Experiences with larger planted enclosures

Hi there,

I'm searching people with experience in larger planted enclosures. I'm planning to renew the complete installation of my N.melanoleuca, and I wondered who had planted enclosures here?

Regards
LucasC.

Have a look at some of my terrariums here, Lucas:
http://www.reptilienzoonockalm.at/12terrarien.htm
second part -> indoor terrariums.

In my melanoleuca cage large tufts of grass, fern plants and moss are used. I will post a picture of the springtime setting soon.
regards
Peter

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your reply. I've had a look they are quite impressive. Did the plants all survived? Are there some plants that you would definitve not use?

regards.

Something like this?

Hi,

I don't know how bit this enclosure is. By big enclosure I think of something of 3m2 or more.

Thanks a lot.

Regards.

oh - this is a bit smaller then.

Hello , as a professional indoor-landscaper I would like to give some advice to all of you , who like to use living plants in terraria . Although the contents of the subject is huge , I will try to write about the basic needs of indoor-plants in a ( snake ) inclosure .
First of all , the growing conditions :
SUBSTRATE : The most commonly used soil for indoor-plants is made out of peat . It is a nice product if you have one single plant in a small container . In most cases however , peatproducts are not very usefull , especially in terraria I will not recommand it . The problem occurs after some time . Calcium in the water you give to the plants will desolve the peat in to smaller parts , destroying the structure of the soil . It will look like coffee , with not enough air in it for the roots to survive . Also drainage-problems occur , with the risk of rotting roots .
An alternative is the use of mineral substrates . They contain no nutriciens , so you have to add these . You also need waterproof containers , or a waterproof earthpart of your enclosure , combined with watermeter(s) to monitor the waterlevel .
Trademarks of mineral substrats are SERAMIS and VULCAPONIC
NUTRIENS : You can't use organic fertilizers in a mineral substrate , because there is no bacterial activity to transfer manure in useable nutriens . You have to use chemical fertilizer . On the market there are so called, coated fertilizers . The coating , a resin , will desolve in a certain time period , releasing the fertilizer , depending on the soiltemperature . This way , you get a beautiful curve , going with the season . Higher temperatures is more plantactivity , more nutriens are needed , and are being provided by a higher desolving of the fertilizer . You also have to fertilize your plants only once a year , and can hide the product in the substrate where your animals can't reach it . Trademark is Osmocote , you need to look for NPK 10-12-18 or a comparable composition. You also can choose for the form of 6 , 9 ,or 12 month , depending of your plantassorment .
LIGHT: Most terraria are to dark for plants to survive , so a good choise of artificial lights is very important . I use TL-lamps with good results , but I have only plants wich can develope well under minimal light . Grow-lux tubes from the aquaristic hobby give satisfieing results . You have to understand that only a small portion of indoor-plants develope well between LUX 1000 or less . Nevertheless , you still have some 50 species from wich you can make a selection .
SPECIES : I will give a short list of suitable indoorplants for terraria . Almost all succulents are NOT growing well under artificial lightsources . The following plants develope well in lightconditions from 600 to 1200 Lux :
Climbers : Ficus repens , Philodendron scandens , Rhapidiphorea aurea , Scindapsis pictus
Solitair plants , small trees : Ficus cyastipula , Ficus lyrata , Dracaena fragans , Dracaena deremensis , Monstera deliciosa , Philodendron selloun ,
Palms : Rhapis exelsa , Howeia fosteriana
Undergrowt : Aglaeonema commutatum , Aglaeonema "Marie 'and A. 'Silver Queen ", Dieffenbachia spec. , Anthurium spec. , Spatiphyllum spec. , some terrestial Bromeliads such as Billbergia , Aechmea , Cryptanthus .
This will be all for now , I hope to have been some assistance for those among you trying to make natural surroundings for there animals . My English might not have been correct , but to tell you all the truth , I was to lazy to use my dictionary . Best regards , Joost.

Hi Joost,

Thanks a lot for this explanation. It is very interesting. The chapter about substrate took a big part of my attention as I had already information on the rest, but not this.

Do you have maybe some samples you made?

Regards

Thanks for your information Joost.

You have not covered any points on a bio-active substrate - what are your thoughts on it?
I use it in conjunction with LECA and a separating layer to keep water from making the soil water logged. I agree the water level indicator is crucial tool.
The soil has a few earthworms in to help with aeration.
You have also not had any information on using worm tea from a worm farm - the best natural fertilizer according to my sources.

The tank in the picture above is an experiment - both on plant survival and snake response.
The bonsai is a ficus and does well indoors with low light.
I am using 6500k bulbs not sure what the LUX levels are but they are very bright.

Lucas and Brad , I do have photo's of my terraria and the flora in them , but until now I failed to put them on the forum because lack of digital knowledge , I suspect. In my topic I tried to give a short summary of what the problems using indoorplants are . Ofcourse Brad , you can use a good pottingsoil in combination with a waterlevelmeter in a drainagelayer . In that case you must choose a peat substrate with a large percentage of rough material . Cocopeat also maintains a good structure for quit some time . With these substrates , and if the PH-degree is not to acid , you can use natural fertilizers as worm-manure . However , these substrates will decay in about one year time . With the mineral substrates you can make a set up for a decade or so . A big advantage if you don't want to change your soil every second year !
About artificial light , there is so much unclearity in my field . It is not just the Lux-amount that is important , also the spectrum . Some groups , esp. succulents , bamboo's , some palms and most grasses won't tolerate artificial lightsources at all , they need unfiltered sunlight as do a lot of our reptiles too . A lux meter is not so expensive , you can also use your camera , but I don't know the converting table .
The plantlist just gives you some examples , Lucas , let me know what image you want to create for your N. melanoleuca's . Maybe I can give you some names of species wich are a good substitude for your enclosure .
One group of plants I want to mention for humid tropical terraria are the Marantacaea . Most of these species do well in humid condition with moderate Lux-values . Examples of this family are Maranta leuconeura 'Tricolor ", Stromanthe amabilis , Calathea longifolia , Ctenanthe oppenheimiana , Calathea macoyana .
The earlier mentioned Aglaeonema is one of the few indoorplants who grows well with Lux-values of 300 or less .
I hope I have answered your questions , Best regards , Joost.

Here you have a picture of my planted terrarium.

--Size: 240*120*200 cm (l, d, h)
--Light:
1, 2*58W flouresent
1, 1*58W flouresent
3, Metalhalide light 70W
Heat Radiator + lamps

-- Rainsystem
-- Fogger
-- Aircirculation fan

A lot of live plants and different types of branches.

At the moment I have a 1.5 meter Kingcobra living there...

[img][/img]

Hi Conny,

Thanks for this beautiful example of what I meant! Are the plants in the ground? For how long have you been using this enclosure?

Regards

Hi,

Thanks.

This setup is not old at all... I use to have Black Mambas inside. But I gave them to a animal park called Kolmården a few months ago.
But now I have cleaned the tank and changed the interiour from savannah to "rainforest".

Most of the plants are still in their pots. Thats because I use "neutral" soil without any nutrients inside. I prefere not to use pottingsoil as bottom substrate.
Ofcourse the roots will outgrove the pots and soak upp moisture from this "neutral" soil.
(I dont know the english word for it...)
Basiclly the rainsystem and the lamps keep the plants alive, all I have to do is feed the king and do some cleaning...

very nice cage Mr Conny I do have some terrariums like yours but we do have the plants poted in the cage in a mix of natural soil and peatmoss I`ll upload some pics of it so you can see how it works, but basically the most important thing to consider when doing this is to keep the animals and the plants healthy and you can achieve this having a good ventilation system and a great drainage for the plants, in that way you only need to worry for the right temps, humidity
and feeding.

i`ll post the pics soon, regards

I would suggest using and expanded clay product such as Leca, Hydroton, or Turface as a drainage layer. Or you could build a false bottom using eggcrate as a drainage layer and save on cost and weight. On top of that I would either use a clay based substrate or a soil mix such as the ABG mix.

The ABG soil recipe is:

1 part milled peat (sometimes more)

1 part milled sphagnum moss

1 part fine charcoal (sometimes more)

2 parts fine tree fern fiber

2 parts fine orchid bark


The Clay substrate recipe is:


Red art clay (found at your local art supply store, not Michaels), if you can't find red, then gray will be fine. The red give it a richer color.

Bentonite clay (unscented natural kitty litter). Wal-Mart carries some really inexpensive unscented kitty litter (Special Kitty) for about $3 for a large bag; however, it is very inconsistent. Some batches will soften up as soon as you add water, while others stay clumpy - like it's filled with small gravel. It likely depends on how much heat is applied to dry the clay before it's milled to size. If it gets too hot, it won't rehydrate. Petco has more consistent clay kitty litter, but it's about $12 or more per bag. Make certain there are no other ingredients other than natural bentonite clay.


Peat moss or sphagnum (helps retain moisture)

Turface infield conditioner - go to http://www.johndeerelandscapes.com/s...Pro/search.asp to search for a John Deere Landscape location near you. They carry it in white and red, both of which are natural. This is an important ingredient and necessary for drainage. The smallest quantity, unfortunately, is a 50-lb bag for $15 to $20.

Calcium montmorillionite clay (koi pond powder varies in price usually around $10 for a couple of pounds). I found it at Foster and Smith online http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.co...m?pcatid=10852. If you have a pond supply store nearby, they might have it.

Base Recipe

Mix 2 cups bentonite, 1 cup red art clay, one-half cup turface (mix together wet so it all blends). It should be the consistency of bread dough.


To Make Clay Substrate Spread the wet base recipe mixture on a pan (about and inch thick or less) and bake it until hard. I turned the oven up to 350 F and let it bake about an hour, then turned the oven off and left it overnight. I found that baking it on a sheet of parchment paper keeps it from sticking to the pan/cookie sheet, etc. Break it up and make sure it is completely dry. If so, then crumble it up into smaller pieces no larger than a pea.

To the crumbled clay mix add one cup peat/sphagnum, one cup expanded coco fiber, and another one-half cup of turface. The coco fiber can be damp, but don't add any water to the mixture and add the peat/sphagnum moss dry. You can grind the sphagnum moss up if you like. Mix everything together.

This substrate would be placed well above (at least 2 inches) the highest water level in the viv bottom (whether or not a false bottom is used).

Spread the substrate in the viv and then mist it lightly.

Sprinkle the calcium montmorillionite (koi powder) on top of the substrate then add a good amount of leaf litter. Once the leaf litter is placed, mist again and then mist as you would any other viv.




Both will work fine for what you want.