A. gracile terrestrial setup pictures

[sde]

Hey all, just wanted to share some pictures of my new A. gracile terrestrial setup. I like it quite a bit, its pretty green and "natural" looking. I think they will like it. Its a 20 gallon, I don't think its a breeder though. Its going to have three adults in it; two females and one male. There is a lot of substrate. Probably 5 inches on the deep end and 3-4 on the shallow end. It is sand on the bottom half and soil and the top half. It has three hides in it, the board propped up with a rock, and two concrete half pipes covered in moss ( in the bottom of the picture ). It has a nice deep water dish with a stick to climb out on.

I am hoping that they will burrow into the ground, that's the ultimate goal here. I am going to add random bugs to the enclosure, as well as some crickets maybe.

Any thought/suggestions/comments? -Seth

 

[JoshBA]

Very natural looking setup! What kind of lighting are you using on it? Be careful using sand as a drainage layer because it lacks air flow. It won't pose much of a problem it the substrate doesn't get very moist.

 

[Yahilles]

I think the wooden board (a large piece of bark would be better) and white water bowl take away the tank's natural look. Plus the drainage should be made of some gravel or ceramsite - if would be hard to drain excess water from a layer of fine sand.

 

[sde]

JoshBA, I am using no lighting on this setup, it is outdoors and am letting the natural light do the work. The substrate shouldn't get too moist, I might not mist the setup very much at all, if any if possible.

Yahilles,
Good idea, I think I will replace the wood with bark. The reason I used that water bowl is for a few reasons. One, because I just transferred these guys from a mostly aquatic setup to this one, so I wanted to make sure they had a decently large one. And the ones I already have aren't deep at all, and so these salamanders would only be able submerge themselves half way, and I wanted them to be able to submerge themselves all the way.

It does kind of take away the natural look, but that's all I had at the time, I will see if I can get something else to take its spot.

 

[NewtB]

This gives me a much better idea of a terrestrial setup! Thanks! And with the deep water bowl, it smooths the transition, which is what I was concerned about. Biggest question I have is this: how do you keep the setup moist? Especially if you're hoping it will stay moist on its own? Is there water in the sand to provide humidity? Love the pictures! Thanks!:happy:

 

[sde]

This gives me a much better idea of a terrestrial setup! Thanks! And with the deep water bowl, it smooths the transition, which is what I was concerned about. Biggest question I have is this: how do you keep the setup moist? Especially if you're hoping it will stay moist on its own? Is there water in the sand to provide humidity? Love the pictures! Thanks!:happy:

Hey fellow Washintonian :happy:

Glad it gave you ideas!
Yah I was thinking about having a more shallow water bowl, but then I thought a deeper one would be better because they were coming out of a mostly aquatic setup.

I keep the setup moist by misting it lightly every week or so. Also, when it rains I am sure some moisture gets in there. I was hoping that there would be enough moisture from the water bowl so that I wouldn't have to mist, but that didn't happen. Yes, moisture does get into the sand from misting.

Thanks for the complements! -Seth