# Costa Rican Themed Vivarium



## ihatehumans (Jan 19, 2009)

I am going on a trip to costa rica soon. The other tourists and I were thinking of making a monument to our trip by creating a vivarium, containing species exclusively found in costa rica. I'd preferably like a nice mix of small reptiles and ampibians, what do you guys know of/think would work? I don't know of many costa rican animals but the ones I do know of are....
-Basilisks (Not so small )
-O. pumilio
-D. auratus
-P. vittatus
-A. callidryas
-A. annae
-L. pentadactylus


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## gothic dart frog (Jan 16, 2011)

wow trip to coasta rica lucky!!! as for mixing the species PLESE DONT DO THIS! it will not turn out well,frog and lizzards should never mix , especialy auratus and basilisk, basilisk can grow to be almost 3 feet an that little dart frog could get stepped on or eatin, it is best just to leave mixe species tanks to perfeshnols, is it possible to just make seprate tanks for each animal?


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## alex111683 (Sep 11, 2010)

gothic dart frog said:


> wow trip to coasta rica lucky!!! as for mixing the species PLESE DONT DO THIS! it will not turn out well,frog and lizzards should never mix , especialy auratus and basilisk, basilisk can grow to be almost 3 feet an that little dart frog could get stepped on or eatin, it is best just to leave mixe species tanks to perfeshnols, is it possible to just make seprate tanks for each animal?


I STRONGLY agree with this. Please don't do this, for the safety and well being of all the animals.


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## JaysPDF (Dec 29, 2010)

I would not mix any of them. Because they are from the same areas they might have the same living conditions, but they don't live in a tank together. Mixing all these species together will eventually cause major problems. I understand the view you are coming from but anyone you plan to seek advise from that knows anything about these species will tell you how bad of a idea this will be. I admit that it would be cool. Most people think it would make a nice setup. But in the long run you most likely will end up with dead animals in my opinion. Most people on this board wont recommend mixing two similar species of frogs in a single tank and your have a list of seven animals. Personally, I would scrap the entire idea. Maybe design a vivarium using the plants of Costa Rica as a monument of your trip. There are plenty beautiful displays of vivariums that are to display strictly plants. Costa Rica is full of beautiful tropical plants. Try using the search feature on this forum for ideas.


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## fleshfrombone (Jun 15, 2008)

This seems an awful lot like a troll post.


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## mantisdragon91 (Jun 2, 2010)

And the lynch mob gathers  

It possible to keep a mixed Costa Rican tank but most of the animals you mentioned grow too big to coexist with darts. If you choose to go in this direction I would suggest some of the following as more likely choices:

anoles, gonatodes or spharodactylus, or some of the smaller tree frogs like the hourglass tree frogs that a number of people on here keep.


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

May I suggest a few hours perusal...

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1221076


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

Two other lizards that may be possible in a large viv like 4x4x2 would be Corytophanes cristatus and Laemanctus sp. They usually dont bother darts, esp D. auratus; but mistakes can still happen. But, a really experienced person might make it work.....Several zoos/aquariums have done it successfully in a large tank. That said, I dont know what the frog mortality/replacement rate was....


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## JaysPDF (Dec 29, 2010)

fleshfrombone said:


> This seems an awful lot like a troll post.


what is a "troll" post? I thought trolls were lucky.


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## gothic dart frog (Jan 16, 2011)

i dont get the troll post "joke"


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

A troll post. He has no intention of actually doing this. He is baiting us to get an emotional response. See how riled up he can get us. It doesn't even make any sense. Why would he build a viv with a bunch of strangers? Just a bunch of tourists who have nothing in common. Where would they keep it? Who would pay for it?
Doug


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## gothic dart frog (Jan 16, 2011)

ah i get it now and i agree


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## andred82vert (Apr 8, 2008)

trololololoooo


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## ihatehumans (Jan 19, 2009)

Nah, no trolling. I know all of these "tourists", we're all students at the same university. I realize this is more of a dream then reality, but all I need to do is get permission from a few advisers, get volunteers, and run a hell of a lot of fundraisers  Thanks for your help guys, just to be safe I'll probably make a large vivarium filled with plants and only one species, most likely D. auratus. Maybe I'd add Corytophanes cristatus as previously suggested, but the more I educate myself mixing seems like a bad idea...


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## leuc11 (Nov 1, 2010)

You could Get 3 or four tanks then basilcy put them all right next to each other then design them so it all flows together and looks like one large tank


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

i really cant believe that no one has mentioned that vertebrate export from costa rica was closed a decade ago anyway.

james


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## gothic dart frog (Jan 16, 2011)

it was closed? that sucks, well maybe


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## mantisdragon91 (Jun 2, 2010)

james67 said:


> i really cant believe that no one has mentioned that vertebrate export from costa rica was closed a decade ago anyway.
> 
> james


There are still quite a few species available that are found in Costa Rica but are actually exported from Nicaragua or Panama. Not mention all the Cb pums and auratus out there.


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## TJP (Dec 25, 2008)

"i really cant believe that no one has mentioned that vertebrate export from costa rica was closed a decade ago anyway."

Kind of. Export of wild caught animals is not permitted, export of CB animals is, as long as it's from one of the few that actually have CR's blessing to do it.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

He can certainly readily obtain many animals from Panama that have a range overlap into C.R.....frogs, anolis, _B.plumifrons....._


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## ihatehumans (Jan 19, 2009)

Not to mention all the CB descendants of animals exported before the ban....is that why people are still breeding A. Annae?


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## ggazonas (May 11, 2008)

ihatehumans said:


> I am going on a trip to costa rica soon. The other tourists and I were thinking of making a monument to our trip by creating a vivarium, containing species exclusively found in costa rica. I'd preferably like a nice mix of small reptiles and ampibians, what do you guys know of/think would work? I don't know of many costa rican animals but the ones I do know of are....
> -Basilisks (Not so small )
> -O. pumilio
> -D. auratus
> ...


I went to Costa Rica for my honey moon this past June. One thing I can tell you is that all those animlas do not coexist with eachother. As far as darts go I don't think there are too many places where you'll find more than two species that are found in the same area.

As far as the basilisk go. Even if you had a large enough vivarium they would eat or at least try to consume the darts.


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