switching to naturalistic vivarium

mozart16

New Member
Messages
2
Location
Massachusetts
I have a 6 yo male AFT that I currently house in an Exo Terra front opening terrarium. I want to switch his environment to a naturalistic terrarium setup with live plants to help keep his humidity more regulated. Right now I have a heat lamp on during the day and a black heat bulb at night as well as an uth on one side that I keep on all the time. I keep his temp around 90 on the warm side during the day and 75-80 at night, depending on the season (my house is always pretty cold). I also have an Exo Terra compact top that I was going to use when I switch to a natural terrarium. I'm just worried about providing enough heat without killing the live plants. Any suggestions on types of plants, lighting, and successful setups would be greatly appreciated!
 

acpart

Geck-cessories
Staff member
Messages
15,119
Location
Somerville, MA
I have all my AFTs (except the one that arrived today and is in quarantine) in naturalistic terrariums. The short version is that I use a hydroton drainage layer, vinyl mesh and coco fiber in 2/3 of the tank. The other third has only coco fiber and a UTH. The AFT's spend most of their time there because their hides are there. I have a variety of plants. Each enclosure has a compact florescent grow light for the plants.

Aliza
 

mozart16

New Member
Messages
2
Location
Massachusetts
Thanks! Have you found it difficult to keep the heat high enough? Do you have heat lamps on them at all or just an uth and the compact fluorescent light? I tried to add a compact fluorescent bulb a little while ago to get him used to it before I put plants in but he got stressed out and seemed like it was too bright.
 

acpart

Geck-cessories
Staff member
Messages
15,119
Location
Somerville, MA
Just the UTH. The air inside the hides gets nice and warm from the UTH and they spend most of their time in there anyway. The grow light is on the far end of the tank and doesn't bother them. I don't worry too much about the air temp because of the warmth of the hides.


Aliza
 

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