BUILDING A TERRARIUM FOR SALAMANDERS (Part 3 of 3)

OK so there might be a fourth part to this but I will call it an update.

As I was looking and filming what was supposed to be the finished article I saw ... things I would like to ... alter and others I would like to add.

Well .. I did not find my Button Fern at any rate and might not be for a couple of months yet so was never really going to be finished quite so soon anyway.

So what I have done thus far to .. almost .. finish the terrarium off is ..

• Add a one metre long moss covered log to the back at the top, tied with cable ties onto a support
• Add a Mentha alpine plant to the right hand side in front of the boggy area near front glass
• Add a Thymus alpine plant to the left side on the right of the cork cave entrance
• Add a semi-aquatic/aquatic plant, Hemianthus or Baby Tears, to the boggy area itself
• Add a few Lichen covered branches and couple ore Moss covered logs
• Spun the Rabbit Tracks Prayer Plant around to get more light to other areas and show the leaves off better

So it is .. mostly done.

As well as wanting to add the Button Fern ... that ... Prayer Plant being tropical is bugging me. So I might replace it with a bigger Fern ... or something else? We will see what turns up on y radar.

I am also looking at some types of aquatic moss, like Versicularia ferrieii or the one called Christmas Moss, cannot remember Latin. I have Versicularia dubyana in my metre long aquarium that grows quite well and may have some in the garden, I may use that? It can grow out of water too and changes to look like a normal Moss. Might use it to cover the last bits of plastic.

Also I am not too happy with some of the cork tiles showing either ... a little too much in places. I might attach a plant, or plants, that will sort of drape down the back. Weeping Fig or similar?

Doing this caused me some hassle with my ... afflictions, lol. But that is to be expected when something you do not see for years that you want suddenly becomes available!

I might have had to wait another couple of years or travel to a show in Europe to acquire these Pyrenean Fire Salamanders myself. Provided they were the right form that is. The other forms are nice ... but these are just so much bigger and better looking and have more yellow.

Trust me when I say I got the runts of the pack as many had been offered what was available before I got mine.

Maybe a year from now I might have many youngsters to grow on and periodic updates ... or more correctly 'uploads' of films to YouTube to show this will be taking place?

I do not know if I will add any other species to this terrarium ... it is possible but to have something I find interesting enough to buy that likes this environment will be ... rare. Young European Tree Frogs or better Stripeless Tree Frogs, Hyla meridionalis, is the only real possibility.

I do like some of the Ensatina's from North America and the Painted one, escholtzii, would be damned nice!

Hmm and another cage set up for Atelopus? Damn it! No, no, no! Not yet anyway, lol. God knows where I would get a hold of Atelopus! Had some years ago, love the things.

It is a bad time of year to find anything else.

However I would like to go to Europe in the Spring, 2016, and meet a few people and bring back a few select species. Need a bigger house, though!

Remember water, or rather where you get it, is vital to keeping the plants, or at least many of them, growing and healthy. Rain water collected into a large container using a device that costs around £6 to £8 and attaches to your drain pipes, if they are plastic that is. Then add a little liquefied Seaweed plant feed.

If I can use Seaweed on Orchids with great effect then you can use it on anything. I also use the Seaweed and the Orchid food in my aquarium, much to one brother's shock. No chemicals you see.

Anyway here is the video of the almost finished article ..

BUILDING A TERRARIUM FOR SALAMANDERS (Part 2 of 3)

Still bored stiff ... still waiting for something to happen that keeps failing to occur.

Wonder if I should just call it? Time is running out but that is still counted in weeks, just about, lol. I have been thinking about this weekend a great deal. Maybe I sense something, perhaps?

Well I was at it again due to the boredom.

Doing this really did me some damage and after I id this second piece I had a pain in my left leg but till went out into the mud and wet to get the last bits!

So I place a layer of bark chips on the bottom and then cover that with mos peat. I then put a third layer and mix that up with peat surface areas with leaf litter, oak and beech, and bark chip surface areas.

The pond and bog to the right, made using two different size Stewart humidity trays, without drain holes of course. The pond now has a rock and a small piece of cork so insects can climb out. This way they do not all die in the water fouling it up.

More moss covered wood was found and placed within it.

I add some more bits that will more or less finish it off, short of a couple specific types of plant, in the third part. Unfortunately I had everything there ready to film and my camera battery died. Odd as I was sure it was full a few days beforehand?

So the third film I am just going to show the whole thing before zooming in and panning round to show the last bits I added.

If I manage to get the other couple plant types I will do another short video of them, maybe me adding them in if I remember?

The Pyrenean Fire Salamanders are what live in this terrarium which is 100cm x 46cm and probably about 50cm tall. Hmm ... about 52cm to be more accurate, lol.

BUILDING A TERRARIUM FOR SALAMANDERS (Part 1 of 3)

I am awaiting something to happen.

While waiting I am finding myself bored to absolute death! The weather is being a right bitch and I have not been able to go out cycling. I really do not know what is going on with the weather it is so bloody miserable and has been for so long. There has been one day of sunshine in weeks and it looked weird when I did get it.

However I found myself, or rather bought, acquiring a couple of pairs of Giant Pyrenean Fire Salamanders, Salamandra salamandra fastuosa. I had not foreseen these being offered to me and after selling off a pair to a Fire Salamander and Axolotl loving friend of mine years ago I had to get them.

Not seen them in ten years and probably would not for another ten years!

I was not happy with the aquarium/terrarium I had placed them in and was on the lookout for something much bigger.

A bow fronted aquarium appeared in a friend's pet shop and another friend talked me into getting it and a bit bigger than I was after too. It measure one metre long by 40 to 50 cm tall and 46 cm in width. I then realised I could use the height to pile up some logs of wood and cork bark for them to have plenty of hidey holes and choice of homes so bought it.

The friend who talked me into it was excited because he wanted to see what I would do with it, knowing I had flair for design and do so well with my amphibians, orchids, mosses and other things.

While I was picturing how I would set it up in my head I thought it would be a good idea and maybe informative to video myself setting it up.

I did this after glueing three cork sheets onto the back glass and some wood, cork and bark chips glued onto that to have like a tree trunk looking back wall.

It is almost finished now and I only really want to add what they call a Button Fern plant to the terrarium. I might add some orchids?

There is a pond area and surrounding that is a bog area and I use a couple of different size Stewart seed trays to achieve that.

I also have a Rabbit Tracks Prayer Plant in there with a couple of Alpine plants, Thymus and one that smells of Pepper ... or was it Peppermint? I forget.

Some local Moss and Lichen covered logs were collected to adorn the terrarium along with some dried Oak and Birch leaves scattered about to good effect.

Oh and there is another type of fern I cannot recall the name of, lol.

I will make remarks about what I do with certain things in the videos so if your not clued up and want to know things then I would listen carefully.

For instance most people do not think about things like light and even water, water is just water right? Wrong! If you want to keep the plants, mosses and lichen growing and looking good then you have to get the right type of water.

For instance Mosses grown on wood mostly or on patches where there is little nutrients and food. It grows in grass a lot because grass gobbles up most of the feed and nutrients. You get it in your guttering and can have it on your roof too. So ask yourself what does it get where it is?

Rain water. This has no salts in it that tap water is loaded with, like lime, calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Each of which it is not that fond of.

To give you an example ... Drosera or Sundews just like Venus Fly Traps, cannot remember latin name, will die if given tap water. They have to have rain water or reverse osmosis water which has little to nothing in it. Because it lives in places where there is so little fertilizer and nutrients that it has evolved to eat insects to get them!

That is why they are called and are carnivorous plants. They are one extreme and then you can go all the way to the other extremes and find plants that love hard, alkaline soils and substrates.

Mosses and lichens are not truly plants as such but their likes with water are more down the Carnivorous Plants end of the spectrum. They also need some light too. All plants need light, even aquatic ones as well as seaweed.

So I use rain water.

Anyhoo I did some videos and here is one I uploaded ...

GIANT BANDED FIRE SALAMANDER (EATING A SLUG)

Well been a long time since I had these guys and I am so glad I have them again.

I love Fore Salamanders and this form of Salamandra salamandra fastuosa (giant form) is fantastic and one of the top three or four Fire Salamanders for looks, colour and pattern.

I have a few other videos I am going to do on these and some Giant Fire Bellied Toads (Grobina (Bombina) maximaa) another Bombina and some Parsley Frogs (Pelodytes punctatus) among others.

I went out and collected some slugs to give these a treat as these guys love them and can smell the thing even. I saw one male out and him nose own with the scent and did not think immediately to grab the camera. I then started filming and you could not see the salamander so I then stopped filing and grabbed a pen that had a torch built in to be able to see him.

Here is the video of him devouring a slug ...