Inhabitants for my tropical terrarium. Suggestions?

[James7]

Hi everyone! I am a professional horticulturalist and aspiring botanist from Melbourne, and recently converted my 4ft aquarium (kept tropical fish for about 3 years) into a panted terrarium type thing. The main purpose of my terrarium was to showcase small tropical herbaceous plants like orchids and bromeliads. It's been quite successful over the past few months, and now I guess I feel the need to populate the landscape with some kind of amphibian or reptile. So does anyone have any suggestions as to what snake, lizard of frog species would be happy in this environment? Keeping in mind that it would have to be an Australian critter, as I can't obtain exotic species here .
The environmental parameters are as follows:
Humidity- 70-80%
Temp- 17 in the evening, 24 at day (degrees Celsius)
Lighting- natural indirect sunlight through nearby window + 2x 54w T5 HO tubes on top of tank (6, 500K full spectrum), photoperiod 12 hours
There is a body of water in the tank, and the substrate is just subsurface perlite and moss layer at the surface. There is a lot of rocky and woody surfaces in the tank too, as well as many plants obviously!
I can modify a lot of this environment if required and add UV lighting and heating if required


Ideas!?

[ColleenT]

beautiful set up. I'm sorry i am not able to answer your question.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! That is a nice terrarium, congrats ! Well, Mantellas and Darts came to mind; but those are left out by requirement for frogs to be Australians. Maybe you want to visit sites like this one and decide on a frog to keep: Frogs of Australia.

Also, if frogs get access to perlite, it could mean trouble if material is ingested, as it will impact them and could be fatal.

We use Atlanta Botanical Gardens (ABG) type soil mix in our vivariums and normally use no fertilizers or maybe a very weak one for aquarium plants .

[CatherineM]

First question are willing to get a license?

In Victoria without a license you have choice of 5 species of frogs, 5 lizards and 2 Tortoise. No Snakes.

[deranged chipmunk]

Very pretty tank! What is the blue flowering plant?


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

[James7]

Thanks for the replies everyone! The blue-flowered plant is an African Violet, though I'm not sure of the exact cultivar. It's such an intense colour

CatherineM

Re: Inhabitants for my tropical terrarium. Suggestions?
First question are willing to get a license?

In Victoria without a license you have choice of 5 species of frogs, 5 lizards and 2 Tortoise. No Snakes.

I am willing to get a level 1 license. Out of the no-licence-required species, do you think there is anything that may be suitable for my setup?

[CatherineM]

This two frogs are on list and I have seen them in pet shops

1. Spotted Grass Frog or the Spot Marsh Frog.

They a small frog grow to 3 - 4 cm. Mine to hang in the water in here enclosure.

http://frogs.org.au/frogs/frog.php?frog_id=22

2. The Southern Brown tree frog

They are a small tree frog 2 - 4 cm.

http://frogs.org.au/frogs/frog.php?frog_id=3

Note although the frog listed below is called a Ewing tree frog it is actually a same frog.

Mentone Aquarium - Welcome

Deranged chipmunk would be person to ask about changes needed to make it suitable for frogs.

[Lija]

Beautiful tank!

[deranged chipmunk]

Thanks for the replies everyone! The blue-flowered plant is an African Violet, though I'm not sure of the exact cultivar. It's such an intense colour

Thanks! It is a stunning one! Much different than the cultivars I keep


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