Vivarium tips and how to

[Lemmazze]

Hi everybody! I'm new to this whole frog scene, this is my first time owning anything other then dogs and ]cats... Hahah. I have 3 baby fire belly toads in a 5 gallon jar I purchased from a guy a little while ago, everything was ready to go all I had to do was feed them.

I just got a 10 gallon tank from a friend and I want to move my fire bellies to it. I want to construct my own vivarium. I have done a lot of research on how to construct one. I'm the type that if I don't know exactly what I'm doing then I rather not do it and I rather have too much info than not enough.

With that said. I want to make a vivariums that's 60% water and 40% land. Is there anything important I should know before starting my project? What should I use as far as substrate, stones, plants etc. I need all the help i could get. I will truly appreciate it.

Thanks
Emmanuel

 

[TristanClark]

Its hard to do anything fancy with a 10 gallon and have enough equal land and water space, if I were you i'd buy a big bag of aquarium gravel (big enough for the frogs not to swallow) and just put it on one side of the tank so it builds up and makes a land area, it should slope down into a pool of water. how much water you have depends on how much gravel you should use. in the water you can get aquatic plants that float to replicate a pond. on the land you can put whatever you like plants or hiding spots for them. this is just the most simple way to set them up and really in the water if you have enough i would reccomend a filter because firebellys can be messy and it will save you some work. from the sound of it you dont really want anything basic but thats the most simple way to set them up.

 

[hairypumpkin]

What I did when I wanted to make a half aquatic/land set up in a 10g, was
-get a terra cotta pot, the biggest or tallest one you can find that will fit
-put a bit of gravel in the pot to completely fill it up
-put moss,a plant..etc on top the the gravel pot
-put gravel pot in your tank
-fill tank with water to top of pot, complete tank as desired.

I did this for my fire bellied newts, but I imagine it could work for plenty of other critters as well. : )

 

[Lemmazze]

Herphunter1998. After some more research I quickly realized that the 10g is a bit small for what I wanted to do, you are right. I settled for a more simple set up just like you described. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Lemmazze]

Hairypumpkin. That's a good idea! Thanks!

 

[redtxn]

My first N. viridescens tank was setup just like hairypumpkin described using a 5 gallon tank. The pot had a pothos in it and I used clear plastic suction cup hangers to support the vine as it grew around and around the inside glass. Simple setup and asthetically appealing when it was well grown.

aaah, memories.... I may do that again, I really miss that tank... its been almost 30 years ago.

 

[frogmandan]

I know this is an old post but I'll still put in my two cents. I have to fbt in a 10 gallon tank. Set up for a 60/40 water/land I use a Rubbermaid Tupperware got the land put gravel in the water to make a slope add a internal filter and there ya go... I got plants on both land and water... My frog babies love it