My 40 gallon Vertical Build Progress for my Whites Tree Frog

[frogluver]

For Christmas, I got a 40gallon terrarium with the following dimensions, 36”Lx18”Wx16”H. It also has a sliding screen door ! I’m going orientate in vertically so it stands 36 inches high and design the interior suitable for my white’s tree frog, Hubbie Macgrubber and his future buddy (ies). I will also silicone a piece of plexi glass to the front, to keep the water and substrate in the terrarium.

The design……well I was thinking about something similar to a drip wall set up. I have quite a few pieces of driftwood that I found over the summer and am now treating the larger of the pieces in bleach water and the smaller pieces in the oven. Once they have been treated, I will use the wood to build the background.

That is at least what I have in mind so far….

[butcher]

Looks like its going to be a fun project!!

[En333]

That's sweet! You are one lucky duck

[frogluver]

Hehe, I know!!

[thadmy]

Well for a Christmas present to yourself you could go check out Petco, they are doing their dollar a gallon. Picked me up a few tanks to put away for a rainy day.

[En333]

Well for a Christmas present to yourself you could go check out Petco, they are doing their dollar a gallon. Picked me up a few tanks to put away for a rainy day.

Seriously? Is it online too? That's awesome cuz I was going to get Kirby a bigger tank.....

[Poly]

Can't wait to see how it goes! This is going to be a fun thread!

[frogluver]

Well for a Christmas present to yourself you could go check out Petco, they are doing their dollar a gallon. Picked me up a few tanks to put away for a rainy day.

It's just like a store to have an awesome sale right after Christmas.....a sale in which you could have gotten what you recieved for Christmas, at a cheaper price :P!!! Ahhhhhh lol !

[frogluver]

OK…..just finished treating the driftwood for my background build. I baked the small pieces of driftwood in the oven on low (250 F) for about 3 hours. The smell of heated wood reminded me of a hot summer’s day haha! For the bigger pieces of wood, I placed then in a 20gal terrarium and completely submerged them in a bleach water solution. For every gallon of water used, I added ½ cup of bleach. In total, I used 10 gallons of water, amounting to 5 cups of bleach. I soaked the wood in that solution for 24hrs. Next, I leached the bleach out of the wood by soaking it in fresh water for another 24hrs (changing the water whenever it became “bleachy” or dirty). After 2 days of soaking, I laid out the wood by my wood stove where it is currently drying.

[Poly]

Looks great! There going to make a nice background.

[frogluver]

Looks great! There going to make a nice background.

Thanks! I hope so too.

[frogluver]

Update

On Saturday I went to the pet store and hardware store to buy the following materials for my build:

-3 bags of aquarium gravel (to fill the bottom for the terrarium where, as there will be several inches of water)

-2 cans of Great Stuff: Big Gap foam spray to create the background and to attatch the above pieces of wood

-1 container of GE’s Silicone II 100% silicone sealant clear

-A piece of plexi glass measuring 17.5” by 10”. This will be sealed to the front of the terrarium so no water will leak out.

-A distributor with 8 nozzles, which will be attached to a pump.

-1/4 inch tubing (about 10 ft). This will be cut up in segments and attached to the distributor nozzles to create a sort of irrigation system, which will then be used to make the drip wall.

Unfortunately, the pump I already had, stopped functioning, as a piece went missing :P So today, I’m going to the aquarium store (Fishtopia) to buy a new pump. I also hope to buy the plants this week as well from Black Jungle Terrarium Supply .

[GrifTheGreat]

Can't wait to see how it turns out! I'm sure it will be awesome!

[frogluver]

Can't wait to see how it turns out! I'm sure it will be awesome!

Thanks Grif....I hope so too !!

[frogluver]

Update....

Just bought some plants for my terrarium build ! Some of the plants I got include:
-Snake Plant
-Button Fern (I think that's what it is, not sure)
-Pilea
-Creeping Fig
-Tillandsia
-Staghorn Fern

I'll post some pictures of the plants here soon Getting ready to go build the background now....

[frogluver]

Here are those pictures I promised lol

From left to right, the plants are as follows: Snake Plant, a variation of a creeping Pilea, Creeping Fig (Ficus Sunny), Button fern, Staghorn fern, Tillandsia, and a tropical plant from Petco (not sure what type it is, but I found it in its current condition.....I'm hoping to revive it).

I have other plants that I'll include as well, a couple sweetheart philodendrons, Spider plants, and aquatic plants, which have yet to be purchased !

[flybyferns]

Here are those pictures I promised lol

From left to right, the plants are as follows: Snake Plant, a variation of a creeping Pilea, Creeping Fig (Ficus Sunny), Button fern, Staghorn fern, Tillandsia, and a tropical plant from Petco (not sure what type it is, but I found it in its current condition.....I'm hoping to revive it).

I have other plants that I'll include as well, a couple sweetheart philodendrons, Spider plants, and aquatic plants, which have yet to be purchased !

WOW ! Looking Good !!! It's ooooo much fun to plan.
I love the drip wall idea !!!!
It is going to be a "White's Mansion'
Lynn

[frogluver]

WOW ! Looking Good !!! It's ooooo much fun to plan.
I love the drip wall idea !!!!
It is going to be a "White's Mansion'
Lynn

Haha, thank you Lynn !!

[frogluver]

Additional Update:

Now that I have the plants, it's time to finish the background! So far I have mounted the driftwood to the glass with 100% silicone sealant (see attached picture). The next step is applying the Great Stuff foam. But before I do so, I need to plan out the water feature: the drip wall! This is going to take some time (and inevitably frustration) because I’m soooo particular haha :P! I need to figure out the orientation of the tubing/distributor in relation to the wood placement. The distributor—see picture—has 8 nozzles and each attaches to ¼ inch tubing; I have 10 feet of tubing to divide among the nozzles. The distributor will then be attactched to a pump (Exo Terra’s Repti Flo 200) via a tube. The bottom of the vertical terrarium will be the “pool area” where the pump will be placed.

[frogluver]

Update…..

So I think I’ve decided not to use the distributor (not entirely sure yet lol) for the drip wall. Instead of the distributor, I’m going to apply the GS foam and then carve a system of “streams” to direct the water flow. Right now I’m building a model to test out my plan before I actually make it. I’ll upload some pictures of my model here in a bit !