DIY - Agalychnis callidryas rain chamber

[ViperJr]

Ok, so I promised a Do It Yourself-tutorial on the rain chamber since someone wanted it, so here it goes. Just remember, I'm not a good writer, I suck at taking photos (the good ones are taken by my girlfriend), I'm not very organized and making a rain chamber is quite easy, so I doubt it'll be of any help... but it's fun to write, so here it goes! Also, some of the photos were actually taken after the rain chamber were completed, so some things already in place, even though the guide have not added it yet.
Just remember to read the entire thing before any building is started (if using this guide), since it might not be entirely linear.


Step 1 - Materials

- A saw
- Cable tie
- Awl (according to Google, that what it's called in English. It's the screwdriver-looking thingy, used for punching holes in wood.
- 2 meter of PVC-pipe (approximately)
- 6 PVC-pipe corners
- A few PVC-pipe joints (at least 1, the rest is up to you on how you want to construct it... and how clumsy you are)
- Aquarium silicone
- An old plastic box of some kind. I used an old ice cream box.
- Not in the picture, but you'll need a water pump of some sort, with enough power to pump the water to the height of your enclosure. I managed to get an old fountain-pump for a very small amount of money, just needed to get properly cleaned first.
- An enclosure. I used Exo-Terras 45x45x60 cm (18x18x24 inches).



Step 2 - Preparations
- Since you will not be using any substrate at the bottom, only a decent amount of water,make sure the terrarium is water proof! I did the mistake of trusting Exo-Terra, which was a bad idea. Had quite a few liters of water on the floor at one point. So, fill the enclosure with at least as much water as you are planning on using, and let it stand over the night. If there's a leak somewhere, let the silicone flow!
- Make sure the pump is working as it should! I needed to silicone the pump, since it was design with two outputs. This created a decreased power flow in the main outlet, so I just filled the secondary outlet with silicone.




Step 3 - Platform
First of all, I added a platform in the middle of the bottom. This was to serve two purposes:
1. Having a solid area where a food bowl can be placed.
2. Having a solid area where the frogs can get in and out of the water easily.

I simply siliconed four PCV-pipe joints to the terrarium floor. I found this practical since they are the same size right out of the box (and this will create an even platform), but anything can be used:

After that, I added the actual platform. For this, I used the old ice cream box, or rather the bottom of it. I just cut it out with an ordinary hobby-knife, but a kitchen knife should be sufficient. Remember to silicone the corners and sides thoroughly, in case there might be any sharp edges.




Step 4 - Plumbing
The most important part of a rain chamber. Without plumbing 'n pipes, there is no rain chamber! There's probably a thousand ways of doing this, but here's how I did it:
- Siliconed a PCV-pipe joint to the pump. It fits perfectly, so I'm guessing it's some standard measurement for all aquarium pumps or whatnot. In the picture, there's PCV-pipe in the joint as well. That was just to test that it was still usable.

- Here's the only tricky part, and it's not that tricky. Place the pump in the tank where you want it (I placed it on the back right corner), and start measuring out how long PCV-pipes you need. Since I'm not the handiest of men, I had to re-saw the pipes a few times to make them fit. Just make sure you are sawing it larger than you actually need, and make it smaller afterwards. It sure is harder do to it the other way around!

- Before securing them to the top of the terrarium, you'll need to punch holes in the PVC-pipes with the awl. Just place the pipes on a non-fragile surface and press the awl against the PVC-pipes until it goes through. Not that hard! I have approximately 3 holes per side, but I'm guessing this is not cut in stone. Just do enough to make it rain!
- After you have the correct length on the pipes, you need to attach them somehow. I used cable ties, since they firmly secure the PVC-pipes, but is not as permanent as silicone. To do this, I setup the pipes as I wanted them, and while my girlfriend hold the PCV-pipes in place, I punched holes in the screen mesh and then secured the PCV-pipes, effectively holding them in place!




Step 5 - Interior
So, the rain chamber-mechanic is complete, and all that's left is to decorate it! There are tons of different ways, but what's important is that you use strong, broad leafs, that can support both frogs and the eggs. I used a big, nice pothos (Epipremnum aureu) for this. I also used couple of "lucky bamboo" (Dracaena sanderiana) secured at the top, going all the way to the water. This was to create more ways the frogs could get out of the water, if they fell into it. More importantly, the female will enter the water before laying the eggs, in order to absorb enough water to lay them. This is why it's important to create ways for the frogs to easily enter and get out of the water.
In order go get the pothos in the enclosure, I just used the hanging pot that came with the plant (thoroughly cleaned and repottet, of course). However, the "arms" that it hanged from was too long, so I punched holes in the screen mesh and did this, which made the height easily adjustable:
(I also used a vine, to attach the Dracaena sanderiana to, and to create just a little more climbing space.)





Step 6 - The things I have not said
Lastly, there are some things that I have not brought up, that should be noted. Since this is just an guide of the making of the actual rain chamber, I have not said anything about the actual breeding-project. Please read a lot before attempting to breed. There is so much more to it than just building a chamber. Before using the chamber, make sure everything is frog-safe (plants cleaned and repotted, conditioner used in the water, no hazardous objects in the enclosure etc.). Also, you would want a thermometer as well (which I had, just didn't mention it until now), maybe even a hygrometer. You'll need lightning to provide a day/night-cycle as usual, and you might need a heat source as well (especially since you are going to raise the temperature quite a bit from what you had in the dry season).



Outcome




There you have it! Even though no-one might read it, it was fun to write!

[Poly]

Wow Martin!

This is a very informative thread!

It could be applied to other ampibians, too! Even terrestrail amphibains, I guess you'd have to make more land?

Awesome thread Martin!

[ViperJr]

Thank you Royce! I'm not sure if it would be suitable for other frogs, since the breeding of A. callidryas is the only I'm familiar with. Someone else will have to answer that-

Unfortunately, there seem to be a small problem of the technical kind. When moving the guide from my other thread to this one, the pictures seemed to disappear since they were attachments. I'm working on fixing this, please bare with me.

[ViperJr]

Just wanted to add that the great Mr. DonLisk so kindly fixed the pictures, so the tutorial is back to it's original shape and form!

[Mansing Fortes]

Thanks so much for documenting all this! This will surely help a lot for my chubbies' breeding

[ViperJr]

Glad I could help! Best of luck with your breeding attempts.

[TheFroggyDragon]

I am going to use this to make a rain chamber soon. Thank you for posting!

[ViperJr]

Glad to liked it! Let me know how it turns out.