communal rainforest setup

[kyledawelsh]

ok this was just a thought so dont fire me down ok here goes

had a thought the other day if it would be possible to convert a whole room into a rainforest and keep allsorts of things communally (eg. lizards, snakes, spiders, insects and amphibians) as in to setup a whole rainforest environment with live plants, some sort of pond type thing etc

like i said it was only a thought but was wondering if this would at all possible? i know there would be some casualties with things eating each other etc

[Spikebrit]

Yes, but there are lots of if's and maybes and it would need 24/7 survalance and a lot of expereince.

Jay

[fantapants]

zoos do it all the time, but maybe not as complex as you are thinking. and i dont thik it would ever be practical to ceate a complete eco system as such ( as it would be in the wild.).

i guess you could have a mixed exhibit if you really researched the animals. i know people that have had a shed for an iguana set up like a rainforest. they felt the floor space was being wasted so put a load of compost down and introduced redfoot torts. same sort of heat and hiumidity requirements.......if i remember right they had dung beetles and earth worms to help clean the susbtrate. or hermit crabs and red/yellow foots is another popular one. I have also been told that pancake torts have been found in kopjes with geckos ( unsure of the species but i could find out if it is of interest to you.

[spend_day]

that's one hell of a project converting an entire room you could maybe try and track down a few of the more experienced iguana keepers as they often have to convert large spaces to include correct heating and humidity as well as escape proofing etc. as for the mixing all I will say is be careful and I would leave out any snakes and honestly spiders as well