A. Premade Vivaria - usually very expensive

1. Vivarium systems

B. Kits - easy to assemble and take care of; generally don’t look as nice as a true vivarium

1. Viquarium
2. Cascading Creek
3. Rivertanks

C. Standard - soil or fake substrate, planted or decorated.  Has water dish or physical barrier between soil and water.

1. Secret is to get the right mixture of elements in a vivarium.  Don’t use fake decorations with a false bottom because the water will stagnate even with a pump.   This type of set-up requires a filter, not just a pump.

D. False Bottom - used for circulating water effects

1. Makeup- supported eggcrate, siphon hole, screen or floss to separate soil, soil, plants
2. hard to set up and break down for cleaning
3. should be generally self-supporting

E. Quarantine / Basic Tanks - Minimal foliage & decorations; easy to take apart and sanitize

1. isolate newly purchased or sick animals
2. Inexpensive starter tank

A. Backgrounds / backdrops

1. Premade

a) Fossil, rock walls
b) ceramic background/decoration structure
c) Pictures, foil, etc

2. Homemade

a) Water-wall
b) corkbark, coco panel, harvested wood

(1) be sure to silicone gaps and sprinkle with wood-chips
(2) some better than others for mounting epiphytes

c) glued rock

B. Substrate (the ground)

1. Artificial

a) Dried moss
b) gravel
c) wood chips
d) plain soil - generally not recommended

2. Living - generally consists of moss or low-lying ferns

a) requires soil mixture - generally well drained.  Beyond that opinions differ.  Can be purchase or made
b) Types of moss and ferns with pictures and vendors

A. Fluorescent
B. Types

1. Store bought
2. Ott-light
3. Home-made

A. Room temperature
B. Under-tank heater
C. heat rocks, caves, etc
D. basking lights
E. water heater

1. Can flow through water in false bottom set-up

A. Evaporative

1. Waterfalls
2. large body of water
3. abundance of plants
4. water walls
5. drip system (home-made)

B. Misting

1. Hand misters

a) spray bottles
b) garden sprayers

2. Ultrasonic fogger
3. Ultrasonic humidifier
4. Professional system

a) Pro-Fog
b) Rainmaker

C. Humidity meters

1. Zoo-med - seem to be most precise
2. digital is expensive

D. Lid covers

1. Saran wrap

a) can melt under lights
b) sticky and messy

2. drilled plexiglass

A. Aquarium

1. Standard - try to use taller ones to accommodate plants.
2. reptile cages - have slide out lids and are more secure.
3. River tanks
4. Awesome reptile aquariums.  Best "aquarium" - have vent-holes premade lid

B. Create-a-cage

1. Offers benefit of easy cleaning of walls
2. can be drilled to accommodate a drain.
3. feeding requires removal of entire lid and light fixture

C. Iguana-cages

A. Screen

1. Can be bought or made.  Use aluminum screening b/c crickets chew through fiberglass.  More difficult to have electric cords come out.

B. Glass

1. Nice to see through.  Requires some home-made sort of cover for back - screen and velcro works well.
2. nice b/c can fold.  Lets light through.  More durable.