Well, after
lots of reading on here, I went ahead and constructed my new habitat for Long-tailed grass lizards (Taydromus sexlineatus). I posted some closeups of them on the lizards forum here, as well. I went with just an aquarium-type photo background on the outside of the tank as it looks good and it's easy to keep the tank clean. Flase bottom (eggcrate and screening), followed by a substrate consisting of coco-fibre, "forest mulch" (made for reptiles) and organic soil. A small group of earthworms was established in this mix. I had cleaned the roots of all of the plants and transplanted them to this soil mix to let them establish themselves before landscaping them into the tank. Plants include: Peace lily, various ivys, snake plant (mother-in-law's tongue), bamboo, etc., plus some lovely little wild violets that make a great low layer and are quite nice little plants. I gathered wood and rocks from my (organic) property and sterilized them well. Landscaping was fun as I was able to construct some little hills with mopani wood and soil. I added a "temple" and little statue to give it an ancient jungle look. Lighting, etc. was added. Anyway, long story short(er), here are some pics:
Not a great photo, but gives an idea of the tank as a whole:
The "cooler" side of the tank, showing violets in right hand corner:
A peek at the statue on the warmer side of the tank:
Roaul and Gypsy (two of the three lizards) basking near the temple and statue:
A shot of some of the plants:
New 40-gallon makeover
Linear Mode
