in 2 pieces so part removes and have the inside completly smooth for easy cleaning (i can help exand more on this if desired)
5)put a water bowl, background and some kind of tree stump (can also help elaborate on this) right in the middle to not only aid sheding but for an astetic look(spelling?)

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Would you please elaborate on these two items? Even if he isn't interested, I am! LoL... :D I love the idea of creating natural-looking termite mounds and the tree stump. I have a 75 gal terrarium I am planning on doing as a "natural" habitat (with sturdier stuff, lol) for Ella and I'd love to know more about these ideas! Thanks!!!

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Would you please elaborate on these two items? Even if he isn't interested, I am! LoL... :D I love the idea of creating natural-looking termite mounds and the tree stump. I have a 75 gal terrarium I am planning on doing as a "natural" habitat (with sturdier stuff, lol) for Ella and I'd love to know more about these ideas! Thanks!!!

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well my ideas are ment for bigger scale like i mentioned and would have to be scaled down considerably to make em work in a 75 gallon mostly due to floor space. if your gonna do it tho id reccomend a mel~ enclosure simply because u can build one that will last her life time for under 50 bucks nd little or no carpentry skill if u have the store cut it. or plywood and seal it with a few coats of colored drylok abd hand pain a background. dont hold nothing back your imagination is the limit

but for the termite mount you take something like styrofoam, and shape what your looking for and then take a substance like drylock or a thick toxic free paint and paint it brown and take some think and rough up the paint before it drys to simulate the look of the termite mound.. its the same process people use to make waterfalls and rock walls just with a termite mound. when doing the mound tho u wanna make sure u make the inside clean and easy to clean or youll regrett it lol..

and then for the stump, this would be slightly more difficult and probably easier to just find or buy a big piece of stump and cut it to what u want and then seal it good!, or u can make it out of clay apply the texture and bake it in a kiln, youd need acess to a kiln tho which most dont have

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Originally Posted by Cody John Steele

I think it's fine, your aquatic area won't jack up your humidity unless you put a UTH under it. Your bp won't destroy your plants as long as you choose something sturdy.

Go wild with it...the only thing I would could say negative about it, would be it's going to be a pain to clean.

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yes it will jack up the humidity. when we first started using our current rack, we used small dishes, and the humidity wasn't high enough. the snakes weren't shedding properly. replaced all the dishes with bigger ones, and the humidity went way up and they all shed perfect now. of course all our dishes are on the cool side of the tubs.

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Originally Posted by Muddyredneck

well my ideas are ment for bigger scale like i mentioned and would have to be scaled down considerably to make em work in a 75 gallon mostly due to floor space. if your gonna do it tho id reccomend a mel~ enclosure simply because u can build one that will last her life time for under 50 bucks nd little or no carpentry skill if u have the store cut it. or plywood and seal it with a few coats of colored drylok abd hand pain a background. dont hold nothing back your imagination is the limit

but for the termite mount you take something like styrofoam, and shape what your looking for and then take a substance like drylock or a thick toxic free paint and paint it brown and take some think and rough up the paint before it drys to simulate the look of the termite mound.. its the same process people use to make waterfalls and rock walls just with a termite mound. when doing the mound tho u wanna make sure u make the inside clean and easy to clean or youll regrett it lol..

and then for the stump, this would be slightly more difficult and probably easier to just find or buy a big piece of stump and cut it to what u want and then seal it good!, or u can make it out of clay apply the texture and bake it in a kiln, youd need acess to a kiln tho which most dont have

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Thank you! That was kind of in line with what I was thinking of. My plan is to take the 75 gal and make the termite mounds "disappear" through the top so they look bigger than they are. They wouldn't be open inside all the way up, but would be a nice snug hide for Ella and provide something for her to climb on (she's a climber). As you said, imagination's the limit! Thanks again for the tips!

Thank you for all the feedback guys! Some very interesting ideas and excellent advice. The picture of the natural enclosure posted seems like a great alternative to my idea for my BP. I think I just might go pick up another species to work with the semi-aquatic idea. I would really like to mix a few different animals together but I will have to be very careful about what I choose.
As far as the styrofoam termite mounds are concerned...another great idea! I have seen a few natural fountains built from foam and it would be pretty cool to design a terrarium in similar fashion. I think I will look into that as well.

im gonna suggest if u really wanna do something like this, go with lizards or something.

tree frogs are a comunial species and can live well together and with the right enclosure u can have a few and combine all of the forementioned ideas rather easily actually. a small water fall, plenty of plants and bright colored frogs sound awesome to me! snakes for the most part need there own enclosure though, very few keepers can keeep snakes together with posative results, and theyv been doing it for YEARS and know there animals in and out. lizards are your best bet if u wanna house more then one, but make sure the research is done cause even with lizards it can go horribly wrong

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Originally Posted by Muddyredneck

im gonna suggest if u really wanna do something like this, go with lizards or something.

tree frogs are a comunial species and can live well together and with the right enclosure u can have a few and combine all of the forementioned ideas rather easily actually. a small water fall, plenty of plants and bright colored frogs sound awesome to me! snakes for the most part need there own enclosure though, very few keepers can keeep snakes together with posative results, and theyv been doing it for YEARS and know there animals in and out. lizards are your best bet if u wanna house more then one, but make sure the research is done cause even with lizards it can go horribly wrong

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This is an excellent point. If you truly want a couple different species to live harmoniously together, frogs are probably your best bet. I have heard (no hands on experience though so someone correct me if I'm wrong) that some chameleons and/or leopard geckos do well together (2 females - no males) and green anoles can do well in a small community. But if I were after multiple species, I'd do tree frogs - fewest worries. Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do! Pictures would be great too, once you get things set up... ;)

yeah im looking to get a small viv of tree frogs together, i love the color differnces in posion dart frogs, whom if cbb arnt posionus.

a few species i can think of who live well together are

bearded dragons
diffrent gekos
frogs
tegus
diffrent monitor species (not reccomended due to size/cost)
collard lizards
chucks

these are just a few off the top of my head i can think of and for the most part your right its all females, males are much more territorial and will fight. u just gotta do your research and ask yourself what your looking for in said colony or viv

I'd love to build a tropical vivarium with dart frogs - so colorful! But their care seems a bit more meticulous than I have the time or desire for right now. I'm thinking about a bearded dragon myself. I know they do require a fair amount of time, etc, but their needs seem more easily met. And a desert viv can be quite beautiful! Either that or a couple more ball pythons, lol...... :D

For Chris, I still say that aquatic idea would be best paired with tree frogs, dart frogs, a couple geckos, or a green tree python or amazon tree boa. Those would be my recommendations for what he's got in mind. Or change up how he's going to set up the terarrium... :P