Post by willj on Oct 31, 2005 15:06:57 GMT
Hi guys!
over the half term i started and completed my outdoor vivarium for Ambystoma opacum and Notophthalmus viridescens. (I am also seriously considering a pair of Ambystoma annulatum too!)
First of all i dug the hole and put an old cast iron bath in it and filled it in. i blocked up the tap, overflow and plug holes with foam. then i put a layer of the spoil in the bath to create a level surface and placed 2 large plastic boxes on it. i then filled in the bath with soil.
I used 2 boxes instead of a liner for several reasons, firstly i hadn't the space to fit a liner in, and secondly i wanted to do an experiment, i kept each box the same apart from the fact that one box had a gravel substrate and the second had a silt substrate, i shall place 1 pair of the notophthalmus in each box and see how they like each substrate.
for a cover, with the help of my dad, i made a wooden frame about 10 inches high to fit round the rim of the bath, to stop anything getting inbetween the gap, i nailed a rim of wood to the sides so it was sitting on the metal rim. on top of that i made a wooden frame covered in green mesh to act as a lid, to stop the lid from being blown off (rather unlikely as it is quite heavy) i put some scrape wood ends on the side to go over the outside of the sides.
for decor, the ponds were placed at one side of the bath with fairly steep sides surrounding 3 sides. i made a more gentle slope from the other end of the bath to the boxes. in the water i placed a couple of minature water lilies and a big bunch of elodea. because the sides were vertical for the pond i put in a number of rocks and broken bricks to make an exit point for the ambystoma if they fell in, or an exit point for morphs (fingers crossed!!) i put some rotten logs in the cage and a small pile of rocks i put in a few plants and i sprinkled beech leaves over the whole set up.
plants used:
arum lily
pulminaria sp.
jacob's ladder
polypody fern
primrose
dog violet
water lily
elodea
lobelia
welsh poppy
lily of the valley
and a bulb that i can't remember the name of off the top of my head!
sorry for being so long, pictures coming shortly (sunday probably!)
;D
over the half term i started and completed my outdoor vivarium for Ambystoma opacum and Notophthalmus viridescens. (I am also seriously considering a pair of Ambystoma annulatum too!)
First of all i dug the hole and put an old cast iron bath in it and filled it in. i blocked up the tap, overflow and plug holes with foam. then i put a layer of the spoil in the bath to create a level surface and placed 2 large plastic boxes on it. i then filled in the bath with soil.
I used 2 boxes instead of a liner for several reasons, firstly i hadn't the space to fit a liner in, and secondly i wanted to do an experiment, i kept each box the same apart from the fact that one box had a gravel substrate and the second had a silt substrate, i shall place 1 pair of the notophthalmus in each box and see how they like each substrate.
for a cover, with the help of my dad, i made a wooden frame about 10 inches high to fit round the rim of the bath, to stop anything getting inbetween the gap, i nailed a rim of wood to the sides so it was sitting on the metal rim. on top of that i made a wooden frame covered in green mesh to act as a lid, to stop the lid from being blown off (rather unlikely as it is quite heavy) i put some scrape wood ends on the side to go over the outside of the sides.
for decor, the ponds were placed at one side of the bath with fairly steep sides surrounding 3 sides. i made a more gentle slope from the other end of the bath to the boxes. in the water i placed a couple of minature water lilies and a big bunch of elodea. because the sides were vertical for the pond i put in a number of rocks and broken bricks to make an exit point for the ambystoma if they fell in, or an exit point for morphs (fingers crossed!!) i put some rotten logs in the cage and a small pile of rocks i put in a few plants and i sprinkled beech leaves over the whole set up.
plants used:
arum lily
pulminaria sp.
jacob's ladder
polypody fern
primrose
dog violet
water lily
elodea
lobelia
welsh poppy
lily of the valley
and a bulb that i can't remember the name of off the top of my head!
sorry for being so long, pictures coming shortly (sunday probably!)
;D
