Planted Terrarium

[Lena]

Ok, so I'm new to the concept of planted terrariums but I'd really like to plant a nice 20 gal for my little rescue girl to live in and maybe find her a friend once she gets a clean bill of health. :main_yes: Anyone here have planted terrariums for their AFTs and would like to share what they used?

Couple things I'd like to know:
- What substrate(s)? Do you layer or mix substrates? If so, how?
- What are those ball things I keep seeing at the bottoms of some planted terrariums? Are they necessary? Helpful? What purpose do they serve?
- What plants have worked the best for you?
- Do you use a heat source from above to keep things hot and humid or from below? Do UTHs and the like work well? What do you use?
- How humid should it be? Do you mist or use a 'fogger'?

Pictures would be great.

 

[acpart]

I'll try to get a picture when I get to my other computer. Here's my design:

the round things are clay balls which are used as drainage. You can use small rocks but it's a lot heavier. The balls are called hydroton or LECA. You can get them at most hydroponics stores or from blackjungle.com. The bottom layer is a couple of inches of the clay balls. On top of that is a mesh screen cut to fit the space. The purpose of this is to keep the "soil" from getting into the balls and to contain the moisture. It's a good idea to use it. I have 4 planted tanks and I forgot to use it for my crestie tank. The balls are always wet, but not in the other tanks. Above the mesh I use eco earth (bed a beast, coco fiber --the compressed bricks that you soak in water).

I did some research into the proper plants for a rocky savannah. The most successful plant is haworthia, which looks like an aloe plant, but bumpy instead of smooth. I have tried jade plants and african violets. These would probably work but since I have been inadvertently breeding crickets in the tank, the crickets eat the african violet and I kept dislodging the jade cutting chasing tiny crickets. I also had a dracaena which died, but I think I needed to water it more. I'm going to try that again and add another haworthia or two. I do use lights to the plants. I have a clamp lamp resting on top of the screen cover, on a timer for 12 hours.

When I started building the tank I was worried about providing UTH heat and the clay balls. I only have the clay balls in 2/3 of the tank. One part of the tank has the UTH and only has eco earth, no clay balls or mesh. I put a piece of plexiglass between the 2 sections to keep them separate. The eco earth on the UTH side is deeper and comes up as far as the eco earth on the other side. The plexiglass only sticks up an inch above the surface. I have some ceramic round hides I made with ceramic bottoms and I partially buried these in the eco earth on the UTH side so they're like little burrows. I have a pair of AFT's and they spend most of the day curled up together in one of the burrows. Sometimes I find one, usually the female, curled up near the haworthia on the cool side. They have no trouble climbing over the plexiglass. On the cool side I also have a water dish partially buried in the eco earth like a little pool.

Aliza

 

[acpart]

Actually, there's a picture here:

http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=21449

I've changed the larger area around a bit, but this is the general idea.

Aliza

 

[GEKO-leko]

yeah....I think i'll do that when mine gets older...It looks cool

 

[Malin2]

I only have sand for my geckos. Should I use what you're using so it get's more moist in the terrariums? I would love to have plants for them but it's gonna be hard if I use sand. I want the best for my geckos.

And one of my males smallows a little sand when he hunts for crickets because he strikes the cricket with such force. So maby it would be the best for my geckos to have their terrariums like that?

 

[acpart]

I odn't recommend sand for geckos, although I know some people use it. I have been very happy with this substrate for my AFT's. My leopard geckos are on ceramic tile and doing well.

Aliza

 

[LeopardGeckoMom52688]

I don't use sand or exo terra for any of my geckos except in their moiste hides. I have a 55 set up for 4 aft girls. They live on carpet and I have a large moist hide that all 4 fit in at once.

 

[Malin2]

Okey I will change the substrate then I just wonder what a mesh screen is? By the way I have terrariums, can I just have a layer of leca so it covers the bottom? Because otherwise the soil is gonna go over the edge. And what about the heat mat? Where will I place it?

 

[annakilljoy]

acpart, what % of humidity do you get with this type of terrarium?
thanks

 

[acpart]

Okey I will change the substrate then I just wonder what a mesh screen is? By the way I have terrariums, can I just have a layer of leca so it covers the bottom? Because otherwise the soil is gonna go over the edge. And what about the heat mat? Where will I place it?

Mesh screen is a fine metal or plastic screen which would keep the soil from leaking into the LECA and keep more of the moisture in the soil. I don't know if there are terrarium stores in Sweden that sell plants and terrarium supplies, but you would probably find it there.

If you read the last paragraph of what I posted above, it describes how I use plexiglass to separate the areas and to provide an area with no LECA for installing a UTH. In the pictures in my link you can see the plexiglass. As I understand it, in Europe "terrarium" is used to refer to front opening tanks. My tank opens on the top,but for front opening tanks you could probably also use a piece of plexiglass to keep the substrate confined to a spot away from the front door.

Annakilljoy --I took my hygrometer out when I was satisfied with the humidity. If I remember correctly, if I put the hygrometer on the ground it was close to 90%, but when I put it about 3" up on what I was using as a humid hide, it was closer to 65%-70%. In any case, both AFT's seem happy with their home and have gained 15-20 grams each since I got them.

Aliza

 

[Malin2]

Is the mesh screen like a net? I get pictures of that when I search on google. Hehe I wanted to see how it looked like Their is usually only plants for fishes in petstores but I could just go to a florist or something
What is a UTH? I have a glasspiece on the front so the soil won't go over the edge now.

And yes I have 2 front opening tanks and one that opens on the top. Here's pictures of two of my tanks.

And here is one where I can have much soil

By the way thank you so much for answering my questions

 

[annakilljoy]

thanks for your quick answer!!