Rhacodactylus ciliatus viv

[Deej:)]

I just got a 30gal terrarium, I am planning on putting some Rhacs in it. Do they need a waterfall or will misting be fine, as far as live plants or fake go what works best, what the hell is this Great Stuff how does it work and where do i get some, i would love to creat a sweet background basically would a live viv be better than a regular fake settup for the animal. I am trying to give my animals the healthiest and happiest possible lives. thanks.

[islandvivs]

Well you can put a crested Pair in a 30 gallon....My breeder tanks used to be 35 gallon or so (I had 60 odd diff sub species of adult Rhacs a few years back and a lot of juvi's and babies)... Anyways heavy misting, couple times a day is fine, specially if you have a terrarium with live plants. ON the question of fake or live plants. it all depends on your goals. When i had all my animals i kept them in very simple cages with paper towel as subtrate and a few fake vines with sticks to climb..... Since you are thinking of making a terrarium, ill say go for live plants, as for substrate i personally would use well packed peat moss/sphagnum moss. Thus decreasing the chanes of impaction. Also dont forget to put a layer of LECA or gravel before you add your substrate. Some of the plants you can put are:
creeping fig
fern
pothos
spider plants
gold tip Selaginella (s. kraussina)
red Selaginella (s. erythropus)
Some tall branches to climb on and you are well on your way.

Great stuff is the liquid expanding foam you use to fill in gaps between doors or windows for better insulation. It can be bought at home depot, Lowe's, Rona and in some cases ive heard even at Walmart.
Crested do well in planted natural vivs but i dunno if its better than a fake plant setup (cuz no doubt the fake plant setup on paper is more safer for the Crested) Ive kept crested's in both kind of setup's with no problem. Although one thing for sure, a nice planted vivarium with cresteds is definately a beautiful sight.

Some things to keep in mind:
1- donot keep male and female together all year long, as the female's need some alone time to regain calcium level after egg laying.
2- donot keep two males together. You theoritically can in a big enough cage, but why even try when you know theres a chance of something bad happening
3- Since you are keeping animals in a live viv, remember if they start breeding the female will lay the egg in the substrate, so you might have to do some digging around.
4- I personally fed them every day, one day dusted appropriate size insects and the next day fruit baby food mixed with repashy diet.
5- I always kept some calcium powder in all my female's tanks. Just giving them a chance to self regulate their intake. You dont have too but the guy i learned everything from did, so did I.

Lemme know if you need any more info.

[Deej:)]

Thanks allot i will let ya know how it goes i get paid pretty soonthanks again it is so nice having input on this kinda stuff.