My daughter's terrarium

[DaveyFig]

Well, I will start out by saying that we (my 9 year old daughter, Davey and I) are brand new to frogs. In fact, we don't even have any frogs yet. We have been spending a lot of time researching and planning, and today we decided that YES we will be getting some frogs, so we should get ready.

I let my daughter do most of the works, and I think it turned out well. We aren't sure exactly what we want to get, but it feels good to have the tank up and running. Let me know what you think. If anything doesn't look right, or you have questions, please speak up.



Empty Tank


Supplies (some of them)



Making a false bottom


Setting a pump


False bottom in place.


Screening over the false bottom


Disguising the sides and front of the false bottom.


Mixing the substrate.
NO THIS IS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE! We used RO filtered water, but needed a way to transport it outside, so we put it in the Arrowhead water bottle.


Checking plant placement while out coco fiber expandeds. Tick Tock! This was done many times! ANd totally redone when we added the substrate
The plants were removed from the pots, and the roots rinsed off.


DONE! (Mostly)

[deeishealthy]

Great job!

[tinkgirl77]

Looks great!

[deranged chipmunk]

Very cool!! You guys did an awesome job!!!

[UncleChester]

Looks great!

Do you know what kind of frogs are you considering getting even if you haven't narrowed down a species? Tree frogs, toads, ranids, etc? You may need to modify the standard lid to make it secure.

And here's an idea your creative daughter might enjoy as a way to personalize this a little more, a hand painted background. See post 44 of this thread http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...tml#post101893

[deranged chipmunk]

Once you guys decide on a frog species, then you can start making adjustments to the tank, i.e. if you go with tree frogs, you'll need some high places in the tank for them. But for now, it is an excellent time for Davey to learn about plant care and setting routines for stuff like misting. My only concern would be about the hood. A majority of strip lights have momentary push button switches and starters, which prevents the use of a timer, unless you want to modify the light unit. Also, it may not be secure enough for any charges you may take on as well as not keeping humidty levels correctly. But these are all things that once again, can be dealt with after you decide what kind of frog to get.

[Heatheranne]

Very nice .

[Nick Major]

Love the step-by-step pics, and the finished article is great! Where do you get the meshed plastic? I am looking for something similar to use with my frogs and have struggled to find something similar (in NZ).

[Calmwaters]

Very nice!

[flybyferns]

Davey,
Welcome to Frog Forum !
That's a great job!

Please continue to come back to this thread to post more photos.
Keep us up to date on how things are coming along.
I can't wait to see more.

It will always be YOUR "build thread"

Lynn

[DaveyFig]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to look and comment. We keep going back to Josh's Frogs and reading the same things over and over on each species. We think all of the dart frogs are awesome, we just haven't narrowed it down much yet. We want something active and brightly colored to contrast the greens of the tank, and something that does well in groups. Other than that we are open to anything. Thoughts?

About the hood...It had a few gaps in it where it hinges. I siliconed a strip of screenover the whole hinged area, creating a sort of mesh piano hinge. Just to keep things inside. Is there a reason I couldn't leave the hood light in the "on" position and plug it into an on/off timer?

Nick, the mesh is just from a roll of nylon window screen. I used three layers. The first layer covers that false bottom grate and keeps the gravel on the sides and back from getting in underneath. Once that was in place, we poured gravel in around the false bottom up to the same level as the top grate of the false bottom. The other 2 layers are between the false bottom.

[deranged chipmunk]

oh, most definitely, if it has a 2 pole switch. i have about 10 old strip lights, half of them have 2 pole switches (like a regular light switch), but quite a few have the old style single pole momentary push switches. like the high beam switches on old cars. those obviously can't be used. i just thought i would mention it because i have people in the past (on another forum) ask, "why won't my light work with a timer".

Dendrobates Leucomelas are great beginner darts and do well in groups. they are also semi-arboreal, so they wouldn't mind having some vertical spaces to climb up on. if you do go with darts, you may consider replacing the lid with an all glass one. the tank needs to be almost sealed. you'll need to keep humidity in the 80%+ ranges. they don't need a lot of ventilation like tree frogs do, but they do need the humidity.

[DaveyFig]

Thanks again!
Honestly, the lid is almost completely sealed except for the seams. The light hood is separate, and sits on top of a glass panel . Only one section (that I cut out for the fish filter) is open. I put screen over that too, but will seal it off if that is the recommendation.

[deranged chipmunk]

well, only you can tell if it's sealed enough. you have a hygrometer and thermometer? if so, what is your humidity?

[Heatheranne]

Dendro tinc cobalts are fun and fairly easy too . They climb also.

[flybyferns]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to look and comment. We keep going back to Josh's Frogs and reading the same things over and over on each species. We think all of the dart frogs are awesome, we just haven't narrowed it down much yet. We want something active and brightly colored to contrast the greens of the tank, and something that does well in groups. Other than that we are open to anything. Thoughts?

About the hood...It had a few gaps in it where it hinges. I siliconed a strip of screenover the whole hinged area, creating a sort of mesh piano hinge. Just to keep things inside. Is there a reason I couldn't leave the hood light in the "on" position and plug it into an on/off timer?

Nick, the mesh is just from a roll of nylon window screen. I used three layers. The first layer covers that false bottom grate and keeps the gravel on the sides and back from getting in underneath. Once that was in place, we poured gravel in around the false bottom up to the same level as the top grate of the false bottom. The other 2 layers are between the false bottom.

Check out the: leucs
D. leucomelas
They are ALWAYS out and about! They can be kept in small groups!
Adorable and very entertaining !
Lynn

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

I love the tank,
On the question about the lights being controlled by a timer.
Most modern florescent lights have a automatic ballast.
So do this simple test.
turn on the lights.
then grip the plug and pull it out of the wall socket.
then wait 15 seconds or so and plug it back in.
If the light comes back on then you can use a timer.
I have a combo of LED lights and florescent lights on my setup.
The LED lights are RGB LEDS that can provide Red Green Blue light in any combo
I want.
So for day time I power up all for white light.
and for night I just power the red with a lower voltage.
just enough light for me to see in and not too bright as I have heard that red light
can hurt the frogs eyes.

[tinkgirl77]

Since I'm new to all this as well, please re explain how your bulbs will be able to provide day time and nighttime redvlight? Are you using 2 diff bulbs?

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Yes I am using two different kinds of lights.
I am using a eco-terra light cycle controller that can simulate dawn to dusk light. with a 10, 12, 14 hr day
That provides the daylight and UVA and UVB light for the plants and the frog but it is low levels 5% UVB and 30% UVA.
For night time I have a LED light kit that I modified so that it can put out just about any color of light I want by varying the
intensity of each color Red Green Blue.
During the night I use just enough of the red so the frog will still have its nocturnal activities and not notices the red light.
And allow me to be able to see it.

[tinkgirl77]

daveyfig, what type of pump did you use?