Planted Emerald Swift Viv

[Pendragon]

Hi peeps,

Ok, this is my next build, it's for my Emerald Swift so first things first, environment, these chaps come from central America and the Caribbean region of the world, they live in the tropics, at high altitudes, and on the edge of forest/jungle. So we want to give a good heat range of between 100f down to 75f, and open and covered areas.

Here's a pic of the sort of thing we want;



But this is what he came in



For thoses that know me, this wouldn't do!


So for the job I chose a 24"x18"x18" exo terra, this viv started off being built for House Geckos, but it never happened, and as such it was my o/h, Lotte, (seadcantas) who started the build by making the fake rock background, her degree in Geology helped




So she used space foam to create a "slate" looking rock formation. She then gave it a good coat or two of blue emulsion paint.




And then a light "dry brushing" of light blue. Also note the metal bracket that I siliconed to the back of the viv, this will hold the light later



After this I took over and applyed 3 coats of yatch varnish, as at this point we knew we weren't getting the geckos, and the viv was going to be for my new Emerald Swift.

Comments welcome

Jay

[xvickyx]

Ooo cool this is going to look lovely when finished

[JotnJosie]

looking great cant wait to see the rest

[UkReptiles]

cant wait for me to start my project to join all the mad people who are trying to make there animals lifes more relistic

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by xvickyx

Ooo cool this is going to look lovely when finished

Hey Vicky,

Thanks for the vote of confidence

Originally Posted by JotnJosie

looking great cant wait to see the rest

Cheers mate,

Nearly there

Originally Posted by UkReptiles

cant wait for me to start my project to join all the mad people who are trying to make there animals lifes more relistic

Mad you say...why you...



I worn you though once you start, it will take over your life!!!

Jay

[Pendragon]

Ok now for the light heat and uv.

For this I chose to use a mercury vapour bulb, a 100watt Zoo med power sun. To fix it to the viv I siliconed a metal bracket, (the sort you can get from B&Q) to the back of the viv, I then got two lengths of Aluminium (again B&Q) one is a flat peace which I could bend to the shape I wanted, and the other a 90 degrees angle piece to act as a strengthener;



The reason for this system is I can raise and lower the bulb to give more or less heat.

The other mod is to partly cover the mesh top to raise the temps and humidity.



Next time we will put in the plant pots, and plants

Jay

[Pendragon]

To hide the pots I used "sticks like sh*t" to stick bits of cork bark to them;



I was going to put 5 of these in the viv, but only used 4 in the end, now normally I would take some pics after putting in the pots, but for the life of me I can't find them, (or I didn't take any???).

So this is the next pic I can find in the sequence, All the plant pots are in, two plants are in, the wood is in, the rocks are in, some of the substrate is in, and Baron Green Back is in!!??? w.t.f??

So, sorry peeps, you will have to "read between the pics", again I used "sticks like.." to glue the pots to the floor, I also screwed and glued the bog wood to a piece of hard board to give it a good base to sit on so it wouldn't fall over.

So here it is;



The next plant to go in was a Ficus, you will also notice the plant at the back has been replaced by a Brom;



The reason for the Ficus leaves on the floor, and the change of plant at the back was due to lack of water, I watered them every day, (I thought I was watering too much) but not enough, so I started watering more, I now have the Ficus back on the road to recovery

So this is how it looks now, I have topped up the substrate, added some leaf litter, and added another creeping Ficus at the back;






So there it is, a simple planted viv, I will post updates evey month to show how the plants are doing.



Jay

[Mirf]

I have to admit that I was rather dubious about the blue background when you started this J.

It looks superb now it's finished, I should have known better eh?

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by Mirf

I have to admit that I was rather dubious about the blue background when you started this J.

It looks superb now it's finished, I should have known better eh?

The colour wasn't my first choice, but it does look very good in real life, and when (if) the Ficus grows, it will cover most of it.

Jay

[Pendragon]

Hi peeps,

I thought I would do regular updates of my "planted vivs" so you can get an idea over time, what plants work, and which plants don't.

So this viv was finished in Dec. 09. The only plant still in there from that time is the Cordyline. The two Ficus and the Brom were added about a month ago, and are doing very well, though I nearly lost the Ficus Benjamina due to "under" watering.

This is the viv now, note the creeping Ficus is going mad, I recon the entier back wall will be covered within a year



Jay