Top Tips To Decorating A Vivarium
19 Mar 2010
Keeping reptiles is great fun and very rewarding but keeping pet reptile does require a little effort in looking after your pet. You have to consider a lot of things first before deciding to keep a reptile. There are different types of reptiles, therefore, their living conditions vary accordingly. It is very important to know the living conditions of a reptile to ensure its health and survival. Reptiles that live in their natural habitat are often well and healthy. Thus, a reptile vivarium should be able to imitate that of a reptile’s natural habitat.
For this to happen, you have to build and decorate your reptile vivarium that is very similar to its habitat. But first you have to know what type of reptile you are keeping as this will determine how you will decorate your reptile vivarium. You have to know the general types of reptiles, which are the following:
1. Arboreal reptiles
These are known as the tree-dwelling reptile. They are usually found resting on vines or tree branches. To decorate vivariums of arboreal reptiles, make sure that the enclosure you are using stand vertically in order to make room for tall plants to grow. You can put wood or thick branches to give your reptile a lot of resting place. You can put plants and vines on your vivarium to make to look more like a forest.
2. Terrestrial reptiles
They are also known as land-walkers. These reptiles are most often found on semi-desert or arid areas. When decorating terrestrial vivariums, the temperatures should be the same as the temperature the reptiles are used to. Decorate a terrestrial vivarium with branches and plenty of rocks to give it an arid look. A cave would also work great for your reptile.
3. Aquatic reptiles
These are the reptiles that live in water. The vivarium of this kind of reptile should be decorated with plenty of water, and a lot of rocks as well so they can have something to rest on whenever they want to get out of water. A waterfall is certainly beautiful and will look great in your aquatic vivarium.
4. Semi-aquatic reptiles
These are the reptiles live in both land and water. When decorating its home, make sure there should be enough space to accommodate the aquatic set-up and the land set-up. Digging a small ditch and adding enough water in your substrate to make it look like a pond would be great. Decorating the land portion with a lot of plants and moss will give it a rainforest look.
5. Fossorial reptiles
These reptiles are burrowers. They love to dig and stay below the ground. The substrate for these reptiles should be deep enough for them to have a room to burrow. Make sure that you don’t put heavy rocks on top of the substrate as this may pose risk to the safety of your reptile when its burrow collapses.
Decorating your reptile vivarium is up to your own creativity. As long as you meet the living conditions your reptile needs, you can never go wrong. A fully decorated reptile vivarium will keep your reptile home away from home. And seeing your reptile in that beautifully decorated vivarium is indeed very rewarding.
