r/Vivarium

Humidity never goes below 70%

Hello,
I built my first bio active about a year ago and it’s doing just alright. A crested lives there and when I built it out I included springtails and isopods.

Today I noticed these brown/black growths in the drainage layer. Any idea what they might be? And do I need to be concerned?

My first paludarium build and a big build at that.

In a 90 x 45 x 90 exo terra pro paludarium

A new home for 4 dainty tree frogs

Featuring several rare and irridescant terrarium plants.

The main log in the middle has a hose running to a pvc tube for the pump and acess to the pump, with the outlet hidden inside the log.

I'm very keen to see it establish and hopefully the plants and moss do well, I have a mistking system in the works but not set yet.

Please let me know what you think.

Any suggestions or questions are welcome

Thanks :)

Ok so long story shortish..... I had to make a new batch of substrate, the sand was left outside i didnt notice ants till later..I put terro bait on a plate for a bout a week (in the extra sub bin and viv) i couldn't find anymore ants....cut these branches put them in the viv noticed ants about 5 minutes later, (AFTER BOILING WTF) ... so then I soaked the branches in a kitty pool of bleach water for like 2 days, soaked fresh water for a couple days, put back in viv, screwed the branches together...still finding "sugar ants" ... what can I do????

Note: the viv is gassing off so there's nothing living except some plants.

Im not finding alot like there isnt a thick trail but im definitely concerned.

Hey all! I run a DIY terrarium kit business and I'm looking for advice from other business owners, terrarium or otherwise. My business has been surviving for almost 2 years, but thankfully it's a side gig that I'd like to be successful. Photos are of of some of my terrariums and my instructions/journal.

Quick rundown: I source jars from second-hand sources and sell them as part of kits that include everything: substrate, plants, moss, hardscape, and illustrated instructions I made. I'm pretty available for online support since I work from home. I also sell a terrarium tracking journal (I custom made and hand bound), and occasionally isopods and springtails as their numbers spike.

I mostly do a monthly pop-up at a co-op, but I've also done a reptile show this year (made costs and paid my helper) and have been pushing the idea of terrarium parties, which people seemed interested in but nobody's actually booked one yet. I took a break earlier this year due to a move, but I got back into it last weekend and sold a couple kits.

Where I'm stuck: I feel like I'm not finding the right customers. The pop-ups are fine, but I can tell I'm not reaching the people who would actually get what I'm doing. The reptile show didn't really work out as an audience either. I feel like people are interested, but I can't get them to convert. For kit's it's often expressed as hesitancy/fear, but I've done my very best to lower the bar as far as it can go without going insane. (and I personally think terrariums are far easier than houseplants) For the classes, the response from potential customers are so disproportionately large compared to the lack of actual response. I have even told potential customers that fit the type that I'm also happy to do a smoke/sip and build (I live in a legal state) and that response was huge, but no takers still.

I've done one craft show that felt like it was there to make a profit from selling table space, but I'm finding better venues now like the co-op. My pricing is $40 for medium kits and $60 for large, higher at pricier events. I'm phasing out the tiered of kits and just defaulting to large kits as "The terrarium kit". I feel good about it because the sourcing, assembly, and guide actually take real work.

What I'm working on:

-Getting into a local maker's market with a ren faire themed event

-Improving my table presentation

-Making video content without overthinking it

-Possibly selling online through Etsy or my own site (Nobody has this specific concept online and I've been afraid to talk about it in online communities for the reason that someone with more business savvy will destroy me, but I need help)

Big picture: I want to eventually leave my day job and move into custom enclosures and larger vivariums. My artistic goal is to have a large vivarium on display for the public. But first I need to figure out where my actual audience/customer base is. Pie in the sky dream is a shop (but that's a different post)

Any thoughts from people who run terrarium businesses? (or other businesses)

Happy to answer questions about my business and the journey if anyone is interested.

I have recently bought and built a habistat 60cm x 45cm x 60cm tank and have got the following items a heat matt, thermostat, 24W uvb 6% kit, substrate, clay pebbles for the drainage layer and some cork bark branches. I am going to get some Dendrobates auratus and some mourning geckos. Would I be able to use the attached photo as a layer between the substrate and drainage layer? What plants would you recommend for the bioactive enclosure? What kind of expanding foam and aquarium safe silicone would you recommend? How should I go about building the enclosure? Could I please have some useful tips. I don’t want to rush into this and create an inadequate vivarium for either creature. I have watched some videos on creating an enclosure but would like some different perspectives. Any advice is much appreciated thanks in advance.

title is a joke 😞 it’s for my crestie, geck.

also, does anyone have any insight on geckos in uni accommodations? i’ll be going to uni soon and not sure if i’ll have to rehome :(

this is my first ever bioactive setup. it’s been doing for 2 weeks now but the plants are looking like they’re dying and they’re not growing at all. it is for a crested gecko in September so I have time to fix it. do you think it has enough hardscape and climbing areas for a crested gecko. I am adding more plants in the summer too. thank you all!

No spiders or scorpions please, not because I am scared of them but because they are not allowed in the house (freaks my parents out)

I’m sure my options are pretty limited but I’d love to hear you guys’ thoughts!

Need help trying to figure out the best temperature and way to look after our ball python Hades.

We’ve had him a couple months and my partner put a lot of time and money into converting a Ikea Fabrikator display case for him to live in, it’s only temporary because he will outgrow it but we really wanted to try and make something nice for him and potentially house smaller snakes in the future.

Our issue is that he only seems to stay at the top where the heat lamp is and never ventures very far, the temperature never seems quite right and no matter how hard we try the humidity never seems right either!

Any help would be appreciated so we can do our best to look after are favourite scaly boy

Saw this setup at my local zoo today, they were raising endangered corroboree frogs in a whole lot of smaller tanks like this one 🐸

I’d like to make something like this on a smaller scale.

From what I could see the only substrate is pebbles with the plants growing directly into them. There was no visible soil.

Is this setup as simple as it looks? How are the plants thriving if there’s no soil?

They had misters setup. Would you need to hide a pump in there if it’s that wet?