Maintaining a Terrarium. Or Semi-Aquatic.

[Brie]

Hello, I've some questions concerning house keeping. My terrestrial FB newts are currently living in a plastic tub with some large rocks and live plants. The tub is on an angle with water on one side and theres no dirt or anything. Every week to ten days I swap them to a clean tub with the same rocks in the same places so they feel like nothing much has happened. Even still, I hate disturbing them when its time to move, I usally use a piece of card that I wiggle under their feet and lift them out. I call it the paperlator.

I was just looking online at some photos of swanky semi-aquatic set ups. I have an extra tank and I would love to do something more permanent with dirt and plants. I was just wondering about clean up. The habitats in the photos dont look like a person would tear them apart to clean...but I know my plastic tubs get pretty dirty. How are these people keeping those tanks clean?

 

[Jennewt]

For terrestrial FBN, you're probably better off keeping them fully terrestrial. They probably won't set foot in the water. I keep mine in tub setups, but with a soil substrate. About every 6-12 months I change the substrate. How can I get away with doing it so infrequently I hear you ask.

You understand how a cycled aquarium works, right? There are beneficial bacteria that live in the water and break down wastes. This is the only reason that fish can actually LIVE in an aquarium with their own wastes - the bacteria process it quite efficiently. The same is true with a soil-type substrate. It gets colonized with bacteria and other organisms that break down wastes, so animals can live on it for an extended period of time.

So for those complicated land/water setups that you see, the substrate rarely needs to be changed, and it's sometimes possible to just scrape away the topmost layer of the substrate and replace it without disturbing the rooted plants, etc.

 

[Brie]

Huh, that sounds ideal. So, what I had in mind was a terrarium with a shallow drinking/wading pool in it. (Mine do go in the water sometimes, but I think its only to access this rock island that they like to go on). I have a couple small jade plants that I was thinking of putting in there...they're not toxic or any thing are they? I was just going to use potting soil, push some stones into it and kinda pat it all firm. Whats this "substrate"? How do I...ah...cycle some dirt?

 

[Joost]

All my juveniles cynops-species are raised in boxes like this. They stay terrestrial, the ground is moistered and in my set up's live springtails in the gravel and moss. In the water-part grows some Elodea, and there live some snails. Probably the bactery-culture is also good. Cleaning is done ones a year.
Like this I've raised many newts for the last 16 years

 

[Brie]

Wow, that looks really nice...is this a purchased bacterial culture your mentioning? Or does good bacteria just happen on its own, like in a cycled tank? And are your springtails breeding in the box, or do you sprinkle them in? I've got a couple plastic containers for raising springtails and I occasionally sprinkle them in like salt. It would be a nice little ecosystem if the springtails could be an independant population.

Now Im really excited to set up my new tubs, I guess I'll just start landscaping and wait to hear on this bacteria before moving the little guys in.

 

[Jennewt]

I would say that Joost's setups are aquatic, not terrestrial. Clearly this is an option that does work for Cynops juveniles, but what do you feed them? Do they go into the water to eat? I don't have any foods that could be fed efficiently in that kind of setup.

Do NOT use potting soil. It contains fertilizers and other components that are not amphibian-friendly. What you need is just plain 'top soil', or coconut fiber (bed-a-beast) or one of the soil-type substrates they sell in pet shops ("forest floor" and other brand names). You don't really have to seed it with anything, the bacteria will find their way. You can add woodlice, whiteworms, or small earthworms if you have any.

Here's are photos of two of my juvenile Cynops setups. The soil I use is a mixture of coco-fiber, top soil (sold in a bag, but not potting soil), and fir bark chips.

 

[Joost]

To start a bactery-culture I use a handfull of gravel of another well settled aquarium (most of the time from the adults). In the gravel is it, where bacteries live. (some use water, but contains less bacteries, and you don't have 'food' for them in a new set-up). Springtails I use for cleaning of pollution and faeces on the terrestrial part, but most as food for the juvenile newts. I have a lot of little plastic boxes, where i breed springtailes, so i have always a stock.

Here another picture of a juvi-box

 

[Joost]

My juveniles never come into water. I do feed them on land. Most of the time red
mosquito-larvae, bloodworms, earthworms, on a tissue

 

[Brie]

Ok, one more question on terrestrial setups. In the picture showing a large amount of water and small land area, how do you keep the water clean? I was thinking about creating land using rocks with an overlay of moss, and then a natural dip as a water hole as appose to a dish..is this possible? My guys have a dish now and even so, their worm climb in there and die, spoiling the water. Do you mean that the cycled water from the adults tank will continue to be self cleaning, away from the animals and filters and water changes? I dont want alot of water but I like the idea of a natural landscape as appose to the plastic dish.

 

[Brie]

Ps- Thank you both for posting pictures, they are very helpful as templates and the little guys are just amazing. If you ever post them again, it might be nice to have something to show their scale. Im continually fascinated by how little my guys are.

 

[Jennewt]

If I understand correctly... you are thinking about using wet gravel with moss over it, basically? I tried using wet gravel as a substrate once, and it very quickly STANK, as the waste that fell into it went into anaerobic (swamp-like) decay. I can think of a couple of ways to avoid this. One would be to rinse out the gravel frequently - but this is a lot of work. Another approach would be to use a fairly thick layer of gravel, and at one end of the tank have the kind of filter that can work in very shallow water. I think the bare minimum water depth for the lowest type of filter would be around 2 inches, so you'd have to have this much depth of water/gravel. Here is an example of such a filter:
Terrarium Filters: Tom Reptile Products Repti-Clean Filter at Drs. Foster and Smith
Ideally, you could set it up so that the clean water was piped to the far end of the tank and trickled through the gravel bed back to the filter.

I may sense here a reluctance to put keep the animals on DIRT. I certainly had this reluctance when I started out with my first batch of metamorphs. The idea of putting DIRT into an aquarium went against everything I had ever done with aquariums up to that point. But here is what I have learned since I started using good old dirt. First, dirt is actually much "cleaner" than other terrestrial substrates, because of the colonization of the soil with good bacteria and other decomposers. Second, dirt is BY FAR the lowest-maintenance substrate. You set it up and it's good for 6 months or more - the only maintenance is to make sure it doesn't dry out. Speaking as a lazy person, I really love this. Third, some of the food items that you can use for metamorphs do well on/in dirt; these include fruit flies, pinhead crickets, springtails, small woodlice.

To some extent, you may want to choose the substrate based on what kind of foods you want to use. What kind of worms are you using, which climb into the water and die?

The animals in the photos I posted are relatively large - 2 to 3 inches. But i also have some smaller ones. I try to pack as much live food into the larvae as possible before they morph, so that they morph relatively large. But even small morphs can do well, it just takes them longer to grow up.

 

[Brie]

All right, all right, dirt it is. Gravel would have been aesthetically pleasing but it seems it would take much tampering to keep it functioning, and as a fellow lazy person, the point of the new terrarium is to reduce eft maintenance.

I gave the dirt a whirl already and made a spectacular mess and had to take the whole thing apart but I think I know where I went wrong. First I don't have the bed-a beast, I imagine this is a nice dry layer that will be between the little ones and the damp n' dirty of the ground? I didnt really fancy putting them right on the earth, I dont think they've been actually dirty in all their short lives.

Also I tried planting their plants in the dirt and it didnt go over. I've got Creeping Jenny in with them which will grow in dirt or in water so up till now its been exposed roots in water. I think I need to get a couple plants that are already potted and easily transplanted. My question now is, how do I ensure good drainage for the plants? Is it just a matter of checking the soil and trying to maintain a good dampness?

I've been feeding the guys little earth worms. They are very good at going where they cant be eaten (in the water dish, under the dish, under stones) and dieing. I guess in the dirt they can live in the dirt though I cant see how they would get eaten once they were out of sight.