150 gallon Viv build

[AlexanderSalamander]

Thanks for being so nice about this guys, I'm not a newbie to herps, that's for sure, I've just been hungry to do something more. I'm still gonna build the tank, just the way I planned, but I don't think I'll be missing species anytime soon for fear of the wrath of Lija

[deranged chipmunk]

Haha! She scares the heck out of me too!! Lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[deranged chipmunk]

You can always do something "more". It's all about being creative. You can build an incredible natural environment in the 150 for the skink. Or for frogs for that matter. It was just a bad pairing. That's all. We just don't want to see you make a very costly mistake.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[LilyPad]

Did you change up your BTS diet at all like we talked about in the other thread? I'm curious to see how he does with live feeders. I forgot to ask in there too if you're supplementing with vitamins. Also, def share some pictures! I love skinks. I WILL own one eventually...I'm very slow when it comes to deciding whether or not I'm ready for a new animal. Until then...I'll just keep reading

[deranged chipmunk]

Thanks for being so nice about this guys, I'm not a newbie to herps, that's for sure, I've just been hungry to do something more. I'm still gonna build the tank, just the way I planned, but I don't think I'll be missing species anytime soon for fear of the wrath of Lija

I should change my example to: you're locked in a 4x8 room with Lija..........lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[AlexanderSalamander]

Lillypad, yes I did eliminate the cat food from her diet, and yes, from time to time I do supply her with super worms, but I run out quick and my local privately owned pet store doesn't carry mealies, I haven't checked, but does petco or petsmart? And I totally should have taken pics of her today bcs I fed her some strawberries, collard greens, and her favorite non live food, boneless skinless chicken. She was having a ball!

[LilyPad]

Do you have vitamins in her diet? Chicken isn't going to give a lot of nutrition. You can try earth worms too, might take some coaxing, my friend feeds his skink mostly earthworms and dubia roaches for protein. Do you ever buy the chicken hearts and livers? If you boil them, you can throw them in a food processor and make a paste that she will probably love. I do that for my cat for an occasional treat. Still not for the bulk of the diet, but once in a while is fine. I would completely skip mealworms, but an occasional superworm is ok, very occasional though, like a treat.

[Lija]

Thanks for being so nice about this guys, I'm not a newbie to herps, that's for sure, I've just been hungry to do something more. I'm still gonna build the tank, just the way I planned, but I don't think I'll be missing species anytime soon for fear of the wrath of Lija

Im very very impressed you got it so fast, Bill took so long to figure that out! Something to learn Bill, eh?

Look i have suggestion for your 150 gal - just look at some builds by the fellow mentioned above. You can do crazy things in a tank of that size if nobody is gonna crush them

[Lija]

Lillypad, yes I did eliminate the cat food from her diet, and yes, from time to time I do supply her with super worms, but I run out quick and my local privately owned pet store doesn't carry mealies, I haven't checked, but does petco or petsmart? And I totally should have taken pics of her today bcs I fed her some strawberries, collard greens, and her favorite non live food, boneless skinless chicken. She was having a ball!

Have you tried breeding mealies or superworms? Or dubia? All of that is easy to breed and you will have constant food supply without a need of running to the store i'd be careful feeding raw chicken due to possible salmonella contamination and what they are feeding to the those poor birds. Have you tried nightcrawlers? Mine goes nuts over them.

[Bombina Bob]

Ive personally never had luck breeding my mealies, Ive tried the rack system with the adults on top and the larva on the bottom, the boxes the beetles are in have holes for the new worms to crawl through, whats your technique?

[Lija]

Dont have one lol i have nobody who can eat mealies only skink, but im not gonna go crazy over mealworms, he loves his nightcrawlers lol Phoenix eating - YouTube

[AlexanderSalamander]

I'll definitely try breeding some supers, and I haven't actually tried night crawlers, although my tiger salamander does love them. One thing that surprised me was that I once got some feeder guppies for my tiger, who actually likes the water! And I gave one to my skink just to see what would happen, and she loved it. What a surprise! But yeah the vitamins in worms+supers are good along with their protein so ill get on trying to breed some. BTW do they need light or can I keep them in a cabinet beneath my 150 gal?

[Lija]

They couldnt care less about the light food and warmth are all that's needed.
I have never thought about guppies and sally... Hm, i should get some when he is healthy.

[AlexanderSalamander]

I'd even try goldfish if Sally is big enough, when I gave Saphira the guppy she liked it but it could have been much bigger and she could still have handled it.

[AlexanderSalamander]

So my materials will be here on friday, i did a HUGE amazon order. I cant wait to start, but i do have one not so small issue. Around the top edge of the glass, there are hard water/mineral stains, and i have tried vinegar, windex, and just plain scrubbing to get them off. I have heard that steel wool works but im kinda worried that that would ruin the glass. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about getting it off, and also, what would the viv look like if i couldnt get the stains off, bcs my other vivs havent had this problem.

[LilyPad]

I spray really stubborn hard water with straight vinegar and then use a scotch-brite (green scrubby) pad. Then rinse rinse rinse.

[AlexanderSalamander]

Ill definitely try that, what are your thoughts on the steel wool? Im thinking that I wont risk it.

[LilyPad]

I have never used it, scotch brite can be pretty rough stuff too but I've never had it scratch my tanks. My 35g hex was horrible when I got it, it took a lot of elbow grease and some raw hands (wear gloves!) but I got it cleaned.

[AlexanderSalamander]

I have some scotch brite pads, are you talking about the yellowish kind with the soft side and the scratchy side?

[LilyPad]

Those should work as long as they're new and scotch brite brand.