# The Average Teenager's Room



## thayes427 (Sep 27, 2013)

As you will quickly realize, this title is sarcastic. I am not the average teenager. Instead of being attached to my phone, I'm attached to my hobbies. Whenever people walk into my room, they are stunned and have no idea such things existed. My room is easily recognizable even from outside the house because it’s a constant daylight spectrum supernova (a supernova funded by my parents’ ever increasing electric bill). The hobbies that I'm most interested in are reef aquariums, freshwater aquariums, poison dart frog vivariums, and carnivorous plants. The worst part of having all of this stuff in my room is that some of the lights go on at like 7 in the morning so I can’t really sleep in on the weekends. On the flipside, the lights help me wake up on school days. The sound isn’t a problem. The humming of various pumps and the trickle of the waterfalls in the vivariums actually helps me sleep. I just thought I’d give you a look into what almost all of my free time revolves around. 

Obviously I don’t treat my carpet well- that burn mark is from an aquarium heater stupidly left on the floor. Those stains are from various spills of nasty water. I once spilled 5 gallons of RODI water on the floor and it began dripping through the lights beneath my room onto the living room floor .

I thought a panoramic shot would be cool. This is the view from my bed.

This is my new iwagumi 12 gallon long freshwater aquarium. Well, it's not an aquarium yet. I'm just waiting for the carpet to fill in before flooding the tank.

This is a little sundew setup I have. It's lit by 4 T5 bulbs and they are all growing so well, especially those in the terrarium.

This is a vivarium that contains 4 leucomelas and has a custom background. It still needs to grow in a lot but I think I'm done moving plants around. Two of the miniature orchids are blooming which is pretty cool.

This shelf contains a 20 gallon vivarium with 2 azureus which also needs to grow in a lot, especially the back wall. On the right is my Nuvo 8 reef which I just rescaped and I'm happy with how it's turning out. I'm waiting on receiving a Nano Box Mini Tide which I'm super excited about (my previous par30 bulb broke so I'm using the stock light until the new light comes). This tank houses just a clownfish and a skunk cleaner shrimp. I'm thinking about adding a clown goby. 

This picture shows my 18 gallon saltwater storage tank, my 7 gallon RODI storage jug, and my RODI reservoir that feeds the nepenthes terrarium's diy automatic flood and drain watering system.

This is my pot of B52 venus flytraps. I have been trying to put them into dormancy by shortening the photoperiod which has worked the past 3 years, but because I upgraded my lighting while doing that, they think it's spring and are blooming...oh well.

This is my nepenthes terrarium that is 48"x18". As mentioned before, it has an automatic watering system and a humidifier and fan. It also contains a few air plants and a bromeliad. The sphagnum moss used to look awesome but because I haven't been good about refilling the humidifier, the humidity sometimes drops really low. This terrarium is just a normal wire rack that I covered with plexi glass on all sides and sealed with insulation foam.


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## srrrio (May 12, 2007)

Wow, I am totally impressed! That is definitely NOT your average teenager's room.
You have a very pleasing aspect in your habitat designs. Keep up the good work! 
Also a little spill or stain never hurt anyone


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Reminds me of my room at your age.


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## BlackFrogExotics (Jan 9, 2014)

Dude I wish I had your room at that age. Awesome! 

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk


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## Sirjohn (Jan 1, 2014)

Amazing, your parents should be proud... I love the way you set up your tanks, and your plants look healthy and vibrant... Keep up the good work...


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

This brings back vivid memories of my own shop rack covered with carnivorous plants, fish, and newts when I was your age(only 23 now!). Mine was relegated to a part of the livingroom-and was not anywhere near as aestheticallly pleasing as yours is! Keep at it since it is obvious this is your passion. I know for me the forums were great since it was nice to communicate with people, if only online, who could understand the fascination.


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## PumilioTurkey (Feb 25, 2010)

new a 13 year old who had 5 different Pumilios.

and about 8 different tanks........until he met his girlfriend....starting from there he forgot his roots and started making duckfaces on Facebook...


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## thayes427 (Sep 27, 2013)

Thanks guys. I have a question, how and at what age did you get into the hobby, or other hobbies? For me, it all started with the good old betta bowl. Then that branched into planted aquariums. At the same time, I got my first venus flytrap and fell in love with carnivorous plants. I discovered I like reefs after snorkeling once in the Galapagos islands. As for the dart frogs, that's my most recent hobby even though I always have loved the rain forest. I didn't get into that hobby earlier because for a long time, my mom decided to draw the line at amphibians and reptiles, but then she saw how cute frogs are . If I had to give one piece advise for all of you (even though I'm still a noob), I've found that it is totally worth it to spend the time and money in the beginning to make maintenance as easy as possible down the road. Otherwise, you just won't do it (or at least I wouldn't). I wouldn't be able to juggle these different hobbies at once if it weren't for my automating as much as possible.


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## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

***Attention***

I closed this thread for a few minutes and did some cleanup.

Please keep the User Agreement in mind when you are posting on the forum. Especially this part that is a requirement for membership:



> The individual is a person, above the age of 17 with the capacity to consent to this User Agreement.


While I will admit this is only a rule that we typically pay attention to if we have problems... it is still a rule. Openly discussing your age when you do not meet the minimum requirements is *NOT* recommended. I edited a few posts to remove any references to age of members. Please use the adjusted wording going forward.


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## SteppingStones (Dec 30, 2013)

I'm glad I'm not the only teen with an "average" room. I've got my axolotyl, 27 gal saltwater tank, 2 ferrets, and my slowing expanding snake collection (4 corns, spotted python, childrens python, ball python, and a purple phase western hognose). Keep up the good work!! 

Sam


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

Sweet! My room looks looked very similar 

Nice mini reef, get the clown goby

John


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## Brian317 (Feb 11, 2011)

Awesome room! It is nice to have supportive parents with your hobbies.

When I was a teen, my mom actually transformed my room at the time into a jungle putting bamboo(fake) on all my walls and covering my ceiling with fake plants. It was pretty incredible.


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## Toxic (Jul 9, 2012)

Wow very nice setup! Reminds me of my room except mine is a lot messier.


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## ngeno626 (Nov 14, 2013)

looks good!! some nice plants in addition to the vivs


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## Aldross (Dec 30, 2013)

You're a lucky kid. I though I had the coolest mom in the world when she let me keep 5 tarantulas a snake and scorpion.


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## zreedman (Apr 8, 2006)

Nice set up. I had cool parents like yours. My room had tanks in every spare space. Glad to see some young members in the hobby. 

Thanks for sharing.


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## thayes427 (Sep 27, 2013)

Thanks everyone. It's weird to show this to a community where I'm not weird because everyone else who sees my room is like WTF!


Aldross said:


> You're a lucky kid. I though I had the coolest mom in the world when she let me keep 5 tarantulas a snake and scorpion.


My mom draws the line at reptiles. She just thinks they're too creepy .


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## BrainBug (Aug 25, 2010)

thayes427 said:


> My mom draws the line at reptiles. She just thinks they're too creepy .


How her some little day geckos.


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## thayes427 (Sep 27, 2013)

BrainBug said:


> How her some little day geckos.


Hmm...maybe I should. But then again, I don't really need another hobby to spend a bunch of money on 


FroggyKnight said:


> Sweet! My room looks looked very similar
> Nice mini reef, get the clown goby
> John


I actually got a yellow clown goby today. Thanks for getting me excited about it again. I love him. Just after adding him to the tank he's perched up on a rock in the open. He's awesome!


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## SteppingStones (Dec 30, 2013)

You can never go wrong with a few snakes! lol


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## slimninj4 (Dec 31, 2013)

Nice setups. My son is 6 and he has 1 tank of dart frogs he takes care of and a small fish tank. Wish he would keep the floor as clean as you though. LOL.


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

SteppingStones said:


> You can never go wrong with a few snakes! lol


Not true!! Somehow I ended up with the meanest rosy boa on the planet. It bites me every time no matter what I do With that said, I still love the feisty dude


Glad your loving the goby, Thayes. They are definitely cool and seem to make of for their size with the cuteness factor.

John


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

thayes427 said:


> Hmm...maybe I should. But then again, I don't really need another hobby to spend a bunch of money on
> 
> I actually got a yellow clown goby today. Thanks for getting me excited about it again. I love him. Just after adding him to the tank he's perched up on a rock in the open. He's awesome!


Watch out for the yellow clown if you have any acans/LPS. Mine used to nip the tentacles off of them, they're somewhat notorious for it.


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

Great tip! I always forget about that....

John


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## fishfreak2009 (Sep 23, 2011)

Lol I remember when I turned 6 and my parents bought me a 10 gallon for a single goldfish. Ended up coming home with a red tailed catfish labeled as a pictus cat and some platies at petsmart. What a learning curve... Within 6 months he had a 90 gallon to himself, a foot long black shark and an oscar. Mom let me start other tanks, but said no other types of animal. Today my parents basement is completely filled with animals. 17 aquariums housing well over 200 fish, both fresh and saltwater, all my dart frogs, an axolotl, a tiger salamander, a red eared slider, a painted turtle, an african sideneck turtle, a russian tortoise, 4 english bulldogs, 3 parakeets, a chinese water dragon, a jackson's chameleon, a leopard gecko, a white spotted wall gecko, and an ever increasing collection of tropical plants. Still adding to my dart frog collection, trying to find a mate for my chameleon, always adding more fish, trying to convince mom and dad there is room for a uromastyx, and hopefully getting a hedgehog this weekend. I even stayed local for college just so I could keep all my animals.

If you couldn't guess I'm going for a biology degree and am in the pre-vet program.


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

fishfreak2009 said:


> Lol I remember when I turned 6 and my parents bought me a 10 gallon for a single goldfish. Ended up coming home with a red tailed catfish labeled as a pictus cat and some platies at petsmart. What a learning curve... Within 6 months he had a 90 gallon to himself, a foot long black shark and an oscar. Mom let me start other tanks, but said no other types of animal. Today my parents basement is completely filled with animals. 17 aquariums housing well over 200 fish, both fresh and saltwater, all my dart frogs, an axolotl, a tiger salamander, a red eared slider, a painted turtle, an african sideneck turtle, a russian tortoise, 4 english bulldogs, 3 parakeets, a chinese water dragon, a jackson's chameleon, a leopard gecko, a white spotted wall gecko, and an ever increasing collection of tropical plants. Still adding to my dart frog collection, trying to find a mate for my chameleon, always adding more fish, trying to convince mom and dad there is room for a uromastyx, and hopefully getting a hedgehog this weekend. I even stayed local for college just so I could keep all my animals.
> 
> If you couldn't guess I'm going for a biology degree and am in the pre-vet program.


THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR A UROMASTYX!!! Uros are, by far, my favorite lizard and are just plain awesome. Its like owning your own dinosaur Currently I have 2.1 malis and 1.1 bandeds. Hopefully, the bandeds will lay a healthy clutch for me this year, I've been waiting a while for them to breed!

red tail cat instead of a goldfish.... That is an awesome way to get into big fish

John


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## fishfreak2009 (Sep 23, 2011)

FroggyKnight said:


> THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR A UROMASTYX!!! Uros are, by far, my favorite lizard and are just plain awesome. Its like owning your own dinosaur Currently I have 2.1 malis and 1.1 bandeds. Hopefully, the bandeds will lay a healthy clutch for me this year, I've been waiting a while for them to breed!
> 
> red tail cat instead of a goldfish.... That is an awesome way to get into big fish
> 
> John


Looking back at it, it definitely was, but I can remember being a horrified 6 year old as he ate everything we tried to keep with him. When he got as long as the 90 gallon was wide, we sold him to a LFS, who sold him to somebody with an indoor pond.

Funny thing was when I was 16 I ended up having a pond in the basement and was breeding freshwater stingrays... Then I converted it into a shark pond. Had to sell the sharks when my grandparents moved into our basement. At least they're so deaf they can't hear all the crickets chirping all night, or the anthonyi and the parakeets singing all day.


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