Plants

[John]

Oak Leaf = dismal failure for me. "Ordinary" creeping fig (Ficus pumila) is everywhere in my terrariums. I'm looking at a terrarium full of it right now.

[MikeM670]

Michael,

Thanks for the info on the mini oak leaf creeping fig. I was unaware of this issue with needing more air circulation. Now if memory serves me right I read somewhere that a lot of air circulation is not a good thing for dart frogs. Can a balance be achieved to support both in the tank?


Eric,

Your not taking away from me...this was Don's thread originally. Besides with this conversation I have learned something new.

[poison beauties]

Yes air circulation and humidity can be maintained together with a few tricks. vents are one way but it doesnt get the air moving. Computer fans do well but you will need to build a unit to hold it and set mount it in the lid of the viv.
Its not just oak leaf that doesnt do well. Many Bromeliads and other phlos, hoyas, dishidia and orchids need moving air to thrive as moisture on the leafs are a death sentence.

I will set you up with a few links on this if I can dig them up. Otherwise I will include a detailed build of it in the thread Im working on for a monster viv build.

Michael

[MikeM670]

I'll be looking forward to what you can provide information wise.

[DonLisk]

OK, so a 3 hour drive one way turned out to be a great day, just getting home at 9pm and left at 10am.

Black Jungle is pretty awesome. Learned a ton, saw some pretty amazing plants, frogs, and too much to make the mind start spinning on what or home many vivs to do next. Dang, that was or is going to be bad for the wallet :-)

Picked up a Juvi Dendrobates Leucomelas, one new plant, some jungle pods, fruit fly culturing supplies and a new piece of wood for the viv :-)
I'll get some pics up tomorrow on my build thread.

[clownonfire]

OK, so a 3 hour drive one way turned out to be a great day, just getting home at 9pm and left at 10am.

Black Jungle is pretty awesome. Learned a ton, saw some pretty amazing plants, frogs, and too much to make the mind start spinning on what or home many vivs to do next. Dang, that was or is going to be bad for the wallet :-)

Picked up a Juvi Dendrobates Leucomelas, one new plant, some jungle pods, fruit fly culturing supplies and a new piece of wood for the viv :-)
I'll get some pics up tomorrow on my build thread.

Very nice Don. Can't wait to hear about it all!

[DonLisk]

It was definitely a long day of driving but well worth the trip.

We departed at 10am not sure if Black Jungle would be open since they do not open when they are doing shows. I left them a message at 10am that if they were open, please call since I would be two hours into the trip. They called right at 12 noon, when they opened.

What a nice shop and very friendly and informative. The frog breeding and display area is pretty much the whole store. Beautiful vivs, many breeding pairs of frogs and tadpoles and clutches everywhere.

If its for building a viv, or caring for a frog, they probably have it.
We selected a few supplies for making our own cultures since I learned the cultures I set up had dye in the excelsior. We also picked out some wood and then added in the last Bumblebee dart they had available. Hes a tiny little one :-)

We then went into their plant section which was a jungle in itself. Producing plants everywhere. They definitely have some of the coolest plants and we had to bring one home.

After seeing too much to fathom, my head spun with the though of how many vivs I could do after seeing theirs.

We left and started back when we realized that our granddaughter was to be coming home from staying with relatives about 1 hours out of our way. Snows coming so we call and try to coordinate the pick up. 1 exit before having to select north to home or south to get her, we get the call to make it happen.

Good thing for phone GPS systems. We got into Brockton Ma and called to get directions or an address. It was a really lucky day since we plugged in the address and we were only 4 blocks from the house. Nice.
Well, the day ended getting in just before 9pm. I did a few changes to the viv, adding the plant, removing the coco hut, removing the cork bark that was on the right side floor, and adding in the jungle pods and piece of wood we bought.

I then decided to put the dart right in, hes definitely healthy, coming from a place that knows darts, and did not seem to stressed at all.

I set the cup in and he stayed there for a few minutes and then made his way into the viv.

I left things be and this morning he was ready for some fruit flies :-)
When the two met, they had no interest in anything other than, wow, food.

Both are out now, no confrontations, both have no fear of standing next to each other so I think things went well.

This was absolutely a great day.
New pics can be found here of the viv changes.

New pics of the little dart can be found here.

[MikeM670]

Oak Leaf = dismal failure for me. "Ordinary" creeping fig (Ficus pumila) is everywhere in my terrariums. I'm looking at a terrarium full of it right now.

Oh I should of mentioned that the plants came. The normal creeping fig arrived just fine. Minimal leaf damage due to the pot being dried out. The Oak Leaf stuff was pretty dry. The packaging was designed to keep the heat in and I suspect the heating pack dried stuff out. This is the second time a plant I ordered on line had dried out. This has happen from two different shippers. If they only wet them down and wrapped them inside a plastic bag they would of been fine. Both times they were just wrapped in newspaper.

[DonLisk]

Oh I should of mentioned that the plants came. The normal creeping fig arrived just fine. Minimal leaf damage due to the pot being dried out. The Oak Leaf stuff was pretty dry. The packaging was designed to keep the heat in and I suspect the heating pack dried stuff out. This is the second time a plant I ordered on line had dried out. This has happen from two different shippers. If they only wet them down and wrapped them inside a plastic bag they would of been fine. Both times they were just wrapped in newspaper.

That sucks. I have a pretty nice greenhouse nearby so I usually pick stuff up there.
Next big build though will be a road trip to Black Jungle for something different in plants.

[MikeM670]

Kinda long drive to Black Jungle from Puerto Rico!

Well the pump started working this afternoon when I went to look at it. It might of been operator error since I was so tired after I got home. The light was a different story. It is a Coral Life Compact Florescent and the one bulb must of been bad. Tried taking it out and it broke at the connector. where you plug in the bulb. So now I'm off to get a new one and some glass for the top of the mossy. I also installed the new glass sections with the screens I built on the 55. Much better viewing now.

[JSG]

Hmmm...Michael we are still looking for that promised info regarding computer fans and other tips you have regarding air flow and humidity inside of the vivs!

Guys, I saw some great looking beeker plants this weekend, think they originated somewhere in the States. I thought the would look awesome in a viv...but then my wife asked me whether they would not in fact "eat" the froggies????
I couldn't answer her, so now I'm asking you guys! LOL
Same with Venus Fly Trap plants...are the frog viv safe?

[Kurt]

They are safe for the frogs, but not the other way around. The continuous hoping around on them will cause the leaves to close, they then turn black and die.

[JSG]

Hi Kurt,
does that go for both Beeker and Venus Fly Trap plants? Thanks for the info thus far!