Since we recently downsized to only a single, albeit 120 gallon, fish tank, I was shopping for a new hobby. Although Grant lobbied hard for constructing little wooden model ships, I was unimpressed. Which brings us to the topic of today’s post: building a vivarium.

For those of you who are uninitiated, a vivarium is somewhere in the gray area between a terrarium, which is a dry to humid reptile-slash-amphibian-slash-insect habitat, and a palludarium, which is something like a glass tank full of water with an island in the middle. The vivarium usually has a significant land mass, lots of tropical plants, and a “water feature” such as a running stream or pond. Since we happened to have a spare 55 gallon aquarium, I converted it to a vivarium. See the gallery. 

Last weekend we populated it with some plants from the local nursery, and right now I am working on growing some moss for groundcover. I swiped the moss from Curtis Orchard and on campus. However, this is currently a point of contention, since Grant insists I need to grind up the moss in our blender with some beer and sugar and smear it all over the place, whereas I think that sounds totally gross and ridiculous! I’ll let you know who wins in the end. Also undecided is what to put in the viviarium. Poison dart frogs are a possibility (no, they are not poisonous in captivity) but we’ll see. Frogs are pretty expensive, and after losing the $40.00 sailfin (Pootie) tang   I am hesitant to buy a new small, fragile pet. I was thinking about just catching a praying mantis and keeping it in there, to replace the dear mantis shrimp that I lost. Any suggestions?