Posted by:
Brock
at Sat Apr 22 21:18:37 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Brock ]
It can be done....
At a hiiiiiiiiigh price. But, if you are willing to pay it, then go for it. Once I'm well off and all that financial stuff, I plan on designing a very very very large room to keep chameleons and some other reptiles and amphibians in. It would have to be outside in a yard, not even a room but a 'building' of sorts.
I went to the botanical pyramids in Edmenton (or maybe it was Calgary) in Alberta, and I got a lot of inspiration from how they have it designed there. If you can go to tropical botanical gardens, do, and you'll see the size and scale and amount of plants you'd need. They have these large glass pyramids that are botanical gardens, with hundreds and thousands of plants and trees youd find in a rainforest. That's where all your money would go, into the plants. You'd probably end up spending from 2-10 thousand dollars (based on the type of plants you wanted) to get all the plants that would be neccessary for a room large enough for multiple animals to inhabit.
One large tree would definately not be even close to enough for this, you'd need at least 3 large large trees, and then you'd need hundreds of various tropical plants all over everywhere else.
You'd need special glass to allow UVB penetration, or at least provide good gutload around the room for the freeroaming roaches. You'd need humidity fans, the ones that have a sprayer that blows mist in front of the fan, and just add more as you figure out how the temperature works. You'd need drainage, or maybe a waterfall/pool area where all excess water would flow and then cycle back into the misting system so it was just cyclical and low maintenance. You'd need a tropical species of roach that can breed in the room, and if the population gets out of control, you'd need to get some giant day geckos to control it, and you'd also need some smaller species of flies and gnats for baby chameleons, that would probably hatch without you knowing eggs were even laid. You'd need a LOT of ground cover plants/smaller plants for babies to hide in. You'd be better off putting substrate through the entire room, you'd need at least 4 or 5 feet of it for the roots of the trees, unless you've got those in huuuuuuuuuge pots.
It would be EASIER to do it how ankinc does (who has some of th emost amazing Ankaramy's around, envy envy), but it would be very very rewarding if you made a room into a rainforest.
If you're serious about doing this, like I am, then wait until you can seriously afford doing it and don't fall short on any expenses, do it all and do it 100%.
You could ALSO open it up to the public, and horticulturists (and herpetoculturists) would LOVE to come and even pay to see how you've done it all. You'd have to splurge on getting lots of rare orchids and whatnot in order to get the horticulture enthusiasts, and you'd probably have to have a few species of reptiles to get the herpetoculture enthusiasts.
Wow I write a lot. I hope that was good advice for you.
-Brock
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RE: slow down a bit.... - Brock, Sat Apr 22 21:18:37 2006