Help with Terrarium plans (beginner)

[FrogFarm]

So, I have this 30 gallon rimless tank that I have been wanting to do something with for a long time now. Thomas (my man) has pointed out that after our little "10 gallons all over the floor" incident, the 20g is pushing it for large tanks in our place - especially considering that we rent. For this reason, the 30 gallon has been sitting full of supplies and collecting dust for quite some time, it's driving me bonkers.
(I was actually going to sell it, but when I found out the people who wanted to buy it were planning to cram a bunch of frogs and toads from the local ponds/lakes in there, I just couldn't do it. I kept wild native reptiles as a youngin' but I knew what I was doing and was careful. These people has no idea what they were doing, so the frogs/toads they kept would likely suffer/parish and I just can't support that.)

Anyways, enough preface-ramble, I've finally come up with a plan for the 30g.

I've wanted to try my hand at Green Anole lizards again for quite some time. I owned them once before when I was about 8 and I failed miserably. All of the information I'd been given on them was wrong, my set up was all wrong and in turn it was a poor experience. However, the same thing happened with my first aquarium when I was young and I thought I'd never have another, but here I am!

Here is where this wonderful forum (and others like it) come into the picture. I am going to need a lot of help, as this will be my first real shot at a Terrarium.

They are Arboreal lizards, so I want to give the tank as much height as possible. My first idea was an extension/canopy, but in the long run, this seems like too much complication for a less satisfying result.

I have decided to stand the tank on it's side and create a door for the front. I've been looking at this thread: http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...struction.html

Will I still be able to do this with a rimless tank?

Because I am a total "newb" to Terriums, I will need as much help as I can get and without a doubt will have a lot of questions. Such as...

What is the best substrate to use in a planted terrarium that is warm and humid?
What plants would do well and look good in this setting?
What type of lighting would you suggest?

Thanks in advance for any input, it's greatly appreciated!

[UncleChester]

Hi there,

You should be able to do a Do It Yourself vertical conversion on your tank. Since it is rimless, what will be the new bottom will be resting directly on your stand so you need to make certain this is absolutely clean and flat or provide some padding (the bottom glass should be very evenly supported or suspended like in a framed tank). I don't know anything about keeping Anoles but make sure that your conversion will give enough ventilation and let you maintain the humidity an Anole needs.

Here's a good article on vivarium substrates, Caudata Culture Articles - Vivarium Substrates. I use coco fibre mixed with leaf litter/loam and add some fine sand for drainage. Drainage is important if you are misting frequently, many plants don't like their roots to be soggy even if they like high humidity.

Pothos (devils ivy) is the standard invincible vivarium plant. Peperomia's and philodendrons like humidity. There will be tons of other options. It's usually easiest to go scouting first and see what house plants you have available that you like the look of and take notes, especially since you probably won't be able to get anything shipped to PG in the winter. WalMart, Home Depot, and grocery stores can be good, or garden centres that stock house plants.

I don't know if Anoles have any lighting requirements, but I stick with daylight temperature CFL bulbs on my frog vivariums. The plants do well under them. If I need more heat (wintertime), I'll move to incandescent.

[thadmy]

If you do get grocery store or home supply store plants make sure you clean them, place them in your substrate for a couple weeks before you place them in the tank so they can get rid of pesticides or fertilizers that the stores use since they aren't good for reptiles or amphibians. Easy thing to do is get the plants home, then un-plant them wash their roots good and plants them in the substrate you plan on using to clean them out.

I had Anoles when I was younger, the best thing to do for them is give them plenty of branches to climb on and also some plants that will hold their weight since they will climb all over them. Use thicker leaves like Golden Pothos or Broms. Also place some hides in there since they will like to be able to hide once in awhile.

Other than that they are pretty hardy lizards.

Best of luck

[thadmy]

One more thing and one of the most important is make sure you only have ONE male per tank. These lizards are EXTREMELY territorial and will fight with each other and cause unwanted stress. Multiple females are ok in a tank if you have enough space and hiding places for them. For a 30 gallon tank you should be able to house one male and 3-4 females