# 65x35x50cm terrarium Swede-style



## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

Time for a new terrarium!
My old ones are going away and being replaced by one big. Had to Exoterra and at that shelf in my working room there will only be one. Just bought a used old terrarium to put there. My old frogs dyed this summer and I have been taking a pause from the hobby for a time.
But after these frogless months I decided to start over.

The terrarium was not god enough for dartfrogs so I have made some adjustments.
Started with taking the front away and ordered to smaller glass pieces to fit in the front of the terrarium. Then I glued on ventilation net in the front between the new glass pieces.
I also drilled to holes in the top for rainsystem to be mounted. And changed the top ventilation net.
Then I made some background modules to simulate clay rocks. I adjusted the floor by making two levels so that the water will run away easy. Then I glued the modules in place. One module cowers an old ventilation witch i didn't want to have anymore. 
Next step was to push a hose inside the exit hole for the water. The hole is placed in right corner of the bottom of the terrarium. When the water reaches the hole the water gets sucked out and emptying the terrarium of the unnecessary water. 
Well well.... this is going to be a fast built terrarium and I will not make it take a lot of time to build. On saturday the terrarium will be finished if everything goes right as plan. Just waiting for a delivery of plants and Xaxim to arrive. And hopefully i get four Ranitomeya in the terrarium by Saturday night.
Some pics:

































All the space between the background pieces will be covered with Xaxim plates and the floor will get 40% covered with Xaxim fibers. 
Hope you all will find this inspiring =-)


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## Kalakole (Jun 30, 2011)

looks beautiful, can't wait to see more!


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## drutt (Oct 4, 2011)

Looks great, I saw your first build with the big tree, one of the best. Sorry for your lost of the frogs. I will be following you on this build. I will next year as well try xaxim, it gives a realistic look..


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

> looks beautiful, can't wait to see more!


Thanks!



> Looks great, I saw your first build with the big tree, one of the best. Sorry for your lost of the frogs. I will be following you on this build. I will next year as well try xaxim, it gives a realistic look..


Ha ha ha yes that was a great and funny terrarium to build. Talk about ambitious work I did back then =-)

Today I was hoping to get the delivery of Xaxim and material to finnish the background work. But it turns out that the postoffice in Sweden is not that fast.
So I made the lighting reflector and made some frog homes of eight film canisters today. 

I also did a delivery of posters to a nearby shop who needed posters for a frog event this saturday. Turns out they was out sold, good for me =-)


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## drutt (Oct 4, 2011)

I have seen some of the posters you have done on the web Pilgift..amazing. You should show them here on this forum.
Actually the first build with the tree gave me some new ideas. The ventilation on both sides were diferent..I wounder if it would be posible to do the same ventilation but on the 3 sides...(front and sides).. How did the 2 side ventilation work for you?

Im from Sweden as well...


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

> I have seen some of the posters you have done on the web Pilgift..amazing. You should show them here on this forum.
> Actually the first build with the tree gave me some new ideas. The ventilation on both sides were diferent..I wounder if it would be posible to do the same ventilation but on the 3 sides...(front and sides).. How did the 2 side ventilation work for you?
> 
> Im from Sweden as well...


The ventilation worked great, no water on the front or the sides if the rain system works as it should.
I think there is some pics here:
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members-frogs-vivariums/67737-diy-office-peru-habitat.html

The frogs are ordered to the new terrarium. There will be four R. reticulata jumping around in a near future.

I have a old thread about the poster here:
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/81916-poster-ranitomeya-andinobates.html


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## drutt (Oct 4, 2011)

Sorry for a lot of questions but what did you use to paint the background? is it just cement and acryl color?


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

> Sorry for a lot of questions but what did you use to paint the background? is it just cement and acryl color?


Forum is a place where questions should be asked and answered =-)

The product is called:
SikaTop Seal-107

I mix the Sika with natural non toxic pigmentation and then you just paint it.
Sika is like concrete. You mix powder with a fluid and 1part fluid and 4parts powder. The rusult is a concrete like material wich is waterproof and hard and My way to paint is easy. 

Step. 1 First i take a bucket and the powder of sika that i know will be enough for my background. 

Step 2. Mix in colorpigment with the powder till you get a dark color. The color sould be in the same spectrum as the lighter color you want the stones to be in. Mix a small amaount and se how it looks. 

Step 3. Paint the first layer. It will be realy dark and make sure to cover all the surface. No pores.

Step 4. Mix the remaining powder with the same pigments and add little white or light pigments. Mix a little powder with the fluid and paint again. This time dont let the color go into the deepest parts of the background.

Step 5. Mix the remaining powder with the same pigments and add even more white and light pigments. Mix a little powder with the fluid and paint again. This time you only paint the high parts of the background.

The end result looks pretty good and it is a basic way to do this type of background. These was made that way:


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

i am not seeing any of the pics. "x click image to open in full size." this is what i see where the pic should be...


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## mongo77 (Apr 28, 2008)

pa.walt said:


> i am not seeing any of the pics. "x click image to open in full size." this is what i see where the pic should be...


Not sure why. They are showing up for me.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

If you cant se the pics try another web browser. When I have problem with not seeing things in Safari I alway try watching in Firefox first.

Glued the backgrounds in place.
The Xaxim background is 50% of the surface.
The other parts are covered by cocos plates. I have rubbed the cocos plates with fibers of xaxim so they have spores and other stuff on them just like a xaxim plate.



















I also made some liana. Just silicon glue and xaxim fibers on a piece of rope. I made tree like this but I am not sure if I am going to use them.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

After a frogday in Uppsala I came home with plants, soil, some moss and four small frogs.
I finnished the terrarium and put three kultures of springtails in it and a culture of flies. 
Welcome home my four R. reticulatus hope you like you new home!


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## drutt (Oct 4, 2011)

I knew it would end up really good after seeing your other tree build...Whats the name of the Bromelia in the center?


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## Jean Kaye (Aug 12, 2012)

What is the blue berried\flowered plant and where do I get one?


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you cant se the pics try another web browser. When I have problem with not seeing things in Safari I alway try watching in Firefox first.

i just went to the sds swedish frog site and looked over there. don't know why i can't see them on this site.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

In this terrarium the frog s where in focus so I dont have names on all the plants.



> I knew it would end up really good after seeing your other tree build...Whats the name of the Bromelia in the center?


Vriesea splendens is the name, I bought them from Bens jungle and it wont grow more then 15cm. 



> What is the blue berried\flowered plant and where do I get one?


This flower was a bargen I get when I bought the frogs. I helped the seller with copying up some frog certificate. And as a thank I got it with the frogs. The flowers was dark purple at first. But it the terrarium and in the bright light the became clear blue. The name of the plant is Lymania smitii and it is some kind of bromelia.


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## sleijd (Apr 13, 2012)

looking good, wish I'd picked up some plants...


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

> looking good, wish I'd picked up some plants...


Next time you are in Uppsala I can give you some plants from this terrarium.
This terrarium will need some serious gardening so it wont be overgrown in a year. I hope the xaxim will grow moss and that the bromeliads vill grow some. In a six month time I guess I need to take out the scissors. 
Got my self some more spring tales for the frogs.
Hope the will do good.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

Here is a picture everyone should be able to see. You have to wait for another picture till something interesting happens or the terrarium have got some more moss growing in it. Even my wife likes this terrarium so I think thats a good sign of that it turned out good.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Nice viv! The retics are very aggressive. How do you plan to do if you have more than one male?


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## Tuckinrim8 (Jul 26, 2007)

Great looking Viv! I love how your Rock work came out, any plans to add wood? Thinkin' a small horizontal piece would top it off! 
Well done! 




rigel10 said:


> Nice viv! The retics are very aggressive. How do you plan to do if you have more than one male?


It's not the males you need to worry about its the females. Visual barriers are key (which is why I mentioned a horizontal branch) and this viv looks wells suited in my opinion.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

I bought four just so i could get a pair or a trio. 
If i se that one frog is bullied I will move it and give it away to someone that has some other in the same species.

For now it seems that they have different plants and it seems to work. But There has been now calling and maybe they are not mature yet.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Thanks. Your viv is big enough for this four and visual barrier are o.k. Very nice your broms.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

> Thanks. Your viv is big enough for this four and visual barrier are o.k. Very nice your broms.


I sure hope that the visual barriers are enough. The big rocks make great hiding place and there are many bromeliads to hide in. For now it works great but the time will tell if it is enough.

The temperature at daytime was a little low about 22-23C so i bought a heat mat to the terrarium. The problem was that I placed it under the terrarium and becous of the celular foam ground it only made a 1-2C degree different. Think I need to buy one more to apply on the back of the terrarium so the temp goes up to 27-28C daytime.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

I live in Italy so the temps are milder than in Sweden (although at this time it snows here a little), but my vivs with pl lamps are quite warm than vivs with LED. You must consider to heat your viv with the heat of the lamps. Try a pl 36 Watt. Greetings.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

I already have two 24w lights and one 25w lightbulb so there is plenty of light. 
I will fix the heat problem with one more heat mat.


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## Jean Kaye (Aug 12, 2012)

> The name of the plant is Lymania smitii and it is some kind of bromelia.


Thank You! I haven't been able to locate a source yet (it's Lymania smithii btw). Do you think it might make seeds?

I've found a source for L. azurea, but in google it looks less impressive.



rigel10 said:


> I live in Italy so the temps are milder than in Sweden (although at this time it snows here a little), but my vivs with pl lamps are quite warm than vivs with LED. You must consider to heat your viv with the heat of the lamps. Try a pl 36 Watt. Greetings.


I have noticed that indoor temperatures tend to have negative correlation with average winter temperature (if you don't count the actual tropics). Meaning that as winter temperatures go down, indoor temperatures come up (with increased insulation and more active heating going on...) and vice versa.

My worst winter experience has been in Spain. It involved a cold spell, a bathroom, a shower and marble floors. Sorry for off-topic but it was truly traumatizing


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

What about? Here, after a November warmer than usual, it’s very cold: temps indoors are about 60.8° F. So we’re forced to turn on the radiators. Pl light alone provide a temp of 71.6-73,4° F daytime. Of course, the size of the viv is very important. But I have only Exo Terra 12x12x18 and 10 gallons long.


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## shiloh (Nov 28, 2012)

Those rocks are legit. Almost a shame they won't be more prominent. Looking great so far!


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

> Those rocks are legit. Almost a shame they won't be more prominent. Looking great so far!


Thanks!

The terrarium works great to. 
Some bromelias in the middle got to much moisture so that there roots are to wet. They will probably die in a near future. 
Will get me some nice mini orchids to apply on the back.
All frogs are alive so far but no song from the frogs yet.


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## teggner (Sep 4, 2008)

Looks great!!


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

The frogs are now calling every day.
All frogs are still alive and there is three that hang around each other in one of the bromeliads.
Some orchids have been placed in the terrarium some weeks ago and there is some blooming.









From the big bromeliad i have about 10seeds that are growing well. From the flower the seeds started to get green and after picking them away from the flower and planting them in soil they now have some tiny green leafs.

The terrarium still looks a little boring and i hope the moss will grow more on the background. You can see that the moss is spreading and that the moisture holds better now. The terrarium does not need as much rain as in the beggining.

This is how it looks now.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

New picture after one year as R reticulate home.
The plants are growing as crazy and i try to maintain a natural look of the terrarium.
I think i have a pair and one "extra" frog. I also have some juveniles in the terrarium. But it is no easy task to capture them. I manage to caputer one half grown. There have been eggs and i manage to breed four froglets so far.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Very nice to see updates of your viv!


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Looks great... nice and grown in.


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

Nothing new in this vivarium only growth and moving new small plants to other spots. Last time i planted anything new was in mars 2014.
It was 5 weeks ago when i cut down and took away some plants from the vivarium. I think its time to trim a little bit more =-)
















The diversity is pretty good now and if I would to get some new plant it would be some more dwarf orchids.

The frogs seems to be doing god but I still not got any froglets that transformed all the way to froglets :-(


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## ryubui (Aug 21, 2014)

love the transformation. tank looks sick


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

This grew in really nice! What is the mossy stuff on the rocks? I can't tell if it's a moss or a _Selaginellla_.



Illustrator said:


>


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## Illustrator (Feb 4, 2011)

Its all moss, I got some Selaginellla on the right side of the bottom.


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## Jax99 (Aug 25, 2014)

It came out awesome!!!


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## a hill (Aug 4, 2007)

Beautiful layout. Nice growth. 

Your frogs will figure it out eventually I'm sure.

-Andrew


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