Building a pond in an existing glass terrarium

[Randysoccerdude]

I have a Chinese water dragon and I was looking at building a pond and water fall for him. The Terrarium he is in is a 40 gal. glass All Living Things Reptile Terrarium. Does any body have any idea of what to do?

[Waterkeeper]

First of all... Welcome to the board!

I'm not familiar with the dimentions of anything "all living things" makes..
dragons love the water... I would consider making atleast 1/2 to 3/4 of a 40gal water.
you can always make the famous false bottom, or you can silicone in a piece of glass as a divider. I am still super fond of the whisper in-tank filters for easy waterfalls that filter well. browse through the posts here that say "xx gallon build" and steal some ideas. my post at the top of the forum "44 hex" will show you some ideas for background, false bottoms, and waterfall.

be creative and even try something new! there is always help, criticism(usually positive) and advice along the way here on the forum.
whatever you do, make your water deep enough for him to kick around in it a little bit, and find a way to filter it.

[Randysoccerdude]

Thanks for the idea I'm still foggy on the false bottom and how to build it.

[froggsong]

hmmmm, my CWD spends most of his time on land or on a branch (although, they do of course love water) so I wouldn't recommend making quite that much of it water, unless you do it from side to side rather than front to back. I have a nice big pond for mine that he can fit his whole body in and submerge completely. It is about 1/4 of the tank, in the back left corner. You can either silicone plexi, lexan or glass to make a devider between your land and water areas, or you can do a FB, which will keep your water fresh longer. OR, you can do what I currently have and use a tub. I'm sure there are pics of it up somewhere on the forum... I'll find one later. It's really easy to clean that way though, especially since they poop so much, and always in the water.

Now, if you build a topper for the tank (you should, they need more height than a 40G offers once they get to a juvenile size), then by all means, do at least half of the bottom with water, and offer tons of branches to climb on, and even some ledges. Just keep in mind, a CWD needs at least twice his length tall and wide (up and down and across) and once deep (from front to back).

[Randysoccerdude]

Thanks for the great ideas I'm thinking about a fb but i dont really understand the idea or how to make one.

[Waterkeeper]

The white eggcrate shown in the bottom of the tank is the False Bottom. it is elevated to keep the soil above the water table.




in these 2 pics you can see how the false bottom was cut back to allow the animal access to the water that will flow below the substrate. you can create a sharp drop off like I did, or create a beach for them to climb up on.



here you can see how the "land" part of your terrarium will reside above a tank that is covered in water..

[froggsong]

you are basically building a shelf for your substrate and plants to sit on, with water underneath.

Like this:
PLANTS
SUBSTRATE
SCREEN
EGG CRATE
WATER

OR, OPTIONALLY,
PLANTS
SUBSTRATE
SCREEN
LECA
SCREEN
EGG CRATE
WATER

It isn't very hard once you get the gist of it. I actually built one a long time ago for my newt before I knew what it was, lol.

All you are doing is raising the soil out of the water table with a shelf that allows sufficient drainage and leaving a hole in the shelf and the soil for a pond.

[froggsong]

I forgot to say in my first post that my CWD is in a 40G "breeder" tank currently, which probably has the same dimensions as your tank. Roughly 36"L x 18"W x 17"H, right?

[Randysoccerdude]

Thanks for that info how could i do the glass divider where he would still be able to get into the water?

[Waterkeeper]

you could silicone aquarium gravel to the piece of glass and mount the divider at a 30 deg angle or so...... or create a "beach" out of something else like the eggcrate or even use a nice piece of drift wood setup properly.
glass divider only needs to be 3-4" tall right?