# Planted Tanks > Vivariums >  6ft Terrarium.

## itssg

Just back from Cameron. Collected some mosses, orchid and pitcher plants. Scare of mosses won't survive and quicky up the tank. The tank fully covered. 2 36W PL tubes only with a fan.

Orange color wild orchid. Anyone know what species is that?


Bird nest plant from office road side.


Pitcher plant wild collected.


Another one. (Bought from the flower nursery.)


Arranging the drift woods.


Planting...


Spent at least 3-4 hours just to seperate and putting the mosses

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## Justikanz

Wow wow wow... You are really dedicated!! If only there is a water area and/or a water feature... You're gonna have some fauna inside?

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## itssg

The tank just up. Trying hard to make them survive and grow. Once the tank getting mature. Thinking of some froggies. Or else, just the plants and mosses will do. Make it as fairy land....

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## fishbonez

nice setup!

just a question,
how does one grow moss on the groung? what kind of sand should one use?

thanks

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## juggler

Wow - that is amazing!
I think you can put butterflies in there too!

How about some fireflies so you can see them light up at night.  :Smile:

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## lorba

> nice setup!
> 
> just a question,
> how does one grow moss on the groung? what kind of sand should one use?
> 
> thanks


You do not need any specific medium to grow moss emerse.

Look around, they clings to wall, tiles, wood, tree roots, rocks, soil in your plant pots. Stainless steel mesh is probably the last thing they will ever clang on though.

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## ranmasatome

Actually that is not an orange orchid... i'm not a botanist by training but i know those orange things you see are actually storage bulbs for the plant.. and many orchids have them... do they necessarily coincide with the colour of the flower?

oh BTW...nice tank  :Smug:

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## Wild Ginger

Hey Dom, it's great to finally see your 6 footer up and running. Fabulous array of mosses ya've collected so far. One of these days i've got to fly to KL just to meet up wif you and have a nature walk. 

Anyway, the orchid falls into the category of bulbophyllums. In your case here, the orange colouring may be due to a hybridisation factor. As for now, i can't make out exactly what it is but perhaps when it's flowering, i'll id it for you. 

Oh yea, i like the style of scaping, using varied plants such as venus flytraps and pitchers, somewhat depicting a south east asian tropical rainforest on a high altitude covered in fog as in the wild, these plants thrive very well in such conditions. 

Hope to see future progress on this tank, and definitely an envy to me that you've such a big tank to maximise your projects on. 

Best Regards,
Phillip.  :Jump for joy:

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## itssg

Thank you guys for such a wonderful comments. I put 5 packs of coconut fiber which mixed with some soil under the mosses. The wild orchid in orange color bulb just growing at the road side of highway. The weather kinda cool. But dry. It is located where i found the pitcher plants.

Philip, i am admiring you having such a beautiful room with so many amazing setup. Just come and join me. Only 3 hours + from KL to Cameron Highland - Brinchang town. While on the way going up using Simpang Pulai (New highway to Cameron), you will see lot of nice plants growing at the road side.

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## ranmasatome

Dom..when going to Cameron again?? i dont mind doing some collecting..lol

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## itssg

ranmasatome, i dont mind going this weekend again. Make it as a day trip. Then we share the petrol and toll fees.  :Roll Eyes:  

btw where r u from??

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## itssg

Updated with mist maker in...








Wild orchid.


another type of flytrap.

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## ranmasatome

Sweet!!! nice la Dom.. :Smile: ..
me from singapore loh...go up this weekend ah?? never expected so soon leh..lol..

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## itssg

Haha..ok ok. Try to arrange. Let me know 2 weeks in advance.  :Flame:   :Flame:

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## clancysg

Hey bro, just wanna ask where did you get the mist maker ???

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## itssg

Hi, I bought it from lfs. They said some people like to put at their koi pond or the indoor mini gold fish pond.

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## clancysg

Thanks for the reply !!!!!

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## itssg

haha...i freeze my cricket in a plastic container. (Lucky my gf dont knw what is inside there...) Just feed them last nite. check out the pic...

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## itssg

About a week of my setup...There are some mosses growing on those darker place. Mosses can't really grow well on brighter place.

Small pine growing out from the mosses.


Some mushroom...



Birdnest new leaves...

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## blacknails

Hey man your tank is nice... it is seriously seriously nice.
Really hoping to see many more vivariums of this calibre in this forum in the near future.

How long did you have to research to set up something like this? I wouls really love to know if everything thrives as time passes on.

Great job dude

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## itssg

Hi,
This is my 2nd vivarium. The first was the 8inch nano. So, i read and learning from bro philip - wildginger in here. Then go n get the neccessary stuff and up the setup. Try and error...normally take months.

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## Emg

Wow...I see poison dart frogs in this tank........with a tank that size you could put a couple of pairs of the same species in there with no problem ! 

Check out this site for PD frogs. I've been to their store and it's fantastic !! They specialize in these frogs...it's all they do..

http://www.blackjungle.com/home.htm

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## blacknails

Dude so how's your vivarium holding up right now? any new additions? critters? post some new pics, man

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## jonpoh

hmmm.. his last post seems so long ago. I wonder whether the tank is still around. It will be interesting to see the modification and changes in the current tank.. My prediction would be a tank full of moss and ferns. I believe the Venus flytrap and the sarracenia purpurea (Temperate pitcher plant not the monkey cup) will be gone... due to their annual characteristic.


regards
Jonathan 




> Dude so how's your vivarium holding up right now? any new additions? critters? post some new pics, man

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## itssg

Hi,

Sorry for late reply...  :Grin:  The tank still available. The bird nest fern growing bigger. Wild orchids, pitcher plants and others also growing.

The venus flytrap and mosses not really doing well. Due to i feeding the venus flytrap with the frozen cracket. It getting rotted....So i just removed it into a pot and growing it outdoor.

The tank was almost occupied with the unknown fungus and mushroom. What i did was didnt water for days... But the mushroom died off after i water. That is very good experience for me.

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## Thirteen

would be eye candy if u post some pics of the vivarium..?? lol really dying to see wad has it become to..  :Flame:

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## itssg

Terminated the vivarium...Due to not enough tank to keep the fishes.  :Grin:

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## Franz

> Terminated the vivarium...Due to not enough tank to keep the fishes.


Sniff :P I'm sure some people here would have "donated" some tank in exchange of ur vivarium. heh

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## betta_luRver

Magnficent setup bro!! Guess its great to be in M'sia where there is absolute liberty to have exotic fauna!!! U can really let ur imagnation run wild!!! In S'pore i guess the only exotics that we cud have are exotic PLANTS like what i'm having right now.. Btw? U collected the moss from the wild? What species?

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## itssg

> Magnficent setup bro!! Guess its great to be in M'sia where there is absolute liberty to have exotic fauna!!! U can really let ur imagnation run wild!!! In S'pore i guess the only exotics that we cud have are exotic PLANTS like what i'm having right now.. Btw? U collected the moss from the wild? What species?


Yes. all the mosses are from wild. I didn't really go and identify the mosses. But all are terrestrial mosses.

Here is the update picture. Lot of mosses dying due to high temp. But some do growing in darker side. Venus flytrap melt due to i fed the frozen cricket. (Too high nutrien!) Added some plants in and 3 more 36W PL-L tubes.

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## itssg

Side view
 

Just got this fella on last Saturday. Oriental whip snake.

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## itssg

Forgotten his name...pls help to identify.

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## ranmasatome

Hey Are you keeping both those species of snakes together in that tank??? i would STRONGLY suggest otherwise.. 

Also if you keep snakes in the tank.. PLs PLS PLS dont mist so much!!! you could be causing the snake future lung problems and maybe a probable scale rot!!! Keep it humid but there is no need to mist so much. if you need to mist that much then i suggest keeping some frogs instead. Just because they inhabit a tropical forest doesn't mean that the snakes can take this perpetual wetness or does it suggest it is good for the snake. i used to keep snakes for 4-5 yrs b4 when i was overseas.. not a great expert but these are basics.. still play around with those in the wild everynow and then but then i release them later.. dont know why but it really bugs me to see them enclosed now a days..

The name of the second snake slips my mind right now but it is quite common.. i'll write again when i remember..lol.. :Smile:

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## itssg

I just found out the name of the 2nd snake from other forum. It is named as Blue Bronzeback. And I read from the web site. Blue Bronzeback taking other smaller snake as his meal...  :Exasperated:   :Exasperated:  damn... and i mixed them together. Hope nothing happen.

Btw, what you used to feed them? froggie? lizard?

yes...i am not misting the tank. coz it is seal and kinda hard to mist also.

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## ranmasatome

Yes yes... the bronzeback!! :Smile:  Also..i siad not to mix them not because i was worried that one might eat the other..
You see, i dont think the bronzeback is capable of eating your oreintal whip snake..since the whip snake gets quite big.. Although both species are rather docile.. why i reccomend not housing the together is because i dont want either of them to get injured.. different species of snakes will most likely end up bickering and your oriental whip snake is mildly poisonus to humans.. which means that if it were to bite your bronzeback... err.. goodluck..

Also..i said misting only beacause your glass is soooooooo wet it looks like the air in there is super humid.. the snakes can similarly incur those lung and scale problems in an envionment kept that damp. i would suggest you DONT keep the tank FULLY covered.. and allow for some form of air exchange without letting the snakes escape.. a suggestion would be to use wire meshing on one side of the tank or something...this is good also cos then the temperature wont build up so much. Also dont allow light access to the snakes..meaning all lightings should be outside of the tank.. snakes can burn themselves on the lights.

You can feed them with frogs and lizards..either or both will do nicely.

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## itssg

I was left few small holes...So the humidity is very high. Just got 3 pieces of glass and cover. Left 3 small gap which cover with net. So, bigger space for plants n snakes to breath...  :Grin:  

The pet shop owner told me the oriental whip n blue bronzeback able to live together and no harm each other.  :Exasperated:   :Exasperated:  I always saw the Blue Bronzeback staying at the bottom all the time and Oriental Whip staying on top. Just throw few pieces of froggies in. Heard the "screaming" from the froggie. I can't really see how they bite n swallow. After that, saw the blue bronzeback with a big stomach. Oriental Whip still cool and not really wanted to eat.  :Flame:

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## ranmasatome

Bro.. if you want to keep together then go ahead loh.. anyway its your snakes.. i'm just sending you precautionary measures b4 anyting bad happens. like i said both species are quite docile. i worry only at feeding times when the snake becomes slightly more aggressive...especially in wild caught specimens. Try to get some lizards that climb around to see if the oriental will eat them. just because they are free (caught from the wild) doesn't mean their welfare is not important.. :Smile: .

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## itssg

I am very appreciate with what you sharing with me and what you told me. But just...2 snakes already inside my tank. And i loving them so much...

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## primavera

Yay, finally took time from studies to post. So  :Jump for joy:  when I found this forum. Finally met people who keep vivs in the SEA region. I'm in the process of finishing a DIY plywood viv with glass front and land/water area for my tropical plant and phalaenopsis collection.

First of all, one of the most beautifully landscaped terrariums I've ever seen Itssg! Reminds me of an Amano aquarium. Ah, Cameron Highlands, miss it so much. Haven't been there for a while now. And now they sell Sarracenias and Fly traps too!! Times really have changed.

Speaking of which, I grow Sarracenias (pitcher plant), Venus FTs and sundews(drosera) here in Sydney (international student here). On the windowsill!! Yes they do extremely well, morning til early afternoon sun, temps of around low 20s daytime, 16-18 night, but varies with season. Have been keeping them for 2 years already, but this year very weird, VFT and some Sar. went dormant during winter (its mid-spring now). Good growth now, with a lot of larger leaves. A flower stem, er, inflorescence forming on VFT. Debating whether to cut it or not, channel energy to leaf/trap development instead. 

Oh, anyway, only able to id a few, most probably hybrids. Have the usual S. purpurea (but tempting to call it nana as its short and stout), S. leucocephala, one which looks like a cobra hood, another low growing one. VFT: usual green one when bought, but develop yellow tan after growing on windowsill. Sundews probably Drosera spathulata, collected locally from Central coast (more stories later). Growing in peat sand mix, pots standing in a shallow plate with 1cm water, fish emulsion fert during active growth. I know, Carnivorous plants not meant to fertilise, but i find fish e. wonderful, also run pots under tapwater when i feel like it (ie.when there's free time). That's to flush out accumulated salts as I also water with tapwater. 

Ok, too mASSIVE a post for now. Sorry bout that, i tend to blabber...

Regards

Min

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## itssg

> Yay, finally took time from studies to post. So  when I found this forum. Finally met people who keep vivs in the SEA region. I'm in the process of finishing a DIY plywood viv with glass front and land/water area for my tropical plant and phalaenopsis collection.
> 
> *First of all, one of the most beautifully landscaped terrariums I've ever seen Itssg! Reminds me of an Amano aquarium.* Ah, Cameron Highlands, miss it so much. Haven't been there for a while now. And now they sell Sarracenias and Fly traps too!! Times really have changed.
> 
> Speaking of which, I grow Sarracenias (pitcher plant), Venus FTs and sundews(drosera) here in Sydney (international student here). On the windowsill!! Yes they do extremely well, morning til early afternoon sun, temps of around low 20s daytime, 16-18 night, but varies with season. Have been keeping them for 2 years already, but this year very weird, VFT and some Sar. went dormant during winter (its mid-spring now). Good growth now, with a lot of larger leaves. A flower stem, er, inflorescence forming on VFT. Debating whether to cut it or not, channel energy to leaf/trap development instead. 
> 
> Oh, anyway, only able to id a few, most probably hybrids. Have the usual S. purpurea (but tempting to call it nana as its short and stout), S. leucocephala, one which looks like a cobra hood, another low growing one. VFT: usual green one when bought, but develop yellow tan after growing on windowsill. Sundews probably Drosera spathulata, collected locally from Central coast (more stories later). Growing in peat sand mix, pots standing in a shallow plate with 1cm water, fish emulsion fert during active growth. I know, Carnivorous plants not meant to fertilise, but i find fish e. wonderful, also run pots under tapwater when i feel like it (ie.when there's free time). That's to flush out accumulated salts as I also water with tapwater. 
> 
> Ok, too mASSIVE a post for now. Sorry bout that, i tend to blabber...
> ...


  :Razz:   :Grin:  i need years of try and error only able to reach Amano's level. And it is still long way for me to go... I am glad you like the setup. The mosses, venus flytrap and some pitcher plants not doing well. Due to high temp inside.

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## primavera

Hehe, you've made an effort, that's what counts! 

Hey, you should try the tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes species). They do very well in terrariums. Go for the lowland tropical ones, sometimes the plant nurseries around KL sells it (try Sg. Buloh). DONT grow the highland ones, like the one you collect or those that Cameron Highland nurseries sell. They need very cool nights. 

The purplish veined pitcher plant in your earlier pic is a North American Sarracenia. It looks similar to my S. purpurea. Flytraps bad idea too for tropical areas (well unless you put an aircond in the terrarium  :Wink:  ). 

To tell the tropical pitchers from the temperate: tropical forms the pitcher at the tip of the leaf, temperate has no real leaf blade - entire leaf is a pitcher that comes off the ground. 

Min

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## primavera

Oh also, they sell them as hanging pots most of the time, shared this in case you had a hard time finding them. Oh rather than Sg. Buloh nurseries ( are u in KL area?) I've bought one (when I was back home) from the new Ikea outlet in PJ. Yeah! you should check out the plant area in Ikea. A lot of good terrarium plants IMHO for a good price. Well grown specimens compared to nurseries sometimes. Bought a beautiful Nepenthes rafflesiana there. Oh, and most of the time, you really have to look (that's why I mentioned the hanging pot aspect). The plants normally would have near dead or no pitchers at all (transportation and sub-optimal conditions). Only strappy leaves radiating from a central stem. Put them in terrarium and they flourish. 

Bought some other Neps from this Malay guy in SS2 night market two years ago too. It looks like he collects from the wild, as the whole plant seems to be dug out soil and all and put straight into the pot. Dont think one should support this too much. But I was pitcher plant crazy and the species he had were so tempting. Bought RM 50 worth of plants...4 plants I think. 

Min

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## itssg

Yes. I jsut went to the old ikea (1 Utama) and found they selling few types of pitcher plants, venus flytrap and sundew...Price is consider cheap. But then most of them are from cameron. So...didnt get any.

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## aquatic777

hi itssg, pls update on ur snakes...i mean vivarium.

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## itssg

Hi,

All the plants inside there growing very healhy. But not the snakes. Both were RIP after i am back from the oil rig. The Oriental was swallow a house lizard and can't digest... The Blue Bronzeback was accident swallow the mosses together with the froggie...

Sad to see both of them left me.

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## Justikanz

So sorry to hear that... You mean snakes can die from ingesting moss? They are so strictly carnivorous?  :Huh?:

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## aquatic777

poor snakes, but sooner or later u'll get a new one with all that greeneries around u.... :Smile:

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## ranmasatome

Haiz....This breaks my heart...and this is precisely the reason why i dont EVER keep wild caught species. You think they are bringing you joy... What about them, you think they are happy?? now they are dead!! end of story.

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## aquatic777

yah, i guess ur rite.... i just tot since the snakes are small and tank is big, it shouldn't be a problem..... cos i just get excited with snakes. ever kept python when i was small, caught by my uncle who's a fireman. all sizes of phython.

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## itssg

I believe most of us stubborn and will still get what we wants eventhough we don't have experience to keep them. (otherwise, how are we going to gain the experience and sharing in here?)

I told myself...no more wild caught animal for me. Unless that is fishes...

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