Limited Guest Access ... Welcome to the Vivarium Forums. You are currently viewing our boards as a GUEST, which gives You very limited access and no posting privileges. Register and gain full access to everything on the site. Vivarium Forum membership is completely free with no tricks or gimmicks. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support.
Today I finally figured out how to add categories to the Articles section. I also removed the irrelevant posts. All of the comment threads for the deleted articles still remain in the forum, I will get them moved into the appropriate sections eventually.
We now have several sections to post articles, including a Miscellaneous section for any articles that don't fit into a category. I know that this is something that we all wanted, so let's get to work creating that content!
Unfortunately, the "Articles" link in the Site Menu does not show the updates. However, you can access the new sections via the "TOPICS" block on the lower right side of the home page, articles page, and blog page (it may be present on other pages as well, but I know for sure it is on all of those pages). I will be PMing Marty shortly to see if he can fix this problem.
Marty has made lots of new changes, alot of which most of us are already becoming familiar with. I'm not sure if all of you are aware, we now have the ability to create "social groups". Any user can create one, so if you think of a relevant group to create, please feel free to do so! I have created a group for our most active members, as well as a group for those of us who breed our own feeders. I will also create a group for those of us that keep mixed tanks; it will be a safe place for us to discuss it without fear, because joining will be by invite only. So, any of you that keep mixed tanks, please PM me to let me know you want to join. Currently, I'm not sure of a direct way to access the social groups, but I know that it can be done by going to your UserCP, clicking on "Your Profile", and then on the right side, there will be a block called "Group Memberships" with a link that says "Join Social Groups". I hope we can utilize this new part of the site. If you haven't gotten a look at the new profiles yet, this is a good excuse to do so, the profile pages are so much better than they used to be.
That's all I can think of for now, keep watching for more site news!
Waiting for the right time to transfer my RETF into his new home, I developed a slightly nasty bug overpopulation in my 44 gallon hex that was finding it's way into the rest of my home.
searching for a good form of Organic pest control I found only 2 real options, and only 1 that would really DESTROY the problem overnight (or in 1 hour).
blast the tank with CO2.. Dry Ice Insecticide!
I had a problem. I needed a new enclosure for my corn snake because I needed to turn the heat down in the house, without him getting too cold. I didn't have anything I could use that wouldn't melt from a lamp, and I didn't want to buy a small glass tank just to have to upgrade again soon. I needed to get it done fast, and get it done cheap, so no flexwatt or heaters. Here's what I came up with, and how you can do it too.
There have been a couple of requests for a how-to on how I built the hides for my BP (ball python), so I decided to write up an article on how to build them. The best thing about these hides is that you can make them look different on the outside without the worry that the snake will choose one hide over the other, sacrificing thermoregulation for security, because they will be identical on the inside and the doors will be in the same place on each hide.
Here's the story of my dartfrog rack construction. It took me a while to figure things out and to plan everything, so there would be no surprises later. You can click on the images to get larger views. Warning, there's are a lot of images in this post, so be patient if you have a slower connection. I made this rack with several key ideas in mind. I wanted to create as maintenance free setup as possible. I didn't want to become a slave of my own hobby and keep maintaining my tanks constantly. At the same time I wanted to have as close of a habitat replication as possible. This was my dream list... I wanted it all !
Automated Misting System. Misting several times per day, for less then 1 minute per misting cycle
Worry free draining. When there is too much water from all the misting, I wanted all 10 tanks to take care of themselves
Ventilation - I wanted high humidity (90%+), yet I wanted to see everything inside without any fog on the front
Full view, I didn't want to see any hinges or latches or anything else in the fronts of the tanks obstructing the views of the vivarium. No door in the front.
My misting system had to be maintenance free, I didn't want to keep adding water to it, or worry that it will run dry - ever !
Some type of a feeding door, so I wouldn't have to open the front to feed the frogs. It would save them some stress and reduce possibility of escape and make things easier for me.
Keeping the cleaning of the front glass to a minimum
Necessity, mother of invention. Below is a description of a method I came up with after my vivarium got heavily infested with millipedes. This will most likely apply to any pests. Read on, you might find it useful.
This was my 90gal diamond shaped prior to the Operation Jungle Fever . Millipedes got so bad that I could count hundreds of them crawling all over the tank...it was disgusting!!! I did not want to rip my tank apart because I sunk a lot of work and money into making the background and water features, foggers, lights, etc. I embedded tubes and wires in the background, plus things were healthy and well rooted and growing beautifully.
I wanted to kill only millipedes and a few slugs, but nothing else. Pesticides and chemicals were out of the questions, since I kept dart frogs in the tank. Eventually they would go back into the tank.
I started experimenting with carbon dioxide - CO2. It is heavier then air, thus easy to put into a tank. Any bug will eventually need air, so I figured it will die without any oxygen... Plants love CO2. After the procedure the tank would just need to be vented for a little bit to replace the air. Seemed there would be no downside!
I looked into getting a CO2 tank, but it turned out too expensive and not worth the hassle.... I used dry ice, which is compressed, solid form of carbon dioxide.
Here's what I did....I'm extremely excited, because my idea worked flawlessly for me and I'd recommend it to anyone with similar problem. You can do the same thing with a single orchid, by either putting it into an empty Tupperware container. No reason, why it wouldn't work. Post back if you try it.
I was a bit concerned with using dry ice, because I was afraid it will lower the temp and kill my plants in the process, so I took a few precautions.
Forums