10 gallon vertical test build

[J Teezy]

2nd coat of unsanded grout applied

[J Teezy]

3rd and final coat of grout applied. I liked the grout way better than quikrete. Way easier to work with in my opinion. False floor is just about done, needs to be screened. Will be doing the acrylic paint work this weekend

Pictures are rough pics. Background will be pushed all the way to the top of the tank and most likely siliconed in unless i can find a way to hold it there without having to silicone it. I'd rather make it easily removable if possible

With access panel removed



access panel on

[J Teezy]

well I've been thinking about my tank and thinking of housing a D. Azureus instead of a RETF. Couple of reasons are the construction of the tank. For an RETF i feel i'd need to provide two ventilation spots. I plan on having screen at the top of the tank but think i nee to have some kind of ventilation above the smaller portion of glass that will be installed at the bottom as well (like how the exo terra tanks are constructed) but i'm not sure how to do it. I know i could make a screen portion out of frame and such like i plan to do for the top vent, but i fell like with the width of the framing material and all its really going to take away from viewing of the tank. So i've been trying to come up with some kind of way to make a vent in the lower portion but haven't found a good idea. Maybe something like slicing some vinyl tube so that it will go over the lip of the lower glass panel and then drilling tiny holes through it would work (the concept here is to provide enough ventilation to keep the humidity good for RETF because I've read that alot of people who does these vertical conversions with just the screen part in the top it keeps the humidity higher than what you want for RETFs and more in the range for PDFs). So anyone have any ideas for constructing a bottom ventilation.

My construction plan atm is for a bottom panel of glass that will be siliconed in for water tight seal taht will be about 5" high then i would need some kind of ventilation strip above that (picture an exo terra tank's black strip with the holes in it), then my door, then the top 2" a vent i make from framing and window screen.

Now if i decide to go dart frog with a D. Azureus the tank construction of 5" bottom panel > door > 2" screen section should work well correct? Also is a 10 gallon vertical conversion a suitable home 1 frog? Seems to me that land area of a 10 gallon vert doesn't seem like much for a D. Azureus or maybe i'm just being to picky. And lastly would keeping a D. Azureus solo work well or should they be kept in at least pairs?

I really like the appearance of RETFs and the D. Azureus which is the main reason i'm making this Viv is for something to look at, and from my research it seems RETF aren't very active during the day and are kind of boring to watch. I want to be able to look over at the tank and see something going on and from what i've read D. Azureus are pretty bold and active during the day.

[thadmy]

RETF like my clown tree frogs are nocturnal so you will really only see them moving around at dusk and dawn unless you use a red light bulb to see them at night. I did a vertical conversion and only made a 6" screen at the top of the tank and my humidity stays around 75 at night and 68 during the day. Which is o.k. for Clowns and everything I have read states that Clowns and RETF need about the same conditions in the tank.

[J Teezy]

after all day painting today the wall is done except for being sealed. Need to figure out how i'm going to seal it







I'm pretty happy with it. Looks way better in person. Used sponge painting and dry brush tactics to apply the paint

[J Teezy]

Went to the Sin City Reptile Show today (Cincinnati) and found a frog dealer who deals in PDFs and RETFs. Picked up a Exo Terra Light fixture for the viv and bulb for it. Almost walked out with a 24x18x24 Exo Terra since the guy had it for a great price but decided to hold back (maybe the next show if the funds are there).

Next things to work on this week are

Build the front glass and screen sections for the front of the tank
Figure out how am going to put my rock wall in. I don't want to attach it with silicone if I don't have to because I'd like to be able to take it out easily. Also need to figure out how i'm going to seal it. Wanted to go with Shields All but can only find one place that sells it on the net (pretty sure its the people who make it) and its $25 for a gallon which is way more than I need and almost that much to ship it as well. Not sure if I want to mess with trying to cover the whole thing in silicon either as the rubber look that the silicon will give it kind of turns me off, not to mention trying to smear it all over and get it in the cracks will be a pain. Anyone know of any non toxic sealers that can withstand moisture and humidity?

[GrifTheGreat]

J I believe your frogs are going to have the perfect home once you finish. The frogs you get to be housed in there will be living the life of luxury. Lol! Very nice setup. Its coming along nicely.

[J Teezy]

well i changed the name of my album on photobucket and it looks like the pics are gone now from the thread =( , so if you want to see my album from this build here's the link

10 gallon vertical pictures by josht25 - Photobucket

Turned the closet in my office room to the frog closet! I discovered that my stand is big enough to put another 10 gallon on it, so looks like i'll be building another to sit side by side

[J Teezy]

added some baby bio vine to the vivarium. Adds alot to it in my opinion. Now if i can just get my high humidity under control i'll be able to add the RETF

[J Teezy]

updated my two short videos with some music i found fitting

10 gallon Vivarium conversion - YouTube

with mistking

10 gallon vertical terrarium with Mistking misting system - YouTube

I heard this song and immediately felt it was perfect for a rainforest vivarium video

[J Teezy]

We have darts. Picked up a couple Leucs today that are about 4 months old. they both went to hide as soon as i put them in, but after i came back from foaming my pots in my new build one was out and about scoping the scene

[J Teezy]

feed the frogs today, one came out pretty quickly from inside the coco hut and was gobbling up some flies, the other one came out a few minutes later, i had to leave for work so not sure if he got a good meal in but hopefully it got some.

Came home around 7pm right before lights out and one guy was up in the top right corner of my background, the other one was chilling under a leaf in the back of the tank. Hopefully they are adjusting to their new home and will be out and about more often. I'm hoping the one that likes to climb on the background turns out to be a male and the one that is always hiding is a female!