I Made a Jungle Terrarium For a Tiny Frog, Here’s How!

in this video I'm going to make a lush planted ecosystem for a tiny adorable tree frog be sure to stick around to the end is going to be a good [Music] one here's the glass tank that I'll be using I built it myself and it measures 45x 30X 60 shout out to Troy Goldberg as I followed his tutorial to build this Euro star V Varian I'll put a link below so you can check it out as regular viewers may know I have had this tank set up before but it's been a few years and I've learned a lot since then so I think it's about time for a rescape I thought I'd save you the hassle with watching me take it down and clean it all up the tank has got two sliding doors with a vent along the top and another vent along the bottom for good airf flow to get started I'm going to remove the glass doors and get to work on the background what I'm going to use is some compressed cork panels they're relatively inexpensive and not too hard to get a hold of I've never used them before but I think they have the potential of looking really good I've already cut down the back pan panel so now I'm going to use a ruler to measure out the sides I'm now placing it on the floor marking out the length and cutting it down I'll leave links to all the materials I use for this build in the description and in the pin comment when it comes to the background in a vivarium like this one I always like it to be on the dark aside as I think it looks more natural obviously they'll be sitting higher on the glass but they all fit in perfectly now I'm going to go ahead and secure them in place with some silicone it's important to use 100% silicone or silicone that's advertised as fish or aquarium safe with a generous amount of silicone on the glass I can go ahead and place in the cork panel and press it down into place I'm placing on some heavy objects and leaving it for about an hour or so the silicone does take 24 hours to cure but after an hour it's dried enough that I can move on to the next side I'm going to repeat the same process until all three panels are fitted in [Music] place it's the next day and the silicone is fully cured so let's start talking about the hard scope I've got this absolutely amazing piece of wood that I got from my local fish shop I'm placing in a plastic tub which is roughly how high the substrate will go up to and then getting a feel of how the wood looks in the tank I don't know about you but I really feel like it resembles an old ancient tree so that's the look I'm going to go for now I know roughly where the wood is going to go I want to make the background a little less flat and boring I've cut up some leftover cork panels and I'm going to use them to add a little bit more depth and interest to The Hardscape for now I'm temporarily attaching them in place with some toothpicks just to get a general idea of where I want them to [Music] go now I'm happy with their placement let's get them locked down into place what I'll be using is this Gorilla Glue it forms an extremely strong bond and once dry it's completely safe for live plants and animals a light missing of water helps it cure and it does expand so you don't actually need to apply too much with the pieces in I'm going to place on some heavy rocks and then let it cure for a couple hours I'll save you some time and get on with gluing the rest of the panels off [Music] camera with everything glued in place it's time to make the background look a bit more natural I've got a drill with a wire brush on the end to do this I'm tearing up the cork panel to give it more depth texture and interest you can do this by hand with a wire brush some pliers and a knife but it does take a lot more time I'm making sure to go around the edges of the pieces I glued on and make them naturally taper onto the background once you're done they shouldn't look like separate pieces that have been glued on before cleaning up the tank and taking it back inside I'm going to collect up some of the cork panel shavings as they'll come in handy later here's the cork panels all carved down and I'm really happy with how it looks it certainly doesn't have to be perfect as a lot of it's going to be covered up with plants and a hardcap [Music] anyway I've got a few small pieces of wood which I want to attach to the cork Bo these will add more detail and provide a place to mount plants onto later on after experimenting with their placement I'm going to glue them in place with the superlu and tissue method I'm going to add multiple points of contact just to make sure it's nice and strong and not going to go anywhere now I'll glue this one on the right side and a few other pieces around the tank with these pieces securely locked down I want to take The Hardscape to another level I want to create the look of roots growing down over all the sides of the background I'm not completely sure how it's going to turn out but I think it has the potential of looking good especially when the tank is planted the wood I'm using to create this look is SP with branches I'm really trying to make them intertwin with The Hardscape as best as possible to try and create a natural looking ecosystem a couple hours have passed and I've managed to get the left side and the back done despite it being an extremely tedious process I'm absolutely loving how it's looking now although the branches look like they're single pieces they're actually made up of multiple smaller ones obviously it would be much easier if they were single branches but sometimes you got to work with what you've got I'm constantly trimming and glue in the branches to make them naturally lead into one another it is timec consuming but I'm hoping the end result will be worth it here's all the branches in and it's safe to say I'm really happy that I went ahead with this idea what do you think is it too much or do you think it will add to the natural look of the tank let me know in the comments one thing that's certainly not looking natural is all the glue joints between the wood and the [Music] background to cover up all the glue marks I'm going to use some liquid type super glue and some of the shavings that I collected from the background earlier I'm simply applying the glue on the area I want to cover up and then sprinkling on some shavings after brushing off the excess you can see that it creates a seamless and natural looking joint I'll go ahead and repeat the same process until all the glue marks are covered up I've taken the tank back outside and I'm giving it a really good spray down after draining out the water and bringing it back inside it's now time to get it in place on the rack it's going to sit here in between the pr mantis tank and my D frog V Varian with it on the rack it's finally time to move on with the build and get the drainage layer in what I'll be using is this Co filter foam I'm taking some measurements and then cutting the foam down to size the benefit of using this for the drainage layer is that it's extremely light in comparison to rocks and stones if I ever needed to move the tank using this makes makes it much easier in a setup like this it's extremely important that there's a way to drain water out from the drainage layer this here is a quick and easy workaround to drilling a hole in the tank at the bottom I've cut slots which will allow water to flow into it I'll then place it in the corner of the tank and whenever I want to drain out the water I'll place in some Airline tubing and siphon it out I've got the same setup on my dark frog tank which is just past 3 years old and it's still working great I do recommend placing a cork on the top to to stop things like substrate and plant matter blocking up the hole now the drainage layer is complete I can place in the substrate barrier I'm using some window screen mesh but some weed blocker fabric also works well this layer will help prevent the substrate from getting down into the drainage layer next up I'm going to add a layer of crushed charcoal now I don't usually do this as I have the charcoal in my substrate mix but I thought for this build I'll add it anyway the purpose of charcoal in an ecosystem like this one is to remove impurities from the water next up is the substrate this is my terrarium soil mix which I use for pretty much all my builds I'll put the components up on screen now and I'll have links in the description as well it holds moisture is resistant to compression provides nutrients for the plants and it's well draining I'm pouring in a generous amount and then gently compressing it down into place with my hand with the substrate in I can now place in the main Hardscape element I'm using a small piece of wood to help prop it up which also looks like a root at the base now it's nice and stable I'm going to add some more substrate in behind it after adding a few final touches here's the complete Hardscape I'm extremely happy with how it's turned out and I think it makes a great skeleton that can be brought to life with plants talking about plants let's get the planting started with these broads these are perfect for a tree frog setup as the frogs love to take shelter in the leaves these plants are epit so they don't need to be planted in the sub and they can simply be mounted on the wood I'm wedging the first one in behind the tree and then I'm going to mount another on the right side to hold it in place I'm firstly going to apply some gel type superglue once dry it can hold the plant up but it certainly won't be strong enough to hold it once it's full of water to ensure it doesn't fall off I'm also going to wrap it with some thread with time it will grow anchoring Roots which will hold it in place now the bromeliads are in let's move on to some climbing plants this is a long cut of MCG gravia C tenesi I'm using some scissors to trim it up into multiple cuttings which are plant throughout the tank as I said this is a climbing plant so I'm making sure to plant it in areas where it has room to climb up the background I'm using some stainless steel staples to pin the plant down onto the cork panel next I'm going to add some spum Moss underneath it which will really help it root and start growing these stem cuttings will send out new shoots around the top leaves which will grow up the background this can takes some time especially when plants are acclimated to a new setup if you're enjoying this video so far be sure to give it a like as it does really help out next up I've got another MCG gravia species which I propagated on this tree fern panel instead of pulling it off the panel and potentially damaging the plant I'm just going to plant it as it is I think these smaller MCG gravier cuttings will look really good growing up the base of the wood I'm hoping they'll slowly grow and creep up the base and look like they do in my pre and mantis terrarium I really think this look will add a natural feeling to the tank talking about this tank some of the plants are getting a bit overgrown so I'm going to take some cuttings and put them to use this climbing plant is solanum Ecuador and it has these stunning Brown tinted leaves when using the Staples to pin the plants down I'm making sure to leave some wiggle room as the last thing you want is to damage the stems this next Plant to go in is one of my favorites this is faden and varicosum it's got these amazing green velvet leaves which do grow to a relatively good size once established this plant will be one of the main features of this tank I'm keeping the ryome above the substrate and then covering the roots with some spagnos after giving the tank a good spray down I'm going to plant this singian it's not looking in the best shape but I'm hoping it'll recover and grow well in the tank I'm planting the ryome on some spum moss and then using toothpick to pin it down into place up next is's another filad dendrin species but this one will stay much smaller than the varicosum as I'm sure you can tell I'm trying to use a wide variety of plants to make this tank look like a true natural ecosystem in my opinion a mix of leaf shape size texture and color is always going to add to the natural look of a tank this here is a small Leaf climbing plant known as Oak Leaf creeping fig I think it will add some really nice detail growing on the ancient looking tree when planting plants away from the substrate it's always a good idea to provide something that will hold moisture and help them grow I always find that a small patch of spum must works great planting a tank like this does take a while so I do like to give it a light spray down every now and then I think some moss and plants growing up on top of this wooden Branch will look really good same as before I'm wedging in some spagna Moss followed by a few cuting of Oakleaf creeping fig now this next planting method is a bit of an experiment so I'm really not sure if it's going to work I've wrapped the base of this fireus in some spagna moss and I'm going to wedge it in the top of the tank I'm hoping this will help jump start the plants growing in and filling out the background before adding any Moss to the tank I firstly want to add some Leaf litter I'm starting by breaking up some Indian almond leaves on top of the Indian almond leaves I'm going to place in these Mangrove leaves I'm not breaking these ones up as I want them to look nice and natural these leaves not only make the tank look extremely natural but they also play a key role for the microa things like springtails and other small bugs will primarily use these leaves as their home and a source of food I really want the base of the tank to look like a forest floor so I'm going to go ahead and add some more detail I'm using some thread to wrap some spum Moss around this small piece of Driftwood now I'm going to take some Christmas moss and use some more thread to wrap it down onto the spum this is an aquatic species of moss that grows great in a setup like this however it really doesn't like to dry out so adding the spum Moss really helps it retain moisture I'll go ahead and cover some more pieces of Driftwood using the same method now I can freely place them at the bottom of the tank to add a nice pop of green amongst the leaf [Music] litter I'm going to place some more Christmas moss in a few select areas around the tank this is mainly in areas where it can sit on top of some spagna moss and is less likely to dry out with time as the tank establishes it will slowly creep and grow over the The Hardscape and background the tank is now fully planted and I'm absolutely loving how it looks before I can leave it and let it established there's a few more things that I need to do first now I'm going to install the mising system I've created this triple-headed mising output myself with some push fittings it's not too difficult at all and much cheaper than buying it readymade along with everything else I'll have a link to the push fittings in the description it's fully adjustable to point in any direction I want and it attaches to the top of the glass with some suction cups instead of having to drill a hole in the glass I've simply made a small hole in the mesh vent which I sandwich between with some push fittings I can then connect the other end which leads to a pump that powers the misting system for both of these tanks I've set the timer up to turn on twice a day for 15 seconds now you don't actually need a misting system and there's nothing wrong with doing it with a spray bottle but I already had it set up so I thought I might as well put it to use I'm not putting the frog in yet but some creat creatures that can go in now are the springtails in a setup like this one springtails truly are essential these tiny bugs will eat things like mold and decaying matter this food is then processed and pooped out in the form of fertilizer that the plants can use to grow they'll also completely take care of the frog poop so I actually never need to clean this tank to introduce them to this ecosystem I'm gently pulling back the leaf litter and pouring them underneath this is where they'll spend the majority of their time now before introducing grou the tree frog to his new home I'm going to put the slide indoors back on and let this ecosystem grow in and established for a couple [Music] months 4 months have passed and this bavarium has grown into a lush slice of nature for the most part it's been absolutely thriving and I think the plants truly speak for themselves I have made a few additions which I'll talk about shortly unfortunately the singian I planted at the base didn't make it but I decided to replace it with this stunning pepperona I'm almost glad that this happened as I absolutely love how this plant looks growing at the base of the tank another addition is this fine leafed green plant known as lops I only planted a couple patches and it sends out Runners which are slowly creeping around the tank my favorite new addition has got to be this Bonia it leaves are stunning and it does great in low light making it perfect for the shaded areas of this tank what other plants would you add as I'm open to suggestions let me know in the comments well although it's hard to see the mcgraa cuting are slowly creeping up the ancient tree an honorable mention has got to be the new growth on this MCG gravia umasa red I can't wait to see it climb all the way to the top of the background now I can't talk about plant growth without taking a look at the absolutely breathtaking filad dender and vericoin this plant is truly the centerpiece of the tank and I couldn't be happier with how it's doing as for the Christmas Moss planted around the tank is doing just as as well as I hoped it would it's growing nice and Compact and slowly spreading over The Hardscape not every plant has been thriving in this setup the experimental planting of The Ficus didn't seem to work out at first but it seems like there's some new growth coming so I've got my fingers crossed that's why I love setups like this as you can try new things and find out what [Music] works without further Ado it's finally time to introduce grou to his new tank he's a male hourglass tree frog and I've had him for about 3 and 1/2 years compared to other species of tree frogs he's absolutely tiny so this tank will be a mansion for him I am thinking about finding him a lady friend and even trying to get them to breed so we can have even more tiny adorable frogs let me know if this is something you'll be interested in seeing on the channel he really doesn't want to get off the leaf and he's just sitting there admiring this ecosystem that he can call home instead of forcing him off I'm going to place the leaf at the base of the tank and let him start exploring in his own time as for his diet I'll be feeding him a mix of fruit flies and small crickets I should mention that I have set up a low powerered UVB light that shines through the mesh at the top now I'm going to get the sliding doors back on just in time for the rain if you've got time I'd love to hear your opinions on this ecosystem in the comments below whether that's things you do differently or plants your dad I'm all is I really appreciate you making it to the end of this video don't forget to like And subscribe as it really helps out and as always thank you for watching

Channel: Terrarium Designs

Views: 114,961

Keywords: Tree frog vivarium, Tree frog terrarium, Frog ecosystem, Tree frog terrarium ecos, Hourglass tree frog, Clown tree frog, Tiny frog ecos, Bioactive terrarium, Bioactive frog ecosystem, Philodendron verucossum, Tree frog set up, Tree frog habitat, Tree frog tank, Terrarium for frogs, Large vivarium, Bioactive vivarium ecosystem, Marcgravia terrarium, How to make a vivarium, How to make a tree frog set up, How to make an ecosystem for a tree frog

Id: pRJAfq_ncU8

Length: 19min 10sec (1150 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2024