H. arborea indoors..

[morbid]

Have anybody tried to breed H.arboreas indoor? If so, how did it go?

[Pollywog]

I did it a few years ago i had wild type, blue & leucistic.
They will need hibernating at a temperature of 5-10°C for 4 months during winter, when spring comes and you take them out of hibernation feed up well for a few days and place in a tall rain chamber - 24"x18"x18" should be fine for 2-3 pairs.
Fill the base of the chamber with 2" of water with lots of water weed and a couple of floating bits of cork. Heat the water with an aquarium heater to 22-24°C Provide plenty of leafy plants and branches for them to climb on. Set the rain chamber to go on for 2 hours out of every 12 hours and that should do the trick.

[morbid]

I´m going for the hibernation as we speak.. I´ve lower the "sunhours" and lower the temperature. They will go into the refrigerator in a couple of weels for the hard part of their hibernation. Then I just have to talk to a friend about the "rain"..

Next year, I will try half group outdoor and half group indoor (refrigerator..).

Thanks for your help..

[morbid]

By the way, Pollywog.
How do you hibernate the animals. I was thinking of the box you keep them in.. How does it look like inside (setup)? Do you keep all in one box or do you put them in separate boxes?

I´m probably go for the whole group in one box. And having a box that is higher than it is wide..

[Pollywog]

I use polystyrene boxes filled with 6-12" of damp long grain sphagnum moss and a small water dish. The boxes are then put in a cupboard in a frost proof out building, the cupboard is fitted with a heat strip on a thermostat to stop the temp falling below 5°C.

I normally split them into several boxes so if anything should happen to a box I don't loose the whole group.

[morbid]

Thanks, it is more or less what I thought that you would answer.. But it´s always better to ask onr time too many. I will probably go for all in one box, but I´m having "spaceproblems", because I have to use the refridgerator. And there is so many animals that I have to make room for.. But I see your point, so I´ll probably try to split up the group if possible.