As I mentioned in one of the several threads on pink tongue care lately, I've been planning on creating a new bioactive terrarium for my pink tongue. Well I finally got around to it, and photograph most of the process, so I figured I would create this post.
First up is a photo of his original enclosure, which was a 600x450x450 mm glass exo terra. While nothing was wrong with this tank and he had plenty of room, I had wanted to create a larger bioactive enclosure for him for quiet a while. Not to mention, wanted his old enclosure for another project (more on that when its done).
I wasn't smart enough to get a photo of his new empty enclosure, but it is a 600x450x600 mm reptile one glass terrarium. I like the look of these newer reptile one glass enclosures, plus it was pretty cheap new. For this new enclosure I decided I was going to create a foam background, both for aesthetics and to increase the effective enclosure size. For this I just used expanding foam. My one and only real regret with this enclosure is that I didn't create the background on black corflute so it was removable. Ah well I know for next time at least.
For the first step of this build I laid the enclosure on its back and worked out where and how I wanted the pieces of wood and pots I was placing in the background positioned.
Once everything was where I wanted, it was time to spray the foam in. This is where you can get really creative and make the background however you want.
Now I forgot to take photos of the next two steps but they are both pretty easy. How the foam expands and dries doesn't look overly natural. Once the foam is dry, the next step is to go through and carve it how you like to get the shape you desire.
Once you've finished carving, and have the background how you like, its time to seal and prepare the foam. Now there are multiple different ways to do this, all depending on what sort of finish you want at the end. I kept it pretty simple and only wanted a dirt wall/ forest like look so I choose to use the silicon and dirt method. This is an incredibly simple method, and creates awesome looking backgrounds. For this method you get a black or whatever colour you want silicon/sealant. Then you apply it to the foam and spread it around until everywhere is covered in a thin layer. Once the silicon is down you get your dirt (I used coco peat and peat moss) and then cover the background and press into the silicon. Depending on how fast your silicon cures its often best to do this part in sections for maximum effectiveness. This is a really messy part and I advise the use of disposable gloves, unless you want silicon covering your hands. Once its dry place your enclosure upright and brush off/vacuum the excess dirt away.
Now the frustrating part. No matter how diligent you are with the initial layer you will miss small areas. So the next step is to repeat the last step on all the small areas until you are happy with it. This took me a good four attempts until everything was covered, but it was worth it in the end.
Once I finished covering the background it was time to start adding the enclosure furishings.
Once I was happy with how the big pieces were in, I added the small bits and began adding the plants. Being a bioactive enclosure all plants used are live. Don't ask me what species of plants I used though, I just took a couple of the interesting ones from my mums garden while I was visiting last week haha. After all of these were in place and how I wanted I moved the enclosure to where it will be and began adding the substrate. To allow drainage and prevent the soil from going bad while wet I places about a 20 mm layer of horticulture charcoal across the bottom.
To further increase drainage I then places a layer of propagation sand across the charcoal.
After all the drainage was in it was time to place the soil into the enclosure and plant the ground cover. For the soil I used a mix of peat moss, coco peat and orchid mix. Bit experimental with my soil mix so it will be interesting to see how it goes. After the soil was in and the plants planted, I then placed a layer of rain-forest leaf litter in to add further nutrients.
After all this was finished I gave everything a good water and spray down then added the lizard to his new home. He seems to quite like it and is rather actively lately exploring it. Only thing left that I need to do is add in the isopods, millipedes and springtails to act as the clean up crew in the soil.
Overall I am very happy with how this looks and has turned out. Now that I've finished this project its time to start on the next project that I mentioned earlier. Once I finish the next project I will put a post up, but it may take a while. Its going to be a much more complex sett up, plus I loose all my free time from next week when I begin honours.
Cheers, Cameron
First up is a photo of his original enclosure, which was a 600x450x450 mm glass exo terra. While nothing was wrong with this tank and he had plenty of room, I had wanted to create a larger bioactive enclosure for him for quiet a while. Not to mention, wanted his old enclosure for another project (more on that when its done).
I wasn't smart enough to get a photo of his new empty enclosure, but it is a 600x450x600 mm reptile one glass terrarium. I like the look of these newer reptile one glass enclosures, plus it was pretty cheap new. For this new enclosure I decided I was going to create a foam background, both for aesthetics and to increase the effective enclosure size. For this I just used expanding foam. My one and only real regret with this enclosure is that I didn't create the background on black corflute so it was removable. Ah well I know for next time at least.
For the first step of this build I laid the enclosure on its back and worked out where and how I wanted the pieces of wood and pots I was placing in the background positioned.
Once everything was where I wanted, it was time to spray the foam in. This is where you can get really creative and make the background however you want.
Now I forgot to take photos of the next two steps but they are both pretty easy. How the foam expands and dries doesn't look overly natural. Once the foam is dry, the next step is to go through and carve it how you like to get the shape you desire.
Once you've finished carving, and have the background how you like, its time to seal and prepare the foam. Now there are multiple different ways to do this, all depending on what sort of finish you want at the end. I kept it pretty simple and only wanted a dirt wall/ forest like look so I choose to use the silicon and dirt method. This is an incredibly simple method, and creates awesome looking backgrounds. For this method you get a black or whatever colour you want silicon/sealant. Then you apply it to the foam and spread it around until everywhere is covered in a thin layer. Once the silicon is down you get your dirt (I used coco peat and peat moss) and then cover the background and press into the silicon. Depending on how fast your silicon cures its often best to do this part in sections for maximum effectiveness. This is a really messy part and I advise the use of disposable gloves, unless you want silicon covering your hands. Once its dry place your enclosure upright and brush off/vacuum the excess dirt away.
Now the frustrating part. No matter how diligent you are with the initial layer you will miss small areas. So the next step is to repeat the last step on all the small areas until you are happy with it. This took me a good four attempts until everything was covered, but it was worth it in the end.
Once I finished covering the background it was time to start adding the enclosure furishings.
Once I was happy with how the big pieces were in, I added the small bits and began adding the plants. Being a bioactive enclosure all plants used are live. Don't ask me what species of plants I used though, I just took a couple of the interesting ones from my mums garden while I was visiting last week haha. After all of these were in place and how I wanted I moved the enclosure to where it will be and began adding the substrate. To allow drainage and prevent the soil from going bad while wet I places about a 20 mm layer of horticulture charcoal across the bottom.
To further increase drainage I then places a layer of propagation sand across the charcoal.
After all the drainage was in it was time to place the soil into the enclosure and plant the ground cover. For the soil I used a mix of peat moss, coco peat and orchid mix. Bit experimental with my soil mix so it will be interesting to see how it goes. After the soil was in and the plants planted, I then placed a layer of rain-forest leaf litter in to add further nutrients.
After all this was finished I gave everything a good water and spray down then added the lizard to his new home. He seems to quite like it and is rather actively lately exploring it. Only thing left that I need to do is add in the isopods, millipedes and springtails to act as the clean up crew in the soil.
Overall I am very happy with how this looks and has turned out. Now that I've finished this project its time to start on the next project that I mentioned earlier. Once I finish the next project I will put a post up, but it may take a while. Its going to be a much more complex sett up, plus I loose all my free time from next week when I begin honours.
Cheers, Cameron
