Terrarium idea

[Fluke]

Well I build all my custom T enclosures and I was looking at building a little terrarium for some random reptiles!

standard 29g aquarium. Custom backdrop with waterfall in corner.
I plan on siliconing some plexiglass/acrylic to make a small "lake" maybe 4 5 gallons with a small drop in filter that will flow the waterfall with a tube going up backdrop. Backdrop will not allow anything to go behind it*. Full strip light with 2.0 or 3.0 UV/UVB bulb. Gravel on bottom of lake, clay balls below coco fiber with plastic or mesh between them. (fill tube plugged on side to fill. Oh and maybe a repti-fogger type thing that can work on a timer to go off 4x a day for a few minutes.


Coco-fiber substrate along with logs, climbing branches, tons of different live plants etc.
Also a second platform with cover attatched to the opposite corner of waterfall connected to side of tank and backdrop.

Custome plexi/acrylic lid with either:
little ventilation. maybe like 10-1/4 inch holes, heatpad under tank under the clay balls (outside tank of course)
0r- no heatpad, no ventilation
Room stays between 69-71 degrees

Animals I want:
3 Crested anoles (something more exotic than green anoles)
1-2 firebelly toads
1-2 larger newts
1-tiger salamander (as long as it doesnt eat everything)
maybe a few tree frogs?
maybe a long tail lizard?
maybe a day gecko?

What all you think I can fit- I am ofcourse looking to max it out but I feel if I can make a healthy environment for them they will strive.

**am I pushing it? Obviously it will require some weekly spot cleaning. This will be my project for June possibly. I am just throwing some ideas out there!

I will post a build thread and take pictures as I do it- it should be a lot of fun! Tell me what you think!

 

[codykrr]

i dont know about "no ventilation" that seems like a mold haven! also you should always give anything somekindof ventilation! other than that. for a false bottom like you just described. might as well go ahead and get some arrow frogs.

 

[Fluke]

Yea I really want to put a heatpad on bottom to help keep the heat up a little bit so ventilation will work out. I feel that if I hit it with the fogger each day it will provide more than enough humidity.

arrow frogs- good choice!

 

[Canth]

Careful with putting together so many amphibians, especially the FBT's. They produce toxins which may be harmful to other sp.

 

[-Exotic]

Tiger Salamanders ( TS ) pretty much eat anything

 

[AbraxasComplex]

It was already said but fire bellied toads produce toxins. I had day geckos in a huge cage with fire bellied toads in the water feature. I ended up losing 3 day geckos.

 

[LeilaNami]

Honestly if you plan to keep a vivarium of a few species, I would strongly recommend animals that originate from the same area.

 

[mike12348]

You shouldn't mix different species. Just put a few of the same species in there.

 

[Fluke]

Leila, that makes sense, what would you recommend?

As far as the firebelly toads go- I will be leaving them out!

Looks like I may be limited to tree frogs and anoles?

 

[dtknow]

I'd reccomend exp. with both species seperately prior to trying to put them together. Agreed on animals from same habitats/geographic areas. Your proposed mix suggests you haven't had exp. with all of them.

Also, I feel the false bottom method is far superior to what you described...which will leak eventually and leave you with a soggy land section.

 

[LeilaNami]

I'd reccomend exp. with both species seperately prior to trying to put them together. Agreed on animals from same habitats/geographic areas. Your proposed mix suggests you haven't had exp. with all of them.

Also, I feel the false bottom method is far superior to what you described...which will leak eventually and leave you with a soggy land section.

This is a good way to go about it Fluke. It's much harder to maintain a multispecific enclosure than keeping species tanks. I've successfully mixed green anoles and green tree frogs together and they've done quite nicely. The issue with terrariums like the one you want is passing pathogens onto others in the tank from a carrier. Some animals carry bacteria that animals from another geographic area are not immune to/sensitive to. The other issue has already been brought up with the toxic secretions from the fire belly. Also keep in mind that you don't want ALL animals to be arboreal. You want to recreate different niches in your terrarium to accommodate each species.

If you want to go ahead with a multispecific terrarium my suggestion is to pick one animal that is not cannibalistic nor overly territorial/carnivorous that you absolutely want in that tank. Then, research other animals from its native environment that are also able to coexist with other animal species safely.