Add a commercial ABG mix (Atlanta Botanical Garden recipe) or DIY: 1 part tree fern fiber, 1 part peat moss, 1 part coco coir, 1 part charcoal (for filtration), and 1 part orchid bark. This drains fast but holds humidity.
Plant hardy tropicals: Neoregalia bromeliads (for frog water cups), Pilea (creeping vines), Ficus pumila (wall cover), and Selaginella (spike moss). Let plants establish for 4 weeks before adding animals. Vivarium
However, once established, a vivarium offers something no other pet enclosure can: You become a curator of ecosystems, not a zookeeper. Add a commercial ABG mix (Atlanta Botanical Garden
A fine mesh screen that keeps the soil from mixing with the drainage layer. Let plants establish for 4 weeks before adding animals
NEHERP - The most complete vivarium building articles online!
Even experienced aquarists fail at vivariums due to these three errors:
By the end of Vivarium , Gemma burns the house down. It doesn't matter. The structure regenerates. Tom dies in the hole he dug. Gemma is buried in the garden. The boy—now a fully grown, identical copy of the missing real estate agent—takes a new, unsuspecting couple to Yonder. He shows them house #9.